Republicans Admit MAGA Civil War Is a Total ‘S**tshow’—and It’s Only Gonna Get Worse

The MAGA Civil War has already rendered the Republican Party ungovernable, according to former GOP lawmakers who think the “s--tshow” is going to spiral out of control.

The party is already acrimoniously split between the tech billionaires led by Elon Musk, who helped bankroll Donald Trump’s re-election, and the original MAGA grassroots who have been loyal to Trump since 2016.

To make matters worse, the tiny Republican majority in the House means there is absolutely no room for maneuver, and one or two intransigent Republicans could trigger an unprecedented constitutional crisis, and even delay Trump’s inauguration next month.

The first big test of Republican power—after an apparently decisive triple victory in the November election—will be voting for a Speaker of the House on Friday. Trump made a desperate intervention on Monday, calling for the party to rally around beleaguered Speaker Mike Johnson. However, the Louisiana congressman has alienated some on the far right of the party, who may refuse to play ball with Trump.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has already publicly stated he will vote against Johnson. Thus, the vote is effectively tied, with only one more GOP dissenter required to bring down the whole house of cards.

A contested, multi-round speaker vote has never before been required at the start of a new Congress, and constitutional experts are split on whether the election can be certified and Trump sworn in as president if the squabbling continues.

“When you look at people like the Chip Roys [of Texas], the Tom Massies, the Andy Harrises [of Maryland]; they drink their own bathwater. They don’t really drink Trump’s bathwater,” former GOP Rep. Denver Riggleman of Virginia explained on Bloomberg TV. “A lot of people call the Freedom Caucus a Trump protection caucus. But in reality, there are people there that are very idealistic, right? They’re ideologues, and they’re also going to do their own thing… I don’t think it guarantees Mike Johnson the speakership at all.”

Riggleman said the first day of Congress on Friday was going to be “miserable,” and he pointed out that this would be the easy part. Once they actually try to pass some laws in the deadlocked House, he said, “Legislation’s gonna be a s--tshow.”

Massie himself was showing no sign of backing down to try and resolve the potential impasse. He said Trump’s efforts to re-install Johnson were doomed to fail just like the Democratic effort to convince the world that President Joe Biden was not “a potato.”

“For months Democrats ignored the fact that Joe Biden was a potato. They convinced themselves that keeping him around was the pragmatic way to win the day. Too late did they admit the emperor had no clothes. Republicans are doing the same thing by keeping Speaker Mike Johnson,” he wrote on X.

Fellow Republicans Tim Burchett of Tennessee and Rich McCormick of Georgia said on Monday they needed further reassurances before they committed to voting for Johnson.

“I want a specific plan. When we talk about what we are going to make our cuts, how are we going to save this nation from bankruptcy?” McCormick told NewsNation. “I just don’t think we have a plan.”

Burchett told Fox News he was still undecided but offered some extremely unexpected praise of Johnson.

“He’s a fine Christian man. He’s not a religious man; he’s a Christian man,” Burchett said. “And he doesn’t cheat on his wife, and I find that very appealing in Washington, D.C.”

Another former Republican congressman told MSNBC that the fissure at the heart of the MAGA movement was going to be a constant problem.

“Often when Elon Musk goes about policy, he’s actually wrong about most of it, and the scary part is most members of Congress don’t realize he’s actually wrong. They just say, ‘Yes, let’s go in that direction.’ Mike Johnson, I think he’s a smart guy who knows that Donald Trump is often wrong and Elon Musk is often wrong, so he’s in this place where he has to navigate the caucus of Trump/Musk followers while also actually doing the business of government,” former Rep. David Jolly of Florida said.

The former congressman said it won’t make much difference who is eventually elected speaker, adding, “This is an impossible speakership for anybody.”