‘A narcissistic, evil and vengeful little man’: Republicans pound on Matt Gaetz, saying he got ‘schooled by AOC’ as Fetterman says Republican party is ‘one DNA test from the Jerry Springer show’

Republicans continue to target Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz for his stunning move to force a vote that removed Kevin McCarthy as speaker — by calling him a narcissist and publicly making allegations of sexual misconduct.

Gaetz made the motion to “vacate the seat” after threatening to try to take down McCarthy when he introduced a bill to prevent a government shutdown, and it passed with Democratic votes.

Anger was palpable within McCarthy’s Bakersfield, California, as McCarthy’s stature has declined significantly, although he offered to continue raising money for Republicans even as he announced he would not seek to regain the speakership.

Matt Gaetz is a narcissistic, evil and vindictive man,” said Annette Londquist, president of the Bakersfield Republican Women club.

She called him an “angry man” and said his anger was “directed at Kevin.” “I would say he just couldn’t let go of the revenge in his heart, but he has no heart,” she said angrily to the Los Angeles Times.

Clayton Campbell, vice chairman of the Kern County Republican Party, spoke. He said Gaetz has a “delusion about his own importance.”

Campbell also called him a “traitor” and compared him to Benedict Arnold.

“During the American Revolution, King George and the British Army were the enemy, but Benedict Arnold was the bigger bad guy because he was a traitor. Matt Gaetz would be on our side. And then he plays this game and helps the Democrats. He’s a Benedict Arnold.’

In Congress, Rep. Garrett Graves (R-La.) accused Gaetz of working with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, with whom he has been photographed on the floor in the past.

“Matt Gaetz just got some training from AOC and others. He was totally manipulated into doing this,” Graves said at the Capitol on Wednesday, as Republicans tried to find a path forward after McCarthy’s stunning impeachment.

‘There were eight so-called Republicans who, together with 208 Democrats, ousted the Republican chairman. I can’t believe he is stupid enough to be used and manipulated by AOC and others to achieve this outcome,” said Graves, a McCarthy ally.

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) said he would support kicking Gaetz out of the Republican conference.

Former Vice President Mike Pence Chief of Staff Marc Short delivered his own scathing assessment, attacking Gaetz with sex trafficking allegations that the House Ethics Committee is investigating after prosecutors dropped a case.

“Matt Gaetz, to say he came here as a fiscal crusader, it’s more likely he came here for the teenage interns on Capitol Hill, to be honest with you,” Short told CNN.

But it wasn’t all bad PR for Gaetz. The New York Times gained access to former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon’s Capitol Hill mansion, while Gaetz Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), who also voted to overthrow McCarthy, appeared on Bannon’s “War Room Pandemic” podcast.

“He sat here in July and talked about how we weren’t going to get a majority of 30 or 40 seats, but that that would actually be better,” Bannon said. “We would have leverage. He is a very special man.’

Gaetz has dismissed the ethics investigation and denied charges in the federal investigation, which was dropped in February.

“I am the most scrutinized man in the United States Congress,” he said. “It appears that the Ethics Committee’s interest in me waxes and wanes based on my relationship with the speaker.”

Republicans and McCarthy supporters were equally angry ahead of the vote, seeing his speakership on the line.

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

“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.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oka.) has discussed Gaetz in TV interviews. he said Gaetz, 41, shared video footage of the women he slept with.

In the final months of the Trump administration, the Justice Department began an investigation into allegations that Gaetz trafficked a 17-year-old for sex. The existence of the study was confirmed in March 2021.

Mullin, a McCarthy supporter, said that when the allegations about Gaetz emerged in early 2021, “the media didn’t give him the time” because he was not seen as a major figure.

Mullin also noted that none of his colleagues defended him at the time.

“And there’s a reason why no one in Congress came to his defense: because we’d all seen the videos he showed on the House floor – which we’d all walked away from – of the girls he’d slept with,” Mullin told CNN.

“He bragged about how he would crush up medicine in the emergency room and top it with energy drinks so he could stay up all night.

“This was obviously before he got married.”

He shared another anecdote on Newsmax, now involving South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, when Gaetz had yet to be sworn in as an elected member of Congress.

“The first time I met this man, he walked up to me and Kristi Noem was on stage at the time. He was elected at the time… And he walked up to me… He said, man, she’s fine — and you can put the ‘B word’ in its place there,” said Mullin, the DailyBeast reported.

Gaetz, in a statement to CNN that host Anderson Cooper later read on air, denied Mullin’s claim of inappropriate behavior.

“I don’t think Markwayne Mullin and I said 20 words to each other on the House floor,” Gaetz said.

“This is a lie from someone who doesn’t know me and who has to do with the death of his friend Kevin’s political career. Thoughts and prayers.”

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) is piling on the internal criticism amid the Republican Party’s chaos.

‘Replacing one d*** with a different kind of d*** will not change anything in the House of Representatives. We are a DNA test from the Jerry Springer show,” he said said.