Despite Speaker McCarthy's shocking victory over the deep state by securing House passage of a 45-day stopgap bill to keep the government open and cut off funding for Ukraine, Rep. Matt Gaetz has filed a motion to vacate House Speaker to which he succeeded with the help of Democrats. While many Republicans think that McCarthy has been "rock solid" as a leader in the House, Matt Gaetz disagreed and justified on grounds that he "takes no lecture from those who would grovel and bend knee for the lobbyists and special interests who own our leadership, hollow out this town, and borrow against the future of our future generations." In Malaysia, we see the similar tension and cringe when the incumbent unity government justified the continual advancement of NEP mainly in the name of stability and unity. What can we learn from the US Speaker race so that the nation can move away from affirmative action policies that have been hijacked and weaponised to cultivate a culture of fear and insecurity for politicians to remain in high places?