Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) clashed over the latter’s criticism of Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.).
What Happened: Mace refused to back Scalise for the House Speaker position, saying that he "attended a white supremacist conference and compared himself to David Duke." Greene, however, in a post on X, branded Mace’s criticism as a “disgusting attack.”
Both Greene and Mace are in support of House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) to replace the ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). Nonetheless, Greene felt Mace’s comments about Scalise, who won the nomination for the top GOP position, were unjust.
In a thread on the social media platform X, Greene said "I'm supporting Jim Jordan for Speaker. I'm not supporting Scalise."
"I like Steve Scalise, and as I said, I want him to beat cancer, and he should be focused on that," she added.
"What I do think is an unfair and quite frankly disgusting attack is members of our conference using … Democratic talking points," she said, adding that they are "using the same lines of attack that Democrats use against every single Republican, every single election, every single day, in these halls of Congress to attack Steve."
Mace’s comments were reportedly based on Scalise’s self-comparison to the Ku Klux Klan‘s former grand wizard in a past event, where he reportedly described himself as "David Duke without the baggage."
Greene, however, defended Scalise, asserting that he "isn't a White Supremacist. We all know that. He's a good man."
Greene further argued that Mace’s accusations could potentially provide Democrats with ammunition against the Republicans.
Why It Matters: The House GOP conference voted on Wednesday to nominate Scalise as Speaker with a 113-99 majority. However, despite winning the nomination, Scalise ended his bid to become House speaker late Thursday after hardline holdouts refused to back the GOP nominee.
The House is now entering its second week without a speaker, rendering it ineffective in dealing with domestic and international crises. There is growing political pressure on Republicans to change their stance, regain majority control, and effectively govern in Congress.
This scenario is not fully different from the beginning of the year when McCarthy faced a comparable challenge from a distinct set of far-right dissenters who, in the end, voted for him as the speaker. However, they subsequently orchestrated his unprecedented removal from the position.
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