Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida is responsible for the present GOP disarray, according to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA).
On Friday, Gingrich joined Fox News personality Laura Ingraham in lamenting the Republican caucus’s disintegration and the impending ouster of the second Republican speaker since October. The minority party’s already slim majority has shrunk even further, he added, due in part to internal strife within the caucus.
“Matt Gaetz’s actions were disastrous for the system as a whole, and we must not undervalue them. He let the demons out. He pursued a candidate who had amassed $480 million in donations and won consecutive seats. According to Mediaite, Gingrich stated that he was responsible for Kevin McCarthy’s ouster from office. “Everything has gone downhill since then.”
After a small number of Republicans revolted against former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in October, Gaetz took the lead and removed McCarthy from his position as speaker. Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) emerged as speaker shortly after the mutiny threw the House GOP into chaos. During that period, Gaetz asserted that McCarthy was engaging in covert arrangements with Democrats in order to undermine conservatives in the House.
House Speaker Mike Johnson is not someone I hold responsible. Speaker Johnson has a really difficult hand, in my opinion. In Gingrich’s opinion, there are certain individuals who exacerbate the problem.
The turmoil among House Republicans, Gingrich said, highlights the need to return former President Trump to the White House in November and grant Republicans a huge majority in Congress to govern.
“Back when I was speaker, I had a lot more power than Johnson to control the house. With a large enough majority, you could rule with five or ten insane individuals,” Gingrich remarked. “[Johnson] lacks a majority of one vote. Every morning, there are going to be eight, ten, or twelve people who will vote no. Therefore, he genuinely does not have a majority.
“Make a choice. You will eventually come to understand that the bills have been far worse since McCarthy’s departure. There is a shift in power to the Democrats. The situation has only become worse due to right-wing extremists. From a public policy standpoint, the Freedom Caucus is now in a state of catastrophe. That other side is doing a fantastic job if you think your life’s work is to sit on your hands and whine as they crush you, the former speaker continued.
Despite conservative opposition, Johnson successfully pushed a $1.2 trillion omnibus spending measure through the House last week, and now he is under fire from inside the GOP caucus. Regarding Johnson’s treatment of the measure, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) moved Friday to have the speaker’s gavel removed from him. “More of a warning than a pink slip” was Greene’s stated goal in her resolve.
As conservatives in the House expressed their displeasure with Johnson last week, Gaetz stepped in to support the speaker.
“If we removed this speaker, we would have a Democrat in his place,” Gaetz cautioned. I swore to the nation when I left my previous office that we would not have a speaker from the Democratic Party. That vow just wouldn’t hold water for me today.
