- President Johnson said he will do his job and is not worried about threats to impeach him.
- Gingrich slams far-right Republicans threatening Johnson as ‘selfish idiots’
- Former GOP chairman praised Johnson for handling an ‘almost impossible’ job
Newt Gingrich offered some unsolicited advice for ePresident Mike Johnson fought.
The former Republican president also sharply criticized those on the right who threaten the embattled Louisiana lawmaker as he moves forward with a foreign aid package.
Gingrich, who held the speaker’s gavel in the 1990s, gave a colorful interview to political where he criticized far-right disruptors as “narcissists” and “selfish idiots” and praised Johnson’s handling of an unwieldy caucus.
‘[Johnson] “You have the narrowest majority in modern times, and it’s not a true majority, because you have six or eight narcissists, people who think that individually they can ruin everything,” Gingrich said.
The former president called Congress Matt Gaetz by name as “the super narcissist.”
Gingrich sharply criticized Gaetz for ousting former President Kevin McCarthy last fall and for the dysfunction that has continued.
‘The demons Gaetz unleashed by chasing [Kevin] McCarthy is still out there. “He can’t govern by shooting himself in the head every day,” Gingrich said.
Former Republican Party Chairman Newt Gingrich praised the way Johnson has handled leadership amid party infighting.
President Johnson walks into the House chamber on April 19. He is pushing an aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan despite threats from Republicans to oust him.
The former president said the challenge of having the majority is getting something done. He said the ‘“The country expects you to do something.”
The threat of toppling Johnson grew this week as the president moves forward with a foreign aid package for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan that has been delayed by Republicans.
His efforts to proceed raised tensions with conservatives who have threatened to remove him from the leadership.
On Friday, Johnson told reporters that he is not worried about the threats. He said he’s going to do his job and let the chips fall where they may.
Gingrich called GOP members moving forward with an eviction motion “totally stupid.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) filed an override motion and threatens to remove Johnson from office if he moves forward with passing the foreign aid package.
“My question would be, ‘Show me the 218 you have for someone,’ because otherwise what you’re doing is making us spend three weeks looking like idiots, which Gaetz managed to do,” Gingrich said.
‘You have to remember that this is not a game at a PTA meeting. This is the House of Representatives. It has serious constitutional obligations. “We live in a dangerous world and seem absurdly incapable of governing ourselves,” he added.
Gingrich criticized Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who led the campaign to unseat President McCarthy last year, calling him “super narcissistic.”
Gaetz on April 19 with his wife Ginger on the steps of the Capitol after the House allowed the foreign aid package to advance with a vote this weekend.
Gingrich’s leadership in the 1990s has been blamed for helping usher in an era of ugly politics and partisanship that endures among hardliners in Washington today.
Recently, Gingrich posted on X that Johnson’ is working to lead the most complicated House since the Civil War. “Any Republican who tries to vacate the presidency should be accused of being totally destructive.”
Gingrich said in the interview that he thinks Johnson is “doing a pretty decent job considering how nearly impossible it is.”
“Frankly, the danger for the far right is that if they teach 120 or 130 members that the only way to get anything done is to work with Democrats, they’re going to end up with much worse legislation than they would get if they actually worked together,” Gingrich said. .
He added that he feels “great sympathy” for how hard the work is.
When asked if Johnson should prioritize keeping the presidency or passing aid to Ukraine.
“Brave men die only once, a coward dies a hundred deaths,” he replied.
He urged Johnson to do what he believes is historically correct and if his party is “foolish enough to punish him” for what he believes, “Then you shouldn’t be there anyway.’