‘The consensus is that Matt Gaetz is an a**hole’: Republicans tear into ‘diabolical saboteur Republican over his ‘tantrum’ and ‘narcissistic charade’ to oust Kevin McCarthy as Speaker

Many Republicans are furious with their colleague Matt Gaetz for dragging the House of Representatives through another contentious leadership battle with a motion to impeach Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

There will be a vote on a motion to table (or postpone) the motion to evict on Monday afternoon at 1:30 p.m.

McCarthy has the support of about 200 members of his 222-seat majority, and at least six Republican members have pledged to vote against him. There is no suggestion that Democrats could intervene to help McCarthy; Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries has reportedly instructed his caucus to vote to impeach the chairman.

The pro-McCarthy faction complains about Gaetz’s “personal” attacks on the speaker, claiming he is thwarting the House of Representatives’ agenda on passing spending bills.

Gaetz would not say as he left the conference whether he believed his motion would pass

“The consensus is that Matt Gaetz is an asshole,” Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, RN.Y., told reporters as they leave a meeting in McCarthy’s office.

“It has everything to do with Matt Gaetz putting Matt Gaetz above the United States,” Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., told reporters after leaving a conference meeting.

“The only word I can describe for (him) is that he is either a fool or a liar.”

“Gaetz is using the American people as pawns in his narcissistic charade game, and I think we’ve had enough,” said Rep. Stephanie Bice, R-Okla.

Gaetz said he would make a motion to clear the House if McCarthy were to introduce a continuing resolution, CR, or emergency bill that would continue funding at current levels while the House deals with individual spending and tries to make deeper cuts .

The House of Representatives now has another six weeks to push through eight more single-issue spending bills and then negotiate with the Senate before the November 17 deadline.

On Monday, he accused Gaetz of making a “secret side deal” with President Biden over Ukraine financing.

Gaetz would not say as he left the conference whether he believed his motion would pass. Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., who will vote for the motion to impeach McCarthy, said he believed it would “probably” fail.

“We’re just messing around while Rome burns,” he told reporters, addressing the country’s $33 trillion debt and the continuing resolution passed by Congress over the weekend.

Burchett said he had a conversation with the speaker last week.

“The last thing he said was, I really want to be speaker and I think that sums up the whole thing,” the congressman said. “We should be bigger than that. We have to achieve a number of things. It’s not about one person. It’s about our country.’

Some Republicans noted that throwing the House of Representatives into chaos without a speaker would send the clock ticking toward a government shutdown — with just six weeks to go until the new deadline to fund the government in the 2024 fiscal year.

“The motion to vacate filed yesterday is nothing more than a tantrum aimed at personal and political gain,” said Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Ohio.

“He is a diabolical saboteur who has deliberately focused on destabilizing the Republican majority for nine months.” added Rep. Dusty Johnson, RS.D.

When leaving a conference meeting, most emphasized that there would be a change in the rules after the speaker’s drama is over so that a single member cannot force a vote to leave the speakership.

Under the rules McCarthy agreed to during the frenzied speaker’s race, only one House member is needed to file a motion to evict. Gaetz has now said he will continue to push the motion until McCarthy is impeached.

“This is not a sensible standard,” Issa said. “We need to make real change to limit the chaos,” D’Esposito added.