Kevin McCarthy Says He Won’t Copy Pelosi’s ‘Childish Games’ and Rip Up Biden’s Speech at State of the Union

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said that he won’t be theatrically ripping up his copy of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address this week, the way Nancy Pelosi once did with former President Donald Trump’s.

As the Speaker of the House, McCarthy will sit behind Biden in the president’s speech to Congress, which will be a very different feel from when it was Pelosi and Vice President Kamala Harris on the dais.

On Tuesday, McCarthy released a video on Twitter in which he said he’ll desist from the political dramatics his predecessor engaged in by ripping up Trump’s 2020 speech on camera as soon as it was over.

“I don’t believe in the theatrics of tearing up speeches,” McCarthy said. “I respect the other side. I can disagree on policy, but I want to make sure this country is stronger, economically sound, energy independent, secure and accountable.”

McCarthy stood by the comments with CNN’s Manu Raju, who reported that the Speaker assured him Republicans will behave themselves in their responses to Biden’s speech.

“We have a code of ethics of how we should portray ourselves but also do our jobs and that’s exactly what we’ll do,” McCarthy said. “But we’re not going to be playing childish games, tearing up a speech. That’s just a political ploy.”

McCarthy’s comments come after CNN’s Melanie Zanona reported McCarthy was instructing Republicans to conduct themselves well.

While McCarthy insists he intends to refrain from “theatrics” during Biden’s address this week, he has made a point of copying Pelosi in the past.

Shortly after Trump was acquitted for his first impeachment over the Ukraine scandal, McCarthy posted a video on Twitter where he gloated of Trump being “acquitted for life” before tearing up the articles of impeachment — although that was not at a joint session but in his own office later.

Watch above.

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