It was an eventful day in the House of Representatives as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was voted out of his speakership role but the one to take a little shock on the side was long-term Democrat Nancy Pelosi, who was kicked out of her office.
As the rift inside the Republican lawmakers in the House grew, a handful of Republicans led by ultra conservative congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida decided it was time for McCarthy to go, owing to what they see as his continuous failure in serving key conservative causes. All Democrats and eight Republicans including Gaetz successfully voted to remove McCarthy. The dethroned former Speaker handed the gavel over to Patrick McHenry, Republican congressman from North Carolina.
On the very first day of becoming the House Speaker pro-tempore, McHenry ordered Nancy Pelosi via an email to vacate her private Capitol office – popularly termed the “Capitol hideaway” – by Wednesday. The email told her that the room will be re-keyed. Pelosi complied and moved out of the office with help from fellow Democrats. But she seemed to have been less than pleased with her little privilege taken away with immediate effect. Fox News cited Pelosi responding to the eviction order as:
“With all of the important decisions that the new Republican Leadership must address, which we are all eagerly awaiting, one of the first actions taken by the new Speaker Pro Tempore was to order me to immediately vacate my office in the Capitol.”
Pelosi also showed resentment of the eviction from the office by stating that this order of the Acting Speaker was a “sharp departure from tradition” and added that when she was the House Speaker, she let the former Speaker at the time keep a large suite of offices indefinitely.
Many conservatives cheered at the news of Pelosi’s eviction from her hideaway and didn’t hold back from sharing their approval on Twitter/X.
Pelosi was also reminded of being too old to hold any public office with comments like, “Stop playing the victim and go find an assisted-living community to rule over.”
Conservative actor James Woods had only two words to rub it in some.
Meanwhile, McHenry himself became the subject of memes as he expressed his frustration at the ousting of McCarthy, his long-term ally, by banging the gavel at the end of his speech.