In the wake of Dave Brat’s historic victory over House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), the Republican leadership has been thrown into a tizzy. On radio this morning, Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-TX) joined Glenn to discuss the frontrunners to replace Cantor and the growing crisis on the southern border.
Gohmert explained Republicans in the House are frantically trying to coalesce support around House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to replace Cantor when he steps down on July 31. While he likes McCarthy as a person, he believes he is “much less conservative” than Cantor.
“You look at all the results. He is much less conservative than Cantor… Kevin is one of the nicest guys in Congress. I really like the heck out of him, but all the conservative rating groups have him much lower than Cantor was,” Gohmert said. “We have got to have an alternative.”
Gohmert personally likes Rep. Raúl Labrador (R-ID) for the position. Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH), however, appears to racing to get a new majority leader elected as soon as possible even though there are several weeks left before Cantor steps down.
“I have been trying to get behind somebody that has a real chance, and Raúl’s got the support of his class. He's really wrestling with whether to get in or not. We cannot send a message that we're not going to give an alternative,” Gohmert explained. “Eric's not leaving until July 31st. There is no reason to rush this election through.”
Glenn asked Gohmert what his listeners could do to slow things down. Gohmert encouraged people to call Boehner’s office and express their frustration with the current situation. The phone number for Boehner’s office is 202.225.0600.
“We have got to have more time,” he reiterated. “[Call] the Speaker’s office and tell them that you can't just ram this through. You have to learn something from this lesson, give your conference time to talk about it. Don't ram through this thing. This is too important.”
When it comes to border security, Gohmert did not mince words when discussing reports that Central American news agencies are actually telling people to head towards the American border because they will have no trouble getting in.
“This Administration is luring young children across our border to their detriment,” Gohmert declared. “This Administration's policies are complicit in helping lure people into sex trafficking. This Administration is not intentionally doing that, but their policies are doing that. That's what's drawing them here.”