'Distrust' of leadership sets off a civil war inside the House Republican Conference: report

According to a report from Punchbowl News, the Republican Party is dealing with a host of problems since the passage of the massive infrastructure bill in the House that received an assist from 13 GOP lawmakers who crossed the aisle and handed President Joe Biden a big win.

As the report notes, the House GOP leadership is already dealing with the federal indictment of Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) for allegedly lying about campaign contributions to the FBI -- joining Rep Matt Gaetz (R-FL) who is under investigation at both the state and federal level for alleged sexual escapades with underaged women.

Following the House vote on infrastructure, Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) caused a ruckus by attacking the 13 GOP House members who voted for passage, calling them "traitors" and publishing the phone numbers to their congressional offices, which then led to Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) getting a vile death threat that he made public.

Now the GOP leadership -- in both House and the Senate -- is under fire for remaining silent after Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) tweeted threats at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and President Joe Biden.

With Punchbowl calling the current state of affairs "the most bizarre, the most troubled, in American history," they are reporting that the turmoil caused by the infrastructure vote is evidence of a civil war within the caucus.

"The House Republican Conference is facing a big internal fight after 13 GOP lawmakers voted for the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package last week," the report states. "Ideological diversity is so taboo that a group of Republicans want to strip committee assignments from the offenders. And the GOP leadership is so distrusted by the moderates in the party that they were unable to convince them to force Democrats to come up with 218 votes to pass the bill before casting their own votes for the package."

The report notes that internal tensions belies the fact that "Republicans are in a good place politically. They have momentum, money, history and redistricting on their side, and even many House Democrats admit their majority is in trouble of disappearing after only four years in power," before asking, "Now imagine what happens when Republicans are in a tough spot."

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