If Paul Gosar and Marjorie Taylor Greene didn’t exist, the super-wingnut Freedom Caucus would have to invent them, just so they could appear to be mainstream by comparison:
Members of the right-wing Freedom Caucus are among a wide array of House Republicans rejecting a nascent group being organized by Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) whose platform reportedly aims to preserve “anglo-saxon political traditions.”
The publication Friday by congressional newsletter Punchbowl News of a seven-page document appearing to be the America First Caucus’ platform was met with “fury” by top members of the Freedom Caucus, a source with knowledge of the group’s internal discussions told Forbes.
One member, Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), took objections shared between some members of the caucus public, slamming the “hatefulness” of the platform in a Friday night tweet, with his spokesperson Lindsey Curnutte telling Forbes he has no plans to join the group.
Freedom Caucus members that Punchbowl reported to have “agreed to join” the America First Caucus, Reps. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) and Barry Moore (R-Ala.), told Forbesthey have not yet decided whether to do so.
That’s on top of criticism from other House Republicans, including Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Conference Chair Liz Cheney, with Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) calling for the GOP to expel any conference member who joins and strip their committee assignments.
Greene’s spokesperson Nick Dyer, asked about criticism of the platform from top Republicans, sought to backtrack from Greene’s public defense of its language, telling Forbes the documentwas “never approved or agreed to by Congresswoman Greene.”
Greene, in a follow-up statement, distanced herself even further from the platform after considerable backlash, calling it a “staff level draft proposal from an outside group that I hadn’t read,” adding that she “plans to drive President Trump’s America First agenda with my Congressional colleagues.”
Forbes has reached out to members of the Freedom Caucus for comment.
Rep. Burgess Owens (R-Utah), Greene’s fellow pro-Trump freshman and one of just two Black Republicans in the House, “does not plan to join” the America First Caucus, spokesperson Emma Hall told Forbes. Owens received $5,000 from the Freedom Caucus’ PAC but is not a member of the caucus itself, Hall said.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) – who, despite being vocally pro-Trump, is also not a member of the Freedom Caucus – said he is “proud to join” the America First Caucus despite the incendiary language in the platform. Gaetz is engulfed in a cloud of scandal surrounding a federal investigation into allegations he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old.
Greene and Gosar are both members of the Freedom Caucus, which has aimed to throw a wrench into congressional proceedings to protest what they say is inadequate governance. But the group has reportedly fractured in recent weeks over just how far to take that rebellion – and over the group’s controversial acceptance of Greene into its ranks.
The America First Caucus has been widely panned by Democrats, with several dubbing it the “white supremacy caucus” and Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) tweeting that members who join it should not ask him to co-sponsor legislation. “Take your nativist crap and shove it,” tweeted Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.). The document got bicameral criticism, with Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) tweeting, “This is blatantly racist.”
Any schism Greene’s new group causes in the Freedom Caucus seems unlikely to go her way, as the release of the document appears to have caught members off guard and put them in a defensive position. Gohmert, in an interview with Forbes, struggled to articulate clearly how the two groups would exist in parallel, stating, “the Freedom Caucus looks at a lot of other issues besides those that will sustain us in the future.”
Uhm, Gohmert struggles to articulate anything.
They can run but they can’t hide. These people represent a major faction within their party. They let it happen, they encouraged it, they embraced that orange monster who empowered it. I don’t think they can shut it down now. I hope I’m wrong.