GOP House members are plotting revenge against the Jar Jar Binks of Congress, Florida Republican Matt Gaetz, after his stunt ousted California Republican Kevin McCarthy from the Speakership.  According to the Washington Post, one group of Republicans is looking to eject Gaetz from the GOP, while others are planning his eviction from the House.

Gaetz has put himself on an island:  he was despised before this stunt for embarrassing the Party by leading a rag-tag sect of far-right nihilists to force a days-long election of McCarthy in the first place.  It had gotten so bad, Gaetz frequently sat on the Democratic side of the aisle when the caucuses met on the House floor, ignoring his Republican colleagues and they him.

“I’d love to have him out of the conference,” Don Bacon of Nebraska told reporters Tuesday, adding, “He shouldn’t be in the Republican Party.”  South Dakota’s Dusty Johnson commented, “I think there’s some reason to doubt whether or not Matt Gaetz is serious.”

Gaetz’s desire to grab headlines by pulling stunts leading to voters seeing Republicans in chaos may be a ploy to position himself as a power broker in the House if the House Ethics Committee comes back with a finding against Gaetz relating to allegations that he was involved in a child sex trafficking ring.  Such a finding could quickly lead to a vote on the floor to expel him immediately, a scenario in which Gaetz would present himself as victim of retribution who was denied due process.  And he’ll fundraise off that before he retires from politics and opens up a John Deere dealership in Sarasota.