Florida Republican Representative Matt Gaetz not only doesn’t care that member high-profile Congress members have announced their departures; he’s proud of the role he’s played in their decisions.
In fact, he even said that the fact that so many high-profile leaders are leaving Washington is a sign of how successful he’s been.
Gaetz recently posted on the social media platform X that he loved a recent article that was published on CNN that outlined a recent trend of “rising stars” within the GOP who are retiring among what they termed “GOP dysfunction.”
The Florida representative could be seen as the firestarter of that dysfunction and all those departures, after he led the charge to oust former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy from his post. McCarthy has since stepped away from Congress altogether.
After McCarthy was removed as Speaker, the House struggled for weeks to find his replacement, ultimately settling on current House Speaker Mike Johnson.
As Gaetz posted on X:
“I love this @cnn article. The fundamental premise is that I’ve made congress so miserable for so many members that they are leaving. Wonderful! We can’t save America with the current Republican team. We have to get tougher and smarter. We need newer, bolder voices in the House.
“If you want to be a Paul Ryan / Kevin McCarthy Republican — THEY DON’T WORK HERE ANYMORE! The ‘institutional knowledge’ I’m accused of wiping out is often knowledge your lawmakers acquire to enrich themselves, trade stocks and sell out We the People.”
Multiple GOP lawmakers spoke to CNN for their article, and many said they had believed that holding the majority in the House would be different than it has been.
One of McCarthy’s allies, Florida Representative Carlos Gimenez, said that he’s very frustrated that other leaders in the House are leaving over frustration that’s built due to difficulties legislating.
As he told CNN:
“I thought that some of our members would be smarter. A lot of us are frustrated with what’s going on, and that’s just being flat-out honest. It’s foolish, and it’s been proven to be foolish.
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”
One person who hasn’t been surprised by all of these departures is Republican Representative Ken Buck of Colorado, who himself isn’t running for reelection in November. He has even voted against the GOP majority on a few occasions recently.
As he said about his colleagues who are departing Congress:
“They’ve signed up to do serious things. And we’re not doing serious things.”
Another departing member is Indiana Representative Greg Pence, the brother of former Vice President Mike Pence, who announced his retirement. He called all the GOP departures “big losses for us … especially for the institutional knowledge … so, that’s a big deal.”
Media outlet The Hill keeps a running tally of Congress members who aren’t running for reelection, and they reported that 21 GOP members of the House have announced already that they won’t be seeking another term in Congress come November.
