Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) called the new House speaker “MAGA Mike Johnson” on Wednesday and onlookers suggested the moniker was, unfortunately, a good fit.
“MAGA is ascendant,” Gaetz told Steve Bannon on the ex-Donald Trump adviser’s podcast.
“If you don’t think that moving from Kevin McCarthy to MAGA Mike Johnson shows the ascendance of this movement and where the power in the Republican Party truly lies, then you’re not paying attention,” Gaetz said, referring to the ousted former House speaker.
Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, was elected speaker Wednesday following three weeks of chaos after Gaetz prompted the removal of McCarthy (R-Calif.) from the role.
Gaetz was angry that McCarthy worked with Democrats to avert a government shutdown and did not acquiesce to other demands of a hard-right faction of lawmakers.
Republicans cycled through three nominees before managing to agree on Johnson, who holds extreme views on rights for women and LGBTQ+ people and led a push to throw out the 2020 election results on Trump’s behalf.
Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) suggested Gaetz’s name for Johnson was appropriate.
“‘MAGA Mike Johnson,’” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “House Republicans’ words, not ours.”
Tara Setmayer, senior adviser to the anti-Trump group Lincoln Project, called on the media to “stop burying the lede” about “MAGA Mike,” adding that he would “do the bidding of” the extremist agenda.
Politico Washington correspondent Rachael Bade said “that nickname is gonna stick.”
And former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.), another Trump critic, said Gaetz was correct, calling Johnson’s election a victory for the Florida lawmaker.
Other journalists and commentators zeroed in on Gaetz’s remark about “where the power in the Republican Party truly lies.”
“Matt Gaetz keeps being right and it’s kind of annoying,” former Republican National Committee spokesperson Tim Miller wrote.
