Marjorie Taylor Greene Loses it After 'Absolutely Broken' Republican Caucus Fails to Unite Over Speaker Nomination
Oct. 19 2023, Published 8:15 p.m. ET
Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene had a meltdown on camera over the dysfunctional Republican caucus as the House Speakership remains vacant, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Greene slammed the idea of a temporary speaker, which would allow Republicans time to settle their internal issues and nominate a majority-backed member, while also addressing immediate concerns such as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the ongoing war in Ukraine, and the looming government shutdown deadline less than a month away.
MSNBC's Garrett Haake was reporting from the Capitol on Thursday when he crossed paths with the Georgia lawmaker, who was fired up after a day of closed-door meetings in the wake of Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan suspending his nomination after two failed rounds of voting.
"There’s a lot going on simultaneously here. A lot of confusion about what the actual plan is going to look like going forward," Haake said.
"Here is what I can tell you. Jim Jordan has told Republicans behind closed doors that he supports the idea of giving Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry temporary power for an extended period of time."
While Jordan was open to the idea of McHenry being given temporary power, MAGA Republicans like Greene were staunch opponents.
"I do not support this plan. Republican voters work too hard to give us the majority for us to enter some sort of temporary speakership," Green told Haake.
"Our conference has a responsibility to the American people, to our districts, to work together and unify, and this conference is absolutely broken," the lawmaker added in frustration.
Greene's refusal to meet her own party in the middle reflected the chaos that's plagued Republicans since they took back the majority in 2022. Unity has not been Republican's strong suit and far-right holdouts repeatedly complicated their ability to effectively govern.
Kevin McCarthy began his historically embarrassing brief stint as House Speaker with a grueling 15 rounds of voting because of the party's inability to unite behind his nomination.
After briefly occupying the position, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz went after McCarthy and filed the resolution to vacate the speakership at the beginning of October.
Unfortunately for Greene and her colleagues, it appeared that Gaetz was short-sighted in his personal vendetta against McCarthy. Gaetz gladly took to the House Floor to condemn McCarthy and led the charge for his ousting, all the while forgetting about a replacement.
Without a Speaker, the House is at a stand-still and official duties cannot be carried out. Haake reported that Democrats were having their own closed-door meetings to discuss "what would be their red lines" for a nominee.
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"They also talked about the importance that whoever they backed not be an election denier. They seem to want to set up a structure for a speaker pro tem more than they want to pick the person," the reporter said. "That said, Democrats have made it very clear they haven’t seen this resolution yet."
Haake added that Democrats were "essentially waiting for Republicans to make very clear what they are actually going to put on paper and what they are going to do before Democrats will say what they will support."