The French and Bolshevik revolutions went like this too. A little success, and they turn on each other.
In at least four primaries – in South Carolina, Illinois, Texas and Virginia – Republican members are actively campaigning against one of their own, inflaming tensions in a conference where emotions are still raw in the aftermath of Kevin McCarthy’s unprecedented ouster atop the House.
“So I’m telling everyone who’s doing that to knock it off,” Johnson added. “And both sides, they’ll say, ‘Well, we didn’t start it, they started it.’”
[Are these elected Republicans or eight-year-olds?]
[Matt Gaetz is predictably unrepentant.]
“I would love nothing more than to just go after Democrats,” Gaetz, who led the charge to oust McCarthy, told CNN. “But if Republicans are going to dress up like Democrats in drag, I’m going to go after them too. Because at the end of the day, we’re not judged by how many Republicans we have in Congress. We’re judged on whether or not we save the country.”
When asked for his reaction about Gaetz’s move against him, [TX Rep.] Gonzales said: “Who?”
The feud underscores how the razor-thin House majority has proven to be almost ungovernable, leading to a state of gridlock and internal GOP warfare that has defined the 118th Congress.
"Teams win,” [NE Rep.] Bacon said. “We’ve undermined the norms of what we’ve had going back, really, a couple centuries, frankly. … And now we’re campaigning in each others’ districts. It undermines the team. So, I think it’s wrong.”
But it’s not just hardliners who are making moves against their colleagues. Half a dozen House Republicans who are normally allied with leadership, including House Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers, are slated to attend an upcoming fundraiser for the Republican candidate challenging Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good, according to multiple sources.
