“If we want to rebuild our party and rebuild the country,” said Mace, “we have to maintain seats like mine, swing seats and appeal to the rest of America.”

But sometimes, trying to make everyone happy can backfire. There was already some behind-the-scenes grumbling from the right flank that McCarthy went so hard to the mat for Cheney, while other Republicans were frustrated that they were forced to take Thursday’s tough floor vote over Greene.

When asked whether McCarthy should have just settled matters with Greene internally, Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) responded: “I guess how I would answer that is I’m a big John Boehner fan,” he said, referring to the former speaker who wasn’t afraid to crack down on conservatives. “And I miss John Boehner every day.”