A Week of Woes: Republican Infighting Heats Up During Yet Another GOP String of Failures
February 8, 2024
In response to a week of Republicans fighting with each other after they put politics ahead of the American people, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement:
“Republicans struggled and subtweeted their way through another week of failing the American people. From pursuing an impeachment sham that fell apart on the floor to refusing to support bipartisan legislation to secure the border in order to boost Donald Trump, it’s no wonder tensions are high in the GOP chaos conference. Week by week, Republicans continue to make it clear just how incapable they are of delivering for the American people – and just how beholden they are to Trump and his extreme MAGA agenda.”
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Republicans in Congress lashed out at each other throughout a disastrous week of embarrassments.
Speaker Mike Johnson: “It was a mess, what happened here.”
Axios: “Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), the lead GOP negotiator, criticized Republicans on the Senate floor Wednesday for allowing presidential politics to influence their vote. ‘I had a popular commentator … that told me flat out, ‘If you try to move a bill that solves the border crisis during this presidential year, I will do whatever I can to destroy you,’’ Lankford revealed ahead of the Senate’s failed vote to advance the bill.”
Rep. Dan Crenshaw: “If we have a bill that, on net, significantly decreases illegal immigration, and we sabotage that — that is inconsistent with what we told our voters we would do.”
Igor Bobic, HuffPost: “GOP Sen. Cramer calls impeaching Mayorkas ‘the dumbest exercise and use of time’
‘What’s rich to me is the speaker says the [border] bill in the Senate is… dead on arrival. And then they proceed impeaching a cabinet secretary, which is obviously dead on arrival.’”
Rep. Troy Nehls: “I had many people reach out to me via text message and say, ‘What the hell are you guys doing up there?’ … We’re not acting like we’re in the majority.”
Rep. Thomas Massie: “Name one thing that’s improved under the new Speaker.”
Stephen Neukam: “Message from senior GOP aide: ‘If we lose the Israel vote after losing Mayorkas impeachment: VACATE.’”
New Republic: “Republican Senator Loses His Mind Over What His Party Is Doing on Border Deal”
Washington Examiner: “Republican sources also told the Washington Examiner that Johnson’s speakership must be up for debate after Tuesday’s losses.”
Newsweek: “Following the votes, Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie said getting rid of McCarthy ‘has officially turned into an unmitigated disaster,’ while challenging others to ‘name one thing that’s improved under the new Speaker.’”
Salon: “‘What the hell are they thinking?’: Furious Republicans erupt over ‘embarrassing’ defeat”
Raw Story: “Doubts swirl around Speaker Johnson’s abilities after ‘embarrassing’ losses: report”
“Speaker Johnson, like his predecessor, Speaker McCarthy, has a razor-thin majority. But so did Speaker Nancy Pelosi in her final years as Speaker. As the Brookings Institution noted near the end of her tenure as Speaker, Pelosi ‘never lost a leadership fight and rarely lost a legislative battle.’”