Matt Gaetz Says Dumping McCarthy as Speaker Was the ‘Most Popular Thing’ Congress Has Done

The ring leader of a band of unrepentant renegades who toppled Kevin McCarthy last week brushed off GOP threats of revenge on Monday, declaring his motion of removal to be the "most popular thing" this Congress has enacted.

As Republican allies of McCarthy openly discussed the idea of retaliation against Rep. Matt Gaetz, the Trump-allied Florida Republican patted himself on the back for bringing down the short-lived former speaker.

"As a matter of fact, the resolution that I introduced may be the most popular thing that the House of Representatives in the 118th Congress has passed that was actually enacted," Gaetz told The Messenger Monday.

The personal attacks — which controversial New York Republican George Santos claimed included calling the rebels “terrorists” and “chickenshit” — bubbled up at a Monday night meeting that flailing GOP leaders called to try to reverse course on implosion and paralysis.

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., a McCarthy ally who said he engaged with other Republicans on the idea of a tit-for-tat, said he would support expelling Gaetz alone from the GOP conference, but not the Congress.

"Go after the ring leader," Bacon said when asked about expelling the other seven rebels.

Republicans had zero consensus around proposed rules changes for electing a new speaker, including tweaking the threshold required to activate the arcane "motion to vacate" that ultimately felled McCarthy. (The dissidents pressured McCarthy last January into agreeing that any one GOP member could bring the lethal motion to the House floor, as Gaetz did last Tuesday.)

Nor could Republicans agree Monday night whether House Majority Leader Steve Scalise or House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan should lead the fractured conference moving forward, choosing instead to trash Gaetz as a way to vent their frustrations. 

Gaetz shrugged off the internal sniping that others grumbled about. Instead, he cited recent polls showing that a majority of the public approved of getting rid of the sitting speaker.

The Florida Republican added that he listened intently to discussions about tweaking the rules governing speaker elections but, at least at this point, he sees no reason for rewrites "without a really compelling reason."

Gaetz said he believes whichever replacement speaker candidate makes it through the internal vetting process can get the 217 votes needed on the House floor to become speaker of the House.

And while he declined to name which candidate he's leaning towards, Gaetz said he would vote for the eventual nominee on the House floor.

Gaetz never voted for McCarthy during the January showdown, marking himself as "present" in the last round so the badly wounded California Republican could squeak through on the 15th ballot.

Rep. Tim Burchett, who also voted to ditch McCarthy last week, was adamant that he would never vote for the former speaker to reclaim the position. The Tennessee Republican voted for McCarthy 15 times in the first speaker’s race in January.

Rep. Matt Rosendale, another of the eight Republicans who voted to ruin McCarthy’s reign, declined to say which candidate he would support for speaker. But he predicted the House Republican Conference will make a decision sooner rather than later.

"I think we will elect the speaker this week," the Montana Republican told The Messenger. "And then we're going to get back to our business."

Stephen Neukam and Lindsey McPherson contributed reporting.