Matt Gaetz is attacking his own party and destroying the House GOP's ability to govern

WASHINGTON—I am surprised that so many adults are having such a difficult time dealing with Rep. Matt Gaetz, Florida’s boy congressman. The American Spectator had Mr. Gaetz as a guest at one of our Saturday Evening Club meetings several months ago, and I, as the host of the affair, had little difficulty in handling him. He was unruly the minute he joined us, and soon he was gone.

I thought at first of giving him the greeting card that I always keep handy, lest things get out of hand. It reads: "The Management requests that you leave quietly." Yet the congressman was becoming disagreeable, so I simply gave him the old heave-ho. He objected in a petulant manner, but I would have none of it, and he got the message. He vamoosed before I could call in the authorities.

He had been difficult earlier with my staff who were preparing dinner. He had promised them to attend the meeting, but then he backtracked.

Then he agreed to attend a truncated meeting, but he backtracked again. Now he would stay for dinner but leave early. After dessert, I presume. He claimed he had to attend a television show.

Well, television is never allowed to preempt a Saturday Evening Club meeting. So the boy congressman bid adieu; as he hunkered down and lurched out into the night, one of the club members murmured "good riddance."

I, of course, maintained my composure and said nothing. After all, few of the club members even noticed the congressman’s departure. We have been holding these meetings for something like 35 years. They have included congressmen, senators and Supreme Court justices. Even Norman Mailer was once in attendance. No one had ever been ejected until Mr. Gaetz’s arrival and his hasty departure.

What so perturbed Mr. Gaetz in then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s remarks or actions remains unclear. This is typical of the boy congressman. All he does is huff and puff and head to the next television show.

On cable news, he is apparently a star. How long that will last is a mystery. He has yet to outline his complaints, and as for his plan to balance the budget, he has yet to even try.

That is enough for his seven co-conspirators who are as eager as Mr. Gaetz is to tender complaints but as reluctant as he is to issue a balanced budget. About the only person to say anything at all sensible last week was former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and he said it in a blunt rebuff of Mr. Gaetz and his seven fellow malcontents. Mr. Gingrich called Mr. Gaetz an "anti-Republican" who "has become actively destructive to the conservative movement."

Mr. Gingrich was just getting started. He said Mr. Gaetz "is destroying the House GOP’s ability to govern and draw a sharp contrast with the policy disasters of the Biden administration."

Then, unlike Mr. Gaetz and his fellow malcontents, Mr. Gingrich offered the Republicans some constructive things to do in the remaining months of their terms in office.

Republicans, he said, "should be focused on cutting spending in appropriations bills. Republicans should be focused on advancing their impeachment inquiry into President Biden. They should be pursuing and amplifying immigration policy changes to address the wildly out-of-control southern border. Instead of taking these positive steps — which would help move the conservative agenda forward — Mr. Gaetz has been egocentrically going from TV show to TV show and attacking his own party."

Well, I say it is time for Republicans to rid their party of "anti-Republicans." I say give him the old heave-ho.

Glory to Ukraine!

(COMMENT, BELOW)