Ex-House Republican Diagnoses Matt Gaetz’s Issue With the Speaker: ‘He Hates McCarthy’

Former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) believes he has pinpointed the problem that Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has with Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).

Gaetz “hates” him.

Walsh appeared on CNN’s OutFront just hours after McCarthy’s bill to avert a government shutdown went down in flames thanks to Gaetz and 20 other Republicans who voted against the legislation. The bill would have funded the federal government for the month of October while the House hammers out 12 appropriations bills to fund the government over the longer term.

That is now all by the wayside as the government is almost certainly headed for a shutdown this week.

“It’s an embarrassment,” said host Erin Burnett. “But when you listen to Congressman Gaetz, it seems like his issues with Speaker McCarthy are almost personal. What is going on there?”

“He hates McCarthy – to put it bluntly this Friday evening,” Walsh replied. “Matt Gaetz can’t stand Kevin McCarthy. And you combine that with the fact that Matt Gaetz is putting his own personal agenda ahead here. Matt Gaetz is already trying to run for governor of Florida. This is about promoting the Gaetz brand. Look, very few House Republicans really respect McCarthy. They always have had a hard time believing that you can trust his word. They know he wants to be speaker more than anything. Gaetz just verbalizes that better than anybody else, and they’ve been making life miserable for him ever since.

Watch above via CNN.