The Republican-led House has seen a massive influx of retirements among GOP representatives, heavily trimming down their already extremely thin majority margin, and it’s pissing Donald Trump off in a bad kind of way.
Over the holiday weekend, Trump spent his entire Easter raging in a massive, public mental breakdown against… Basically everyone, on his Truth Social platform.
Among those who found themselves on the receiving end of Trump’s ire and anger was Wisconsin Republican House Rep. Mike Gallagher, who recently confirmed that he will not reconsider his decision to leave Congress, despite desperate reported pleading from newly-installed Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson — who’s been struggling to keep Republicans in his House since he took over.
In his Truth Social post on Easter Sunday, Trump raged, “Never forget our cowards and weaklings!” adding, “Such a disgrace,” along with a link to the Conservative Washington Examiner’s coverage of Gallagher’s impending departure.
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As noted by Mediaite, Gallagher’s Congressional exit decision leaves the GOP in a “precarious position.”
The Wisconsin Republican is slated to see his last day in Congress on April 19th. Once he’s gone, Republicans’ already thin advantage in the US House of Representatives will plummet to a razor-thin 217-214 — leaving the GOP only able to afford one lost Republican vote to pass any measures they put forward in the House.
The timeline of Gallagher’s departure poses additional issues for the GOP as well, as a special election would’ve been triggered to fill the Wisconsin Rep.’s seat, had he resigned prior to April 9th. However, that extra 10 days means that the seat will sit vacant and unfilled by either a Republican or a Democrat until a new Congress is seated in January 2025.
Gallagher’s exit comes hot on the heels of Rep. Ken Buck’s departure, which had already put a dent in the GOP’s majority in the House. Buck left Congress earlier this month, citing his distaste with the Republican Party as a whole and, in particular, scandal-plagued former President Trump.
“I am not going to lie on behalf of my presidential candidate, on behalf of my party,” Buck said on March 3. “And I’m very sad that others in my party have taken the position that, as long as we get the White House, it doesn’t really matter what we say.”
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery