When he took the job, McCarthy agreed to a list of demands, one of which was to pass separate appropriation bills in place of a continuing resolution. McCarthy did not get it done.
He doesn't/didn't have the sole power to do that, and I said back in January that it wouldn't happen. The problem was the actual rank and file GOP representatives who had to vote for those bills couldn't agree on the numbers.
That's not on McCarthy. He can't force other representatives to change their votes on appropriations bills.
Gaetz doesn't need a plan. He isn't in leadership. He simply was holding the existing leadership to do what they promised to do. He wasn't seeking a takeover. He was simply holding the leadership accountable for their actions.
That's where we disagree. It was a set-up right from the start when Gaetz and a few holdouts demanded concessions that (I believe) Gaetz
knew could not be met. There were a whole bunch of other representatives who resented Gaetz and his small group demanding preferential treatment for his views and allies other that of the majority. And when those other representatives pushed back on complying with those promises, McCarthy was doomed.
I mean, there have been exactly
four times in the last 4+ decades when separate appropriations bills were actually passed. Four in more than forty years. The most recent was in the last millenium, and happened when the GOP had a much larger majority in Congress.
Like I said back in January - this deal was doomed from the start, and that was Gaetz's plan all along. He couldn't shake McCarthy's support after 14 ballots, so he set it up to take him down later.