Rep. Matt Gaetz is facing the wrath of Republicans who want to see him punished for leading the successful effort to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy from his leadership post on Tuesday.
At least two Republican lawmakers are mulling over crafting different expulsion resolutions, a measure requiring 2/3 of the chamber’s support to be successful, aimed at Mr. Gaetz.
Following Tuesday’s vote, Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska told reporters that Mr. Gaetz should be ejected from the House GOP conference.
“He’s not a Republican,” Mr. Bacon said. “He’s an anarchist.”
Asked about removing the other members who voted against Mr. McCarthy, Mr. Bacon said he was only interested in punishing Mr. Gaetz.
“He’s the leader,” he said. “He’s the leader of the chaos caucus.”
Rep. Mike Lawler of New York said he would have flung the speaker’s gavel “square between the eyes” — Mr. Gaetz’s eyes. He confirmed to The Washington Times on Tuesday he is considering drawing up an expulsion measure against the Florida Republican.
Mr. McCarthy was ejected from the job on a 216-210 vote after just eight Republicans voted to remove Mr. McCarthy, but all House Democrats joined them in the unprecedented floor vote.
Rep. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota told CNN on Thursday that if Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Steve Scalise of Louisiana, both vying to become the next speaker, can’t figure out how to “deal with that saboteur,” Mr. Gaetz, there will just be “another blow-up.”
“Matt Gaetz and those hardliners—they’re a real problem,” Mr. Johnson said. “And I don’t think the pyromaniacs are going to be satisfied after they burned down one House. I think they’re going to have an itching to go burn down a couple more.”
Other Republicans feel similarly.
“He’s literally taken one of our oldest institutions and put it into a downward spiral, all over selfish needs, all over Twitter feeds and raising money,” Rep. Anthony D’Esposito of New York said on CNN.
Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana confirmed to CNN that acting speaker Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina called a recess to let tensions settle for a week, or physical altercations would have happened among GOP party members.
“I think if we had stayed together in the meeting, I think that you would have seen fists thrown, and I’m not being dramatic when I say that there are a lot of raw emotions right now,” he said. “I think it was best to let folks go back home, decompress a little bit, then come back together.”
Mr. Gaetz had a more conciliatory tone Thursday towards his angry GOP colleagues, offering to negotiate on changing the threshold on the motion to vacate the speaker’s chair, the action that allowed him to oust Mr. McCarthy. Currently, the move can be initiated by one lawmaker.
He also gave shout-outs to Freedom Caucus members who supported Mr. McCarthy’s speakership on Tuesday.
“Our work is not over. We must put the House on a new and better path. In doing so we will lean heavily on the courage, insight and experience of the warriors you know & love - even if they weren’t part of the 8 who undertook the last mission,” he said in a post on X. “The McCarthy Era is over. Let’s not dwell on it. Let’s move forward with a better Speaker. And let’s keep winning. Focus.”
The Washington Times reached out to Mr. Gaetz’s office.
Not all GOP lawmakers angered with Mr. Gaetz are ready to boot him just yet.
Mr. Graves noted that expelling Mr. Gaetz would be one of the “most unifying actions” of the House, but the GOP’s slim majority does not make it “a viable path forward right now.”
“But I think that [there should be] some type of penalty or punishment for what he did,” he said.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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