(BrightPress.org) – Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-GA) blamed the 8 Republicans who sided with Democrats to ouster Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from the Speakership for the current paralysis locking up Congress.
He described the ouster of McCarthy as a betrayal of the GOP conference and said that the eight Republicans who voted for McCarthy’s removal “unleashed furies” that they did not anticipate in comments to “Fox News Sunday” anchor Shannon Bream. Gingrich characterized the move as empowering everyone to be “equally destructive and equally angry.”
Gingrich argued that Republicans in the House should have stayed the weekend and continued to negotiate until they produced a candidate that everyone could agree on. He further instructed the GOP conference to stay in caucus and “not come out” until they had a nominee for Speaker who could get the required 217 votes. He further said once that was done, they should also agree to be more coherent for the next half year.
He said previous attempts to put a personality before the caucus and demand everyone votes for that person were ineffectual. That tactic was tried with McCarthy and Jordan and failed on both counts, he claimed. He warned that if they do it again, there’s a very real chance of this exact scenario repeating.
Gingrich has been famously upset with Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) for calling for McCarthy’s ouster. He called for Gaetz to be expelled by Republicans calling his behavior childish.
A rule change agreed to when he was elected in January allowed a single member of the House to initiate a vote for a recall. Gaetz utilized the move after accusing McCarthy of double-dealing or making untenable promises to multiple sides of a discussion.
Republicans plan to change the rule as soon as they can return to business as usual, but they can’t do anything until they select a new Speaker.
Copyright 2023, BrightPress.org
