A MAGA squad of Trump loyalists in the House sees its influence grow amid demands for political purity
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A MAGA squad of Trump loyalists in the House sees its influence grow amid demands for political purity
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Reps. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., third from left, talks with Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who is also seated next to Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., at a House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing in October at which Attorney General Merrick Garland spoke. Washington Post photo by Jabin Botsford
WASHINGTON - The show of force from Donald Trump’s staunchest congressional allies began almost immediately after 13 House Republicans voted this month in favor of a massive infrastructure bill that handed President Joe Biden one of the biggest victories of his tenure.
“Traitor Republicans,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., declared in a series of tweets where she posted their office phone numbers after vowing that all those in her party who “hand over their voting card to Nancy Pelosi to pass Biden’s Communist takeover of America will feel the anger of the GOP voter.”
Others chimed in. Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., promised to “primary the hell” out of any Republican who voted for the measure.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., tweeted it was “Time to name names and hold these fake republicans accountable.” And, this past week, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., told a pro-Trump podcast that there was never a situation during the infrastructure debate in which Republicans should work with Democrats: “They were going to win it all, or we were going to win it all.”
The continuing turmoil in the House GOP conference over how and whether to punish members who back anything supported by Democrats shows how an emboldened group of far-right House members is gaining influence over the Republican Party in Congress. These representatives are positioning themselves to further purify the House GOP conference as a branch of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement.
This MAGA squad consists largely of a handful of recently elected members and others who lack the traditional trappings of power such as committee chairmanships or leadership posts. But they have rocketed to fame - especially on the political right - with massive social media followings, frequent appearances on pro-Trump media and growing fundraising networks that get a boost with every provocative tweet or TV hit.
Most of all, they enjoy support from former president Donald Trump, the most popular figure in the Republican Party, who praises them at rallies and echoes their incendiary rhetoric.
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They have gained strength with the acquiescence of House GOP leaders who have either backed their positions or remained mostly silent when others in the party have raised objections to their approach. And they are asserting their influence as polls suggest the Republicans are on track to win control of the House next year, giving them a potentially decisive say in whether House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., becomes speaker.
Besides targeting the Republicans who backed the infrastructure bill - unleashing a wave of threatening calls placed to the offices of the 13 - these lawmakers in recent weeks have led the charge to recast the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and the effort to overturn the 2020 election results as defiant acts by patriots, not insurrectionists, and they have defended Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., for posting an altered anime video that depicted him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and swinging two swords at Biden.
Their influence, or the fear of crossing them, has been apparent when Democrats have sought to punish them for violent or extremist rhetoric, with almost the entire Republican conference rallying to their side.
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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., walks back to his office after speaking for more than eight hours continuously on the House floor during debate on the Democrats' expansive social and environment bill on Nov. 19. Washington Post photo by Jabin Botsford
When the House voted to strip Greene of her committee assignments in February, only 11 Republicans voted with the Democrats even as some GOP members made clear they rejected her past violent and conspiratorial comments. This past week that number fell to two on a resolution to censure Gosar and kick him off his committees, and this time most members focused their public remarks on attacking Democrats rather than addressing Gosar’s actions.
“I think I have the support nationally, and it’s because I speak what regular people say. I speak what Republicans say at home, and you know, at dinner. I’m saying what they say in their breakfast meetings before work,” Greene said. “I’m saying what they’re saying at church and saying what they’re saying in their Bible studies. I’m saying what these parents are saying, when they’re going to their school boards.”
The Trump loyalists’ influence reflects the nature of today’s Republican Party, which treats the MAGA squad as celebrities - not the fringe they might have represented in the party of Reagan, the Bushes or McCain.
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For House Republicans, this means that members who have associated with white supremacists, used violent political rhetoric, spread Trump’s false claims about the election and compared pandemic public health restrictions to the Nazis’ treatment of Jews are becoming a bigger part of the party’s public face - a role that may only grow if Trump continues to embrace and publicly boost them.
