Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is not holding back his criticism of Republicans who oppose House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) bid for speaker.
Gingrich noted Republicans picked up House seats in 2020 and 2022 during a “Fox & Friends” appearance on Monday.
“I thought at least the House was going to be a sign of stability,” he continued.
However, he blasted the five so-called “Never Kevin” Republicans who are opposing McCarthy’s bid for speaker:
“And these five guys decide to go out as kamikazes and see if they can’t sink the whole Republican Party. That’s what they’re doing. This is not about Kevin McCarthy. This is about the right of any five members to basically throw away the entire rest of the conference and tell the rest of the conference it doesn’t matter.”
Watch the video below:
Former Speaker Newt Gingrich on “Never Kevin” Republicans, such at Matt Gaetz, who are unwilling to support Kevin McCarthy:
— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) January 2, 2023
“I think it’s a psychological problem. These guys can’t count straight. They can’t play tic-tac-toe. They can’t accept victory.” pic.twitter.com/OOnVZq6qYS
When asked why these Republicans would take such an action, Gingrich said, “I think it’s a psychological problem. These guys can’t count straight. They can’t play tic-tac-toe. They can’t accept victory.”
“Given what McConnell’s been doing in the Senate, McCarthy is the only hope for conservatism in Washington right now. And to undermine him, I think, is to undermine conservatism, undermine the Republican Party, and frankly, undermine the country,” he added.
Gingrich’s comments come just one day before the House is scheduled to vote on who will be the next speaker.
And McCarthy appears to be struggling to secure the required 218 votes. He can only suffer four defections — if the whole House votes. So far, five House Republicans have declared their opposition to him.
Politico reported on Sunday, McCarthy “announced on a private conference call that he would give his antagonists one of their top demands: The threshold to trigger a vote ousting a speaker would shrink from half the GOP conference, as had been agreed to by a majority of the members, to five dissatisfied lawmakers.”
However, it added, “Hours later, a group of nine House conservatives issued a letter saying that’s not good enough.”
Those nine lawmakers are not part of the five who have already declared their opposition to McCarthy.
Additionally, the outlet reported “one of the GOP fence-sitters, a member who has been in the room for these negotiations” believes lawmakers who are still undecided may not vote for the California Republican even if he meets their demands because they do not trust him.
“The problem is people don’t trust Kevin McCarthy and a number won’t vote for him. Those are just the facts,” the lawmaker told Politico.
They added, “The list [of demands] that we offered was not for guaranteed support but rather the kinds of things that might move some of his detractors.”