Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said Monday on FNC’s “Fox & Friends” that Republican House members attempting to block Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) speaker bid have a “psychological problem.”
Gingrich said, “This is a fight between a handful of people and the entire rest of the conference. And they’re saying they have the right to screw up everything. Well, the precedent that sets is; so do the moderates, so do the members from Florida. I mean, any five people can get up and say, ‘I’m going to screw up the conference, too.’ The choice is Kevin McCarthy or chaos.”
He continued, “I think it is a remarkably shortsighted and, candidly, selfish position, and I don’t understand where they’re coming from.”
He added, “These five guys decide to go out as kamikazes and see if they can sink the whole Republican Party. That’s what they’re doing. It’s not about Kevin McCarthy. It’s 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.”
Guest host Griff Jenkins asked, “Why would they do that? Newt, that makes absolutely no sense.”
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.”
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