“It stuns me and surprises me that some of the voters still send these people back. But that’s their choice and, as frustrating as that is to me, if that’s who they sent, then their voices are going to be heard here,” said Rep. John Curtis, R-Utah, whose views align more with the party’s pre-Trump brand of conservatism. “It’s the job of the voters to discipline - it’s the job of the voters to decide who gets to come [to Congress] and who doesn’t get to come.”
Some House Republicans pushed back against the idea that Greene, Boebert and their cohorts hold outsize influence, noting that none of the 13 members who voted for the infrastructure bill have been punished by the party in any way, even if their offices have been on the receiving end of threatening and vulgar messages from voters.
“I don’t think it represents the mainstream, and sometimes the minority part of a party is the loudest,” said Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., who voted for the roads, bridges and broadband funding.
But the MAGA squad’s elevated place in the party was on display Thursday when both Trump and McCarthy rallied to their side a day after Gosar was censured by the House.
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Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., on Capitol Hill on Nov. 17. Washington Post photo by Jabin Botsford
Rather than move on from the debate over Gosar’s behavior, McCarthy told reporters that not only would he restore the committee assignments of Gosar and Greene but that he also would likely give them more prominent positions if Republicans win control of the chamber in the midterm elections.
“They may have other committee assignments. They may have better committee assignments,” he said. “I think with Gosar, those are the ones he wants. Taylor Greene, she was just a freshman. I know she has requested others. She has the right to serve on committees.”
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That was followed later in the day by a ringing endorsement of Gosar from Trump. The former president made clear that he stood behind the embattled Republican who has stirred controversy at almost every turn, including playing a prominent role at an event this year hosted by an activist who has defended racial segregation and minimized the Holocaust.
“Congressman Paul A. Gosar has been a loyal supporter of our America First agenda, and even more importantly, the USA,” Trump said in a statement. “Paul is a Congressman who is highly respected in Arizona, strong on Crime, Borders, our Military, and our Veterans. He continually fights for Lower Taxes, Less Regulations, and our great, but under siege, Second Amendment. Paul A. Gosar has my Complete and Total Endorsement!”
Trump’s support has been key to the group’s rise and to keeping McCarthy and other GOP leaders from pushing back against their extremist and inflammatory statements.
Trump told advisers on Wednesday that he was happy McCarthy kept his members together in support of Gosar during the censure vote, even though Trump is not personally close to Gosar. He has complained at times that McCarthy does not treat Greene, who serves as an opening act at the former president’s rallies, as well as he should, according to these advisers who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe his private remarks.
In one of his final meetings at the White House, he described her to McCarthy and others as “terrific,” according to a person in the room for the meeting.
“Isn’t Marjorie Taylor Greene wonderful? Isn’t she terrific?” Trump said.
Trump has spoken with Greene the most out of the group of House loyalists, often ranting about Gov. Brian Kemp, R-Ga., and his decision not to back Trump’s false claims about election fraud in Georgia, according to two Trump advisers. The former president’s team has invited her to various rallies because she is popular with the crowd, breaking the usual rule of having speakers only from the state where the rally is held.
Others in the group have ties to Trump they can rely on as well.
Cawthorn spoke at Trump’s re-election convention in 2020 and Boebert recently went to Mar-a-Lago for a dinner and posed with Trump wearing a “Let’s Go Brandon!” dress - a phrase that is code for a vulgar denunciation of Biden. She has been at the club in the past, and Trump has described her as entertaining, though they do not speak regularly, according to people familiar with their relationship.
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Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., speaks at a Conservative Political Action Conference event in Dallas on July 9. Photo for The Washington Post by Emil Lippe
Gaetz has been an outspoken booster of Trump since he arrived in the House in 2017 and has been a lead defender of former Trump adviser Stephen Bannon’s decision not to cooperate with the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
The House voted in October to find Bannon in criminal contempt of Congress for not complying with a subpoena from the committee, and the Justice Department announced this month that it will prosecute him for not complying with the panel’s request for information.
