Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich blasted the Republicans opposing Kevin McCarthy.

GALLAGHER: This is an interesting dynamic. This isn’t your typical red-meat sharp elbowed Republicans who are opposed to Kevin McCarthy. Marjorie Taylor Greene is all in, but Andy Biggs, others are not. Yesterday on Fox News Channel, Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has been around the block a few times when it comes to these inner party battles, he pulled no punches about this small group of Republicans who threaten to upend Kevin McCarthy’s chances to become Speaker.

GINGRICH: They are not voting against Kevin McCarthy, they are voting against over 215 members of their own conference. Their conference voted overwhelmingly, 85 percent, for McCarthy to be speaker. So this is a fight between a handful of people, and the entire rest of the conference. And they’re saying they have the right to screw up everything. Well, the precedent that sets is; so do the moderates, so do the members from Florida. I mean, any five people can get up and say, ‘I’m now going to screw up the conference, too.’ The choice is Kevin McCarthy or chaos.

GALLAGHER: I like the way he phrased that. It is Kevin McCarthy or chaos. A lot of people want chaos and frankly I understand that. The other side of this is that there should be accountability for the pitiful showing that the Republicans had in an election cycle where we should’ve dominated. There ought to be some accountability. I don’t know that I would hang that all on Kevin McCarthy’s shoulders. Frankly, I think Mitch McConnell bears a huge amount of responsibility for the lousy outcome in the U.S. Senate. There were decisions made that I will never understand. Newt went on to shred this small group of Republicans who are threatening to prevent McCarthy from becoming Speaker.

GINGRICH: This is not about Kevin McCarthy. This is about the right of any five members to basically throw away the entire rest of the conference and tell the rest of the conference it doesn’t matter. JENKINS: Why would they do that?!
GINGRICH: This is a vote between them and the conference.
JENKINS: Newt, that makes absolutely no sense! Why would they do it?
GINGRICH: I think it’s a psychological problem. These guys can’t — they can’t count straight. They can’t play tic-tac-toe. They can’t accept victory. This is a moment where the Freedom Caucus could claim victory and conservatives could claim victory. You’re going to have — given what McConnell has been doing in the Senate, McCarthy is the only hope for conservatism in Washington right now, and to undermine him, I think is to undermine conservatism, undermine the Republican Party and, frankly, undermine the country.

GALLAGHER: I tend to agree with Newt Gingrich. However, I understand the expectation that there be some accountability for what should’ve been a big red wave that wasn’t there.