'Knock it off': Speaker Johnson scrambling to put down civil war between House Republicans

Holding on to his leadership position by the slimmest of margins due to retirements and special election seat losses, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is being forced to warn members of his caucus to 'knock it off" because some of them are interfering in their colleagues' primary campaigns.

According to a report from CNN's Manu Raju and Melanie Zanona, the Republican Party lawmaker admitted he is growing frustrated with the civil war within his own party causing him to deal with "member-on-member" attacks that threaten to create even more chaos during his tenure.

Speaking with CNN, Johnson stated he had to caution attendees at last week's sparsely-attended GOP retreat in West Virginia.

“I’ve asked them all to cool it. I am vehemently opposed to member-on-member action in primaries because it’s not productive. And it causes division for obvious reasons, and we should not be engaging in that," he complained. "So I’m telling everyone who’s doing that to knock it off. And both sides, they’ll say, ‘Well, we didn’t start it, they started it.’”

Chief among Johnson's antagonists is always controversial Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) who is not sympathetic to Johnson's dilemma.

CNN is reporting that the Florida lawmaker is targeting sitting House lawmakers Mike Bost (R-IL) and Tony Gonzales (R-TX), with Gaetz pushing back at the speaker.

“I would love nothing more than to just go after Democrats,” Gaetz explained. “But if Republicans are going to dress up like Democrats in drag, I’m going to go after them too. Because at the end of the day, we’re not judged by how many Republicans we have in Congress. We’re judged on whether or not we save the country.”

The report adds that Johnson is sitting on a slim 2-seat margin in the House, with Raju and Zanona writing, "The feud underscores how the razor-thin House majority has proven to be almost ungovernable, leading to a state of gridlock and internal GOP warfare that has defined the 118th Congress. The battle has often pitted hardliners who advocate a no-compromise approach and want to go toe-to-toe with Democrats – against many Republicans who believe they should aim for incremental victories at a time of divided government."

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