Matt Gaetz Posts Himself As John Wick Amid House Republican War

The majority of House Republicans and controversial, hard-right congressman Matt Gaetz appear pretty sick of each other, and now Gaetz has added to a meme-filled political controversy with a meme of his own, appearing to paint himself as John Wick from the action movie series starring Keanu Reeves.

Over the past few weeks, it seemed the United States government was headed for a shutdown, as House Republicans and Democrats could not secure an agreement on a budget that would keep the government functioning. Reports state this was largely due to Republican infighting, as a hard-right faction of Congress (of which Matt Gaetz is a member) would not vote in favor of a budget that did not include certain items that they wanted.

Two weeks ago, Gaetz laid the blame for the impending shutdown solely on House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, saying he failed to honor promises he'd made to Gaetz's hard-right faction of Congress during a tumultuous House Speaker election process.

However, over the weekend, McCarthy and House Democrats struck an 11th-hour deal that included some concessions to Democrats and kept the government open for another 45 days. This led to some crowing from Democrats and anger from the hard-right faction of Congress. After the deal was struck, Gaetz declared he would put forth a motion to expel McCarthy as House Speaker.

“I am relentless and I will continue pursue this objective,” GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz tells @JonKarl of his push to vacate Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker. https://t.co/KInxWHwCkT pic.twitter.com/NOWDqfFwvA

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) October 1, 2023

McCarthy seems unperturbed, telling CBS, "So be it. Bring it on. Let’s get it over with and let’s start governing. I’ll survive. You know this is personal with Matt. Matt voted against the most conservative ability to protect our border. He’s more interested in securing TV interviews than doing something."

But while Gaetz and his crew seem fed up with McCarthy, it seems other Republicans in Congress are fed up with him.

Fox News correspondent Jacqui Heinrich quoted an anonymous House Republican who said "No one can stand" Gaetz and that they will vote to expel him from Congress if the ethics committee finds evidence he is guilty in a sexual misconduct investigation involving him allegedly sex trafficking minors. The investigation has been ongoing since the end of the Trump administration but there have been few updates in recent years.

It was in response to the report that Republicans would move to expel Gaetz if he is found guilty of sex trafficking minors that Gaetz painted himself as John Wick.