- Rep. Matt Gaetz praised how the progressive "Squad" had flexed its power in Congress.
- Gaetz said he'd "studied" their tactics and he and like-minded Republicans wanted to mimic them.
- The Florida Republican called one "Squad" member's actions "one of the greatest flexes."
Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz says he's closely "studying" how Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other progressive lawmakers leverage their power in the halls of Congress so that he and like-minded GOP lawmakers can do the same thing.
"I have studied carefully the tactics of the Squad, and many are admirable," Gaetz told Time magazine's Molly Ball for a feature story on Gaetz and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene published Tuesday