Pettiness or propriety? The debacle of the ousting of Kevin McCarthy seems to have produced a circus of odd events among the GOP majority in the House. It continued last night when the new Speaker pro-tempore, Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, ordered former Speaker Nancy Pelosi to vacate her private offices in the Capitol Building. McHenry reportedly said that the office would be “re-keyed” and designated for use by the Speaker. Pelosi was in California for Dianne Feinstein’s funeral preparations and could not return to oversee the removal of her things, so she was assisted by Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. This was apparently seen as a priority by McHenry, despite the plethora of other crises that are awaiting the majority’s attention. (NY Post)

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was evicted from her private Capitol office by the new speaker pro-tempore.

Fox News Digital confirmed that House Speaker pro-tempore Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., gave the order to Pelosi to vacate her Capitol hideaway by Wednesday.

McHenry is a close ally to now-former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who was ousted from his role on Tuesday.

McHenry isn’t part of the Freedom Caucus and is actually an ardent supporter of McCarthy, so I’m not sure where this is coming from. He is probably understandably upset with the Democrats for siding with the Freedom Caucus yesterday, but this response seriously sets him up for ridicule and opens the door to some strategic advantages for the Democrats.

Even if McHenry felt strongly that Pelosi’s offices should be reallocated for use by either himself or the next Speaker (assuming we even get one), couldn’t this trivial administrative matter have been handled after she returned from Feinstein’s funeral? Having her things put out in the hallway and re-keying her office suite like some tenant who was late with her rent clearly gives the appearance of “sending a message” and makes McHenry look petty.

For her part, Pelosi took full advantage of the situation, expressing bewilderment to reporters. She pointed out that she allowed former Speaker Dennis Hastert a significantly larger suite of offices “for as long as he wished.” I may disagree with Pelosi on virtually every political issue, but there is no denying that she’s an experienced, cagy politician. She’s seizing the opportunity to look reasonable and rational in comparison to the Republicans who currently appear to be in chaos.

This situation led the editorial board of Issues and Insights to ask a pertinent question last night. Current polling shows that the GOP has opened a significant lead in terms of which party the public trusts to handle the most pressing issues facing the country today. But will the GOP manage to blow that lead in public confidence with all of this infighting?

The only difference between Jimmy Carter and Joe Biden is that Carter didn’t need help navigating stairs and could read a teleprompter without getting confused.

But on the GOP side, who’s playing the role of Reagan? Who is tying today’s misery around the necks of Democrats? Who is sticking to the issues, offering real policy solutions, giving the country hope that the torment we are suffering can be ended with new leadership and conservative policies?

None that we can see. Instead, it’s all infighting, palace intrigue, talk of retribution.

Well, keep it up, Republicans. And watch as Democrats “unexpectedly” sweep the elections next year.

While I&I’s editors were writing that last night, Patrick McHenry was busy having Nancy Pelosi’s boxed dumped out in the hall outside of her office suite. Someone should print out that editorial and post a copy of it on the door of every Republican in the House.