Marjorie Taylor Greene Pours Cold Water on Leadership Challenge to McCarthy, But Adds ‘I’m Not Afraid of the Civil War in the GOP’
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) threw her support behind Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) for speaker on Monday, telling Steve Bannon she wants to see the conference unify.
“Politics is a blood sport. And because it is so difficult and you have to fight as hard as possible. And Steve, you know what that’s like. We have to dig in sometimes and we have to do everything we can to stop our enemy,” Greene told Bannon’s War Room podcast.
“And the enemy is the Democrat Party. That’s the enemy of America because they are destroying our country and selling us out. And so this is why our conference has to unify. And I say this. Andy Biggs is one of my dearest friends. I love him to death. Matt Gaetz, closest ally, somebody I trust all the time. All of these people that are involved in this challenge are my friends,” she continued, adding:
And if Jake Sherman wants to call it the MTG wing of the party, so be it. But I’m also willing to step out. And I know the ground. I know how it works on the inside and the outside.
And we have to put someone in for speaker that is going to be elected and not allow the Democrat to pull away one or two because that’s what they want to do. And they can do it. Believe me, it can be done. We have Republicans in there that would possibly make a deal, as hard as that is for people to believe.
Greene has long been a critic of McCarthy’s leadership and, going back to November of last year, has predicted that the California Republican “doesn’t have the votes” to become speaker should the GOP flip the House.
While Greene appeared to throw her support behind McCarthy on Monday, fearing that a razor-thin GOP majority could mean some in her party defect to keep Democrats in power, she still boosted a potential “civil war” in the party.
“And I’m telling you, I’ve always said I’m not afraid of the Civil War in the GOP. I lean into it. You want to know why? I want to do everything I can to do my part within our conference, to force the Republican Party to be the party that is America first and saves this country,” Greene added, noting that she is willing to fight to keep Trumpism front and center in the GOP.
