House Speaker Mike Johnson's famously even keel apparently has a breaking point, and a closed-door meeting over a veterans bill found it.
Multiple sources tell NOTUS that Johnson snapped at his own conference, declaring "I'm sick of this sh*t!" as Republicans tore into each other over the legislation. Hey, fight amongst yourselves.
The blowup reportedly came out of a clash between Florida GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who opposed the bill, and Rep. Zach Nunn (R-IA), who supported it. When Luna pushed back on Johnson directly, he completely lost it — then had to do a bit of cleanup: apologizing to Luna, and separately making a point of apologizing to the school-age son of Colorado Rep. Gabe Evans, who'd witnessed the whole profane outburst firsthand.
Johnson went on to yank the bipartisan Take Care of America's Veterans Act from the floor entirely, saying it could be delayed for weeks.
The episode is really a symptom of a bigger GOP problem: a slim majority that can't stop tripping over its own hardliners. South Dakota Rep. Dusty Johnson diplomatically split the conference into people who get things done and people who like knocking things down.
Florida GOP Rep. Carlos Gimenez was blunter, griping that the "small minority" gumming up the works doesn't reflect the rest of the "team players" — even if they're stuck living with the leverage those holdouts have. Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) put it most bluntly: it's hardcore conservatives against everyone else.
It sure looks like Republicans are in disarray! I'm OK with that.
