Gingrich reacts to Greene’s motion to oust Speaker Johnson: Gaetz ‘unleashed the demons’

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) spearheaded Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-Fla.) effort to oust former Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from leadership last year. When he stood up, he said, “I released the devil.” post.

Mr. Gingrich asked why some House Republicans, such as Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) and Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), left Congress before their terms were up. He was answering questions from Fox host Laura Ingraham.

Mr. Gingrich also said that Mr. Gaetz’s efforts last year to end Mr. McCarthy’s term as speaker should not be discounted, and that the House has been a “disaster” since then.

“Well, first of all, I think we need to take a completely different approach,” Gingrich said Friday on “The Ingraham Angle.” “We should not underestimate how detrimental Matt Gaetz’s actions were to the entire system. He unleashed his demons, went after someone trying to raise $480 million, and won a seat in three consecutive elections. , and forced Kevin McCarthy out. From that point on, it was a disaster.”

The former House speaker said he does not blame current House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) for the House’s legislative performance because he is in a difficult position after McCarthy’s ouster.

“I don’t blame Johnson. I think Speaker Johnson has a virtually unplayable hand, and I think that’s where some people are making things even worse.” said.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who has been one of Mr. Johnson’s biggest critics since he took the gavel, filed a motion to resign on Friday, which followed McCarthy’s decision to resign in October. The same procedural move that activated Mr. He said this was a “warning”, but also said there was “no set timetable” for when to force a vote on the motion, which is not currently privileged, and therefore would not be considered after the Easter recess. Ta.

Gingrich said all of these moves not only require former President Trump in the White House to allow for disagreement as Republicans try to pass legislation, but they also need a majority in the House of Representatives. He said it would be a great justification for the reason.

“This is the best argument I’ve ever seen for why we need to not only elect Donald Trump, but elect a very large majority with him,” Gingrich said. Ta. “When I was Speaker, I had a large enough majority that I had far more ability than Johnson to run the House of Commons, even if there were five or ten crazy people. He can govern. He doesn’t have a majority of votes.”