WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 03: Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) speaks during a news conference to announce the "Green Real Deal" on April 3, 2019 in Washington, DC. The "Green Real Deal" is a resolution intended to serve as a response to the "Green New Deal" promoted by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA). The "Green New Deal" acknowledges climate change and says the government should promote innovation to prevent greenhouse gas emissions. (Photo by Zach Gibson/Getty Images)
The former GOP speaker, Newt Gingrich, offered advice for House Speaker Mike Johnson on how he can deal with the “narcissists” in the GOP.
Gingrich attacked hard-right disrupters, calling them “narcissists” and “selfish idiots” while also praising the way Johnson handled an unmanageable caucus.
“[Johnson] has the narrowest majority in modern times, and it’s not a true majority because he’s got six or eight narcissists – people who think that they individually get to screw up everything,” the former GOP speaker told Politico.
He also called out Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) during this interview.
“I think they self-define,” he said of the GOP members. “I’d start with Gaetz, but I would say the list goes on. He’s the super narcissist.”
Gingrich attacked Gaetz for ousting former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on October 3, 2023, and the continued dysfunction.
“The demons that Gaetz unleashed by going after McCarthy are still out there,” the former speaker argued. “You can’t govern by shooting yourself in the head every day.”
He also praised Johnson for how he has been handling leadership during party infighting.
Gingrich stated that America expects the majority “to get something done.”
The threat to oust Johnson, a motion filed by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) on March 22, grew this week as the House speaker passed a foreign aid package for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, which Republicans had held up for months.
His efforts continued to grow tensions with conservatives who threatened to remove him from leadership.
On April 19, Johnson told reporters he was not concerned about the threat, stating that he would do his job and let “the chips fall where they may.”
He has also rejected concerns about the attempt to oust him, labeling a motion to vacate as “absurd.”
“It is, in my view, an absurd notion that someone would bring a vacate motion when we are here simply trying to do our jobs,” the House speaker declared. “It is not helpful to the cause, it is not helpful to the country, it does not help the House Republicans advance our agenda, which is in the best interest of the American people.”
Gingrich said that any GOP members moving forward with a motion to vacate are “totally stupid.”
“My question would be, ‘Show me the 218 you’ve got for somebody,’ because otherwise, what you’re doing is putting us through three weeks of looking like idiots—which Gaetz managed to do,” he claimed.
“You’ve got to remember, this isn’t some game at a PTA meeting,” he said. “This is the House of Representatives. It has serious constitutional obligations. We live in a dangerous world, and we look like we are absurdly incapable of governing ourselves.”
Gingrich also confessed that he would have trouble leading House Republicans today since they can quickly run to media outlets and social media.
“You can’t keep them in line because the technology’s changed,” he claimed. “They have the ability to make noise, they have the ability to go on television, and they have an ability to use the internet to raise money from [people] who only know who they are because they saw them on television, so what do they care?”
Gingrich said in the interview he thinks Johnson is “doing a pretty decent job considering how almost impossible it is.”
“Frankly, the danger for the hard right is that if they teach 120 or 130 members that the only way to get anything done is to work with the Democrats, they’ll end up with much worse legislation than they would get if they would actually work as a team,” the former speaker argued.
He also mentioned that he has “great sympathy” for how complex the job is.
When asked if Johnson should focus on holding onto the speakership or passing aid to Ukraine, Gingrich replied, saying that “brave men die, but once, a coward dies a hundred deaths.”
He advised the House speaker to do what he believes is historically correct.
He added that if his party is foolish “enough to punish” him for what he believes, he “shouldn’t be there anyway.”
In January 2017, Gingrich declared during an interview with Fox & Friends that the singer Madonna should be arrested for making a violent comment during the Women’s March on Washington, saying that she was part of “an emerging left-wing fascism.
Madonna told the crowd that she had “thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House.”
On January 22, the singer went to Instagram to explain her message. She stated that there are two ways to respond to former president Donald Trump’s election—with hope or anger. She shared that she hopes to create change by spreading love.
She argued that she was speaking metaphorically and took the “opportunity to encourage women and all marginalized people to not fall into despair but rather to come together and use it as a starting point for unity and to create positive change in the world.”
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