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GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy Sparked Backlash By ‘Joking’ About Hitting Nancy Pelosi In The Head With A Gavel

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) should perhaps make more pointless videos about Dr. Seuss books instead of the shenanigans that he’s been up to lately. He recently got dragged by Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WI) for attempting to “prevent” people from understanding what went down on January 6. That felt like a very peaceful interaction, however, compared to the hot water that McCarthy found himself in on Sunday.

First, it’s worth reflecting upon the above Getty photo (from January 2019) that shows House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) receiving the gavel from McCarthy as Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives. Well, McCarthy wants that gavel back as House Speaker. As revealed in audio footage, which was posted to Twitter by Main Street Nashville reporter Vivian Jones, McCarthy declared (during a fundraising dinner in Tennessee, in which he was presented with a supersized gavel, according to the Washington Post‘s Michael Sherer) something not so great. “I want you to watch Nancy Pelosi hand me that gavel,” McCarthy said. “It will be hard not to hit her with it but I will bang it down.” The remarks drew an audible reaction from the crowd.

Nope, not good. This is only the latest display of animosity between the two lawmakers after they butted heads on who would sit on the House panel that’s in charge of investigating January 6. And recently, Pelosi referred to McCarthy as a “moron” over his anti-masking stance, but McCarthy’s remark goes, well, further. In response, Pelosi Chief of Staff Drew Hammill tweeted, “A threat of violence to someone who was a target of a #January6th assassination attempt from your fellow Trump supporters is irresponsible and disgusting.”

MSNBC’s Chris Jansing soon relayed that word from a McCarthy spokesperson, who said that the congressman “was obviously joking” when he made these remarks.

However, several Democratic lawmakers pushed back, including Rep. Hakeem Jefferies (D-NY), Rep. Eric Stalwell (D-CA), and Rep. Debbie Dingel (D-MI), and Ted Lieu (D-CA). They called for an apology and/or a resignation on McCarthy’s behalf, given that violence against women is no joke.

Those calls were echoed by much of social media, which wasn’t amused by the “joke.”

McCarthy, so far, hasn’t addressed the matter further after the “joke” claim, but you never know if he’ll try to dig that hole even deeper.