“Steve Bannon did nothing wrong,” Gaetz tweeted the day the former Trump adviser was charged with two counts of contempt of Congress.
Gaetz faces his own potential legal problems, with the Justice Department investigating him over an alleged sexual relationship with an underage girl, according to people familiar with the matter. The Florida congressman has portrayed himself as being unfairly targeted because of his close relationship with Trump.
Gaetz and Greene have also been leading proponents, with the backing of popular Fox News personality Tucker Carlson, of the attempt to rally Republicans to the defense of people arrested for their role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, likening them to political prisoners and visiting the jail where many are being kept to argue they are facing harsh incarceration conditions because of their support for Trump.
House GOP leaders have avoided clashing with the group, and their reluctance to challenge the attacks on the 13 supporters of the infrastructure package led to some hard feelings within the conference.
McCarthy tried to temper the criticism being directed at the members during a closed-door meeting of the conference last week, arguing that it was a distraction from the party’s effort to focus its criticism on Democrats, according to three aides familiar with the gathering.
But that message went unheeded by the MAGA squad and like-minded Republicans, such as Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, leading some members to say the leadership didn’t do enough to defend the lawmakers who voted for the bill.
“I think that leadership needs to be more assertive about the internecine feuds. I think they need to step in and quiet that down,” said Rep. Tom Rice, R-S.C., a conservative who voted to impeach Trump and opposed the infrastructure package. “Somehow we’ve gotten this idea that we’ve got to be voting for the team no matter how it affects your district or your country.”
But McCarthy’s soft touch toward the boisterous Trump loyalists hasn’t won him their affection, and some have said they may not vote for him as speaker if Republicans retake the chamber next year.
“What’s particularly problematic is there’s no willingness to fight for people like me. ... There’s no accountability for Republicans that are helping Joe Biden pass his agenda,” Greene said. “So you know, that’s not leadership. Leadership leads and doesn’t work so hard to count up votes to be speaker when we haven’t even taken back the majority.”
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This is Trump's personal freak show.
It reminds me a little bit of the weirdo sycophants Hitler had licking his boots in the early days right on through to the bitter end.
You have waged a jihad against Trump and his supporters for years and we are still here! Not going away. Not backing down. Trumpism is now stronger than ever.?
Trumps personal freak show of weirdos and mental misfits is trying to help him take over America. They are a menace to this country.
You sound like you are waging a jihad against the "secular progressives" and the "bi-coastal elite" every single day.
Just what exactly are you doing to bring them down? Posting on an internet forum won't do anything
Say it ain't so Trout.
Ok...just for today I won't shatter XX's delusions. But I'm not guaranteeing anything for tomorrow
Too late ... you already wrote the words. The secret is unleashed.
But not to worry, there is always confirmation bias to protect one's fantasy from an inconvenient reality.
They spew hateful rhetoric in church????
Hitler had a group of psychopaths and societal misfits who gravitated to him and they were rewarded by Hitler with important positions. This group is beginning to fall into that mold.
The hateful rhetoric in America and here is directed at Trump and his supporters, not by us.
take a hike .
I think I can find some comments of yours that is worse hateful rhetoric than anything said by the left of center crowd
here's just one example
Did a democratic politician make an animated feature where they killed Trump?
Greene said. “I’m saying what they’re saying at church and saying what they’re saying in their Bible studies. I’m saying what these parents are saying, when they’re going to their school boards.”
CRT is going to prove the biggest mistake the "Woke" elites ever made....
You do know that Greene is batshit crazy don't you?
Nah! Really? I mean she made a statement about Jewish lasers setting California on fire...but I thought she was just testing her satire skills
Of course John, she and several others are as batshit crazy as many of your liberal hero's are...
The real irony is your side has handed them all the ammo they need to trash your side in the elections...
The people who thought education should be organized around CRT are the real freaks...
Oh yeah.. Hi John long time no chat.... {chuckle}
A lot of conservative parents dont want their white children taught that racism has existed. That is what it is really about.
Sure.
But for every MTG there is an Omar or an AOC or whoever, doggedly committed to their own personal fantasy world.
I dont do that "both sides" crap.
AOC could run rings around MTG using any metric or standard related to creating policy to help people, or even being a relatively intelligent human being. There is no "equivalence" between them.
Her educational background includes:
Ocasio-Cortez attended Yorktown High School , graduating in 2007.
She came in second in the microbiology category of the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in 2007 with a research project on the effect of antioxidants on the lifespan of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans . [17] [18] In a show of appreciation for her efforts, the MIT Lincoln Laboratory named a small asteroid after her: 23238 Ocasio-Cortez .
After graduating from high school, Ocasio-Cortez enrolled at Boston University .
During college, Ocasio-Cortez served as an intern for U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy in his section on foreign affairs and immigration issues .
Ocasio-Cortez graduated cum laude from Boston University in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in both international relations and economics .
So, suck it up buttercups.
Are you deliberately confusing "book smart" with "common sense"?
We know, John. *sigh*
We know.
So your contention here is that your team's batshit doesn't stink. Riiiiight.
Smells like roses.....
Pity she can't figure out how the unemployment rate is calculated, why deficits matter, how healthcare is financed, or ...well..... anything at all about money and math, really.
Well, that could all change if she sleeps at a Holiday Inn soon.
Word on the street is she wise to the mysterious ways of the garbage disposal now.
I guess you will believe anything.
Don't be silly.
You just pay for it!!
I forgot about that.
I believe that I have seen her...on video... utterly misunderstand each of those topics.....AND be amazed by the garbage disposal.
not as batshit crazy as those that keep railing against somebody who isn't in office any longer.
Your comment has nothing to do with the topic
Notice the complete deflection from most of these posters.
Most of these comments don't.
Boebert, Greene, Cawthorn, Gaetz, Gosar , Jordan, and others, - these people are all junior psychopaths with extremely faulty thinking and disturbed personalities and lackey devotion to a megalomaniac leader.
I did not compare them to Hitler's lackeys lightly.
I figured I'd try the methods of those who just blurt out garbage all over this site. (I just realized how low that means I would have to lower my standards.)
You know what? It's comments like that that make me want to just take my ball and go home. I get it. You hate me. I used to be able to discuss things with you. Not anymore
There are a couple of people like that now. Use to be able to talk yet now they just throw insults.
Most of the people who are bothering you have never won an argument on this forum and I doubt if they ever did on Newsvine either.
It is annoying, I understand that, but realize their "arguments" are often laughable.
John, I rarely win arguments but I don't treat reasonable people with disrespect just because I lost an argument to them. Note: I said reasonable people. The ones I throw disrespect at are not reasonable people
Hilarious. Only in your mind methinks.
I have never looked at your comments as being from someone who was losing arguments.
John - I know - I'm gonna get a ticket - but - ya know, you're starting to throw that "hitler/Nazi" crap out a bit too often lately when you're wanting to slam the opposing party(ies).
Ya might wanna read the CoC/ToS and some of Perrie's many warnings 'bout that.
Ya think?
Well Texan - anybody who "listens" to her can really see that she misses her "Boston Bartender's Guide" really, really bad.
I consistently lose them to someone.
I think you made more sense before you became a Trump supporter.
Nah.
[Deleted]
Don't hate you as a person. That attitude is foreign to me in a way. For the most part serves no purpose. I try to keep an open mind to a lot of things. The list of people I hate is surprisingly very short. Mostly consisting of those who have attempted to do me or my family harm. Some of them are no longer drawing breath but that's besides the point.
