Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) gave his first speech after becoming House Speaker following an exhausting number of voting sessions. It took 15 rounds of votes for McCarthy to convince his own party that he should be elevated to the Speaker of the House.

In his first speech, he painted a picture of a future where the economy is booming and "criminals are prosecuted." Ironically, the votes came in just after midnight following the anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on our Capitol. He has not held the former President responsible for his actions on that day two years ago.

The Los Angeles Times reports:

He wasn't forsaken in his quest, but his dream came at a humiliating cost that called into question his hold over the party. McCarthy's powers of persuasion, his stock-in-trade congeniality, were not enough to get through the first 14 rounds of voting, revealing as much about the highly charged nature of American politics as it did about his willingness to compromise principles and bend to concessions forced by the party's small but potent band of disruptors and election deniers.

"Kevin is incredibly weakened," said Mike Madrid, a Republican consultant who has known McCarthy for years. "This is doing him extraordinary damage. These holdouts [radicals] view him like a Democrat. He is part of the swamp they want to get rid of. Kevin is the last establishment Republican standing. These are the death throes."

A physical fight almost broke out after McCarthy lost the 14th voting round. At one point, controversial MAGA Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene waved a phone with the letters "DT" clearly visible and tried to hand it to one of the anti-McCarthy holdouts. Instead, he waved his hand at her and had no interest in talking to the former President.

The last vote was cast at around 12:30 a.m., and McCarthy finally won the Speakership. Rep. Matt Gaetz did not clap for him. I doubt that he'll last a year in his new role.