In his off-the-cuff remarks, Cleaver seemed to indicate that he had given a pass to Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI), who during debate on a resolution condemning President Trump, had denounced a group of minority women Democrats as 'anti-American.'

When one Democrat rose to ask that Duffy's words be 'taken down' and scrubbed from the Record, Cleaver brushed off the complaint.

And he evidently thought the same should have been done for Speaker Nancy Pelosi, when she referred to the President's "racist tweets," directly going against precedents of the House which clearly state that such speech is against the rules.

In a statement, Cleaver said he was simply frustrated at what was going on before his eyes.

"I have spent my entire life working with people of all faiths and stripes in an effort solve real-world problems with concrete solutions, but never have we been this divided and this unwilling to listen to countering opinions or accept objective truths," the Missouri Democrat said.

"However, a house divided against itself cannot stand, regardless of how strong the foundation," Cleaver added.

Some of my colleagues were just as surprised at the turn of events.

I was the @CQNow House Floor Reporter for ~2 years, so I thought I had seen it all.



I WAS VERY WRONG. https://t.co/h2ngPutbMt — K Tully-McManus (@ktullymcmanus) July 16, 2019

The rules rebuke of Pelosi was historic as well - it was the first time a Speaker had words 'taken down' in 35 years, since a famous floor spat between Speaker Tip O'Neill, and future Speaker Newt Gingrich (though not many people at the time would have predicted Gingrich's ascension to that leadership post).