As House Republicans dissolve into a pit of seething rancor, Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado has issued a challenge to critics of Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida.
Gaetz launched what became the successful effort to bring down former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. That, in turn, led to some Republicans saying it was time for Gaetz to walk the plank as well.
“I’d love to have him out of the conference,” Republican Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska said, according to The Washington Post, adding that Gaetz “shouldn’t be in the Republican Party.”
Republican Rep. Michael Lawler of New York added that in his opinion, Gaetz should be expelled from the House Republican Conference.
And in an op-ed in The Washington Post, former Speaker Newt Gingrich said Gaetz should be expelled, claiming Gaetz “is destroying the House GOP’s ability to govern and draw a sharp contrast with the policy disasters of the Biden administration.”
“Gaetz and his accomplices have betrayed their colleagues by plunging the House into chaos. They have been totally destructive to the conservative efforts to check this administration and do good things for the American people,” Gingrich said in a statement to Newsweek.
Enter Boebert, defiance blazing.
“My colleagues would be sorely mistaken to take a childish, vengeful route and try to expel my friend @MattGaetz for standing up to failed leadership,” she wrote on social media.
My colleagues would be sorely mistaken to take a childish, vengeful route and try to expel my friend @MattGaetz for standing up to failed leadership.
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) October 4, 2023
The debate on expelling Gaetz has raged as well on social media.
Matt Gaetz is childish and vengeful so why not expel him? You are a hypocrite!
— Derrick Armstrong (@derrickdoesmen) October 5, 2023
What I think GOP should expel Rep. Gaetz from the GOP congress and move to AOC or Democrats. He is a traitor. He stirred up the whole GOP Congress. One bad apple destroyed the whole GOP, period.
— MAC87 (@falemaligi20) October 5, 2023
Imagine establishment Republicans being as angry at Mayorkas as they are at Matt Gaetz.
They’re moving to expel Gaetz but not a word on Mayorkas.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a government who worked for the people instead of their re-elections and their selfish interests?
— Burt Thakur (@BurtForCongress) October 5, 2023
The establishment wants to expel Matt Gaetz from office.
Not happening! ??— SixPack™️ (@starkrob21) October 4, 2023
Gaetz responded to expulsion talk with his trademark bravado, telling the Post, “If they want to expel me, let me know when they have the votes.”
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While supporting Gaetz, Boebert had voted against his effort to oust McCarthy as speaker, saying that as she balanced “broken promises, secret deals, and failed leadership” with the need to get a budget passed and move forward on impeachment, writing on X that “Another Speaker fight right now, in my opinion, undermines those priorities at the worst possible time.”
Amid the heated rhetoric about expelling Gaetz, Republican Rep. Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota said hard feelings are not really a justification for such a step, according to The Hill.
“We don’t kick people out ’cause we don’t like ’em,” Armstrong said. “God, we’d be doing that every morning in conference.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.