I just lost this argument
Says the #1 argument loser on the site.... of course you have always held that everyone that disagrees with you is less intelligent than you... (remember all those arguments of how Hillary couldn't possibly lose? {chuckle} Of course that is relative john, you used to be the #1 argument maker on the site as well, but someone else has taken that title from you haven't they... But I will admit that occasionally, you do make a point, occasionally... Once you even got me to agree with you... {chuckle}
But then this is an internet forum, extremely hard to win anything here isn't it.... You know while I was gone, I almost missed chatting with you, Almost...
This site would be lost without you john, your a fixture here.... An adorable diversion from reality, one which reminds us to be thankful for what we have cause many of your brethren would like to take such away from everyone they disagree with...
Care to try again? {chuckle}
Same here, Giggles. If other members treat me with respect, even if we might disagree on a subject. Just because someone has a different opinion or thought different from me, there is still something that can be learned with civil discourse.
Slamming, insulting or throwing out personal attacks merely because someone has a differing aspect or opinion only leads to more hate fests and is never necessary, or acceptable.
If others treat me with disrespect and insults, there is nothing of any value to be learned and that person goes on my Ignore list, as there is nothing of value be gained by that kind of action, and I won't give them the attention they crave from such action.
If somene treats me with disrespect and personal attacks, then demands I treat them respect, they can kiss my rosy red raspberry.
Amen Sister...
Anyone who thinks that Donald Trump has ever been fit to hold elected office can't be too bright. Trump was a known habitual liar, crook, bigot, moron and cheat on election day in 2016. So I dont object to questioning the intelligence of those who affirmatively argue that Trump is fit for office.
I also question the intelligence of people who argue that slavery was not the cause of the Civil War or that slavery in America was not based on racism.
Other than those I dont say much about who is or isnt intelligent. How would I know?
Its funny to see you try and ingratiate yourself in here as some sort of voice of reason and amicability. In one of your first comments after you "came back" a couple weeks ago you said that the country may be headed to a shooting civil war and placed all the blame on the left. That I guess is your version of reasonableness.
People who have been here for a while know you all too well, and your windiness does not impress.
I'm not impressed . . . not at all. Never was by any supporters of the trumpturd.
"A lot of conservative parents dont want their white children taught that racism has existed. That is what it is really about."
I don't know why anyone refers to them as conservatives.
"Most of the people who are bothering you have never won an argument on this forum"
That's the truth, no doubt!
Nowhere Man wants to teach you. Arent you anxious to be instructed by him?
You can still say it all you want, it still makes me chuckle.... Ingratiate myself? When your wrong your wrong, when your right your right... I've had heated discussions with most everyone from both sides at one time or another... and most I have had them with have become very close friends or grudgingly respected...
I don't suffer trolls and those with personal agendas at all..... I personally don't care what you think, you never back up your claims anyway and your usually wrong... Why should I even bother? Got any new schtick or is it still the same old same old...? My three best friends on this board are all hard core liberals I have never politically agreed with any of them, but if they need something I will do whatever I can for them, they are friends...
The rest, can wonder why... It's their loss not mine...
But you have a nice day my friend, we will probably meet in antipathy at some point on the board, it will be enjoyable... (I hope)
L8ters
When misfits like Boebert, Cawthorn, Gaetz, Gosar and Greene become the Republican thought leaders in Congress, you know the Republican Party has reached the depths of depravity.
Then they will almost match the dimwits in the Democratic Party--The Squad, Maxine Waters, and a host of other, lesser lights.
Boebert calls out Democrats:
But lets focus on somebody who isn't in office and trivial shit.
Please....Lawless Lauren calling other people out. Hilarious
Sad when a nutjob like that is praised.
I notice you aren't giving anything to prove her wrong.
I didn't bother to open the video. Sorry, but my ears are too sensitive for her screeching
[deleted]
I watched Boebert's videos. She sounds like the last place finisher on a high school debate team.
Doesn't one have to have at least a smoche of intelligence to be on a debate team?
Nothing but praise for these whackjobs/criminals.
I think there's only one solution to this slapfest....