Angry, frustrated and unable to lead a fractured and fractious Republican majority, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told his colleagues Thursday, who were threatening to impeach him: Do it.

The controversial Republican leader

of Bakersfield

essentially dared his hard right flank

resign

delay

entail the risk

a vote to remove him from office.

If you’re going to do it, go ahead and try it, McCarthy told Republicans behind closed doors.

Make a motion, McCarthy said

using profanity for emphasis

said those in the private meeting.

With a government shutdown looming, McCarthy faces the same intractable problem that drove Republicans before him from the speaker’s job in an effort to lead a fractured Republican majority divided between what’s left of the traditional party and a harder-right element largely linked to the former president. Trump.

Even his decision to launch an impeachment inquiry against President Biden this week has done little to appease the demands of the Freedom Caucus and others as they threaten to shut down the government in pursuit of deep cuts or make a motion to to drive him from office. .

“I showed frustration here because I’m frustrated with some of the people at the conference,” McCarthy said after the meeting in the Capitol basement as lawmakers were wrapping up the week.

But when we came back, we were going to get this done. No one wins from a government shutdown.

This could be the toughest moment yet for McCarthy, who is trying to survive his first year as Speaker of the House of Representatives and fight another day.

But now, after promises made and possibly not kept, he barely has days left.

Right now, McCarthy has just nine business days to pass the spending bills needed to fund the government or risk a politically devastating federal shutdown.

A disruption in government services would spread throughout the country,

And his

This is almost certain to hurt his party politically, as Republicans are blamed for the disruption and disarray.

Led by Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, a core group of McCarthy critics is threatening him with removal unless he meets conservative demands.

Gaetz, a key Trump ally, echoed the conservative flank’s many demands after McCarthy’s meeting with single-issue spending bills, a subpoena for Hunter Biden in the impeachment inquiry and other priorities.

So instead of swearing emotionally, let’s do this, Gaetz chided. We must start immediately. Pull yourself together, Kevin!

None of McCarthy’s far-right opponents rose to speak at the private morning meeting; few even showed up.

But McCarthy still addressed them directly and profanely.

“Kevin doesn’t live in fear of this,” said Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.).

McCarthy is proud of himself

on

as a survivor, having risen from the ranks over the past nearly two decades to lead the House of Representatives Republicans.

At the start of the year, he faced fourteen votes when he took the speaker’s gavel, before colleagues finally agreed to give it to him on the fifteenth vote.

Top McCarthy ally, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene

of Georgia

repeated the speaker’s message. He said: If you want to request a vacation, that’s fine. I didn’t survive fifteen rounds for nothing and I’ll survive fifteen more rounds.’

That said, there’s still no viable plan for it

to have

the House

Unpleasant

pass on the invoices that are necessary

keep running

government

by running past

September 30, when current funding runs out, risking closure.

The Freedom Caucus conservatives are demanding

deeper

cuts

lower

than what McCarthy agreed to earlier this year in a budget deal with Biden — and even deeper

lower

than the speaker promised what he would fight for when he agreed to their demands during his election as speaker.

Democratic leader of the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries

of New York

Republicans in the House of Representatives have made it clear that they are determined to shut down the government and try to force their far-right ideology down Americans’ throats.

Jeffries said he had not spoken to McCarthy about a solution this week, but he had spoken to the Senate majority leader

Chuck Charles E.

Schumer

(DN.Y.)

and they agree that the only way forward is a bipartisan path that funds the government at current fiscal year levels.

The Senate, which is closely controlled by Democrats, meanwhile pressed ahead in a rare and overwhelming bipartisan vote (91 to 7) to advance a package of spending bills to final passage, setting up a showdown with the Republican House.

McCarthy told lawmakers to go home for the weekend as they are not in session Friday

Jewish Rosh Hashanah

vacation and be willing to stay in session next week until they get the job done.

“I don’t run away from a fight,” the speaker said, as he prepared to return to fight another day.

When asked if he had a plan for the week ahead, McCarthy later said: I always have a plan. Doesn’t mean it’s happening.”

“I had a plan for this week, but it didn’t go exactly as I planned,” he said.

Annoyed, McCarthy had already shown signs of tension the night before.

As he left the Capitol, his voice hoarse and his dry-cleaning bags of fresh shirts in hand, McCarthy scoffed when asked about conservatives’ latest demands for budget cuts.

Welcome to my world, McCarthy said, as the large memorial door closed behind him.