House Speaker Johnson tells GOP: Stop the Infighting

The ongoing internal strife within the Republican Party is causing frustration for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who is urging his GOP colleagues to cease the infighting and concentrate on the 2024 general election, especially with a slim majority in the House that now stands at just two.

“I’ve requested that they cease these actions,” Johnson informed CNN during the House GOP retreat in West Virginia last week. “I am strongly against members targeting each other in primaries because it is counterproductive. It only leads to division, and we should not be participating in it.

“So I am advising anyone engaged in such behavior to stop. And both sides, they may argue, ‘We did not start it, they did.'”

One of the main figures in this conflict is Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who is dismissing weaker Republicans as essentially Democrats disguised as “Republicans.”

“I would prefer to solely focus on Democrats, but if Republicans are going to act like Democrats in disguise, I will also challenge them – because ultimately, we are judged not by the number of Republicans we have in Congress,” Gaetz told CNN. “We are judged by whether or not we save the country.”

The departure of Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., a vocal critic of presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, has reduced the House majority to just two, the narrowest of margins.

“It is disheartening when members of your own team turn against each other because division does not lead to victory,” Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., remarked to CNN, despite his criticism of Trump on Jan. 6. “Teams win.

“We are disregarding the traditions that have been established over the course of centuries. And now we are campaigning in one another’s districts. This undermines the team. Thus, I believe it is inappropriate.”

In 2022, Trump labeled Bacon as “bad news,” but Bacon admits he is prepared to support Trump in 2024 to defeat President Joe Biden.

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., who endorsed former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley over Trump but has pledged to back Trump in the general election, is intent on turning the party against Trump-aligned Rep. William Timmons, R-S.C.

“We need to make significant changes,” he declared to CNN. “Our nation is at risk. We are on the verge of bankruptcy. He must assume a leadership role, in my view. We now have a leader of the Freedom Caucus in South Carolina. He will fight for freedom. He will stand with us.”

Timmons believes that the opposition against him may not be solely about him.

“I do not think it is about me,” he expressed to CNN. “I believe they are fighting over other matters. However, at the end of the day, if you are not friends with someone who votes with you 94% of the time, you will not have many friends.”

Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., is prepared for the challenge after being one of eight members who voted to remove former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

“You understand how things operate in this city: You cannot come in here and disrupt things without consequences, right?” Crane told CNN. “So from my perspective, it is positive. It just confirms that I am pursuing my original objectives.”