Two members of the GOP House caucus are openly feuding over their respective choices for Speaker of the House.
Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene, a supporter of Kevin McCarthy’s bid to be Speaker, opened fire on her frequent ally Matt Gaetz on Wednesday, torching him in an op-ed for The Daily Caller for his hopes that a consensus candidate would emerge to challenge the GOP leader.
Mr Gaetz and a number of other conservatives are pushing for a Speaker who is further to the right than Mr McCarthy.
But no one has emerged to challenge Mr McCarthy, and his allies like Ms Greene are fuming, accusing them of “deceiving conservatives”.
“Let’s start with my dear friend, Matt Gaetz. Many of his attacks against Kevin McCarthy are comparisons to Paul Ryan. It’s quite ironic given Matt’s very first vote in Congress was for Paul Ryan as Speaker. Even when we all knew Paul Ryan would never deliver the MAGA agenda,” wrote Ms Greene.
“We had full GOP control and President Trump, with pen in hand, ready to sign America First legislation. This Republican failure is why I ran for Congress,” she continued.
Ms Greene then went on: “All that said, Matt Gaetz is one of my favorite members of Congress. America needs his talent and intelligence to work alongside Jim Jordan on investigations for the Judiciary Committee, not blow things up before we begin.”
Mr Gaetz remains in Congress after surving a sex trafficking probe that let to the conviction of one of his close former allies, Joel Greenberg.
He also made headlines on Wednesday for skipping a security screening and playing around on his phone while Ukraine’s president addressed Congress.
But should he succeed in “blow[ing] things up”, Republicans could find themselves all but rudderless heading in to control of the House next year.
Republicans have promised a host of investigations targeting the Biden administration in the new year, and have the numbers to block most if not all of Joe Biden’s legislative agenda in the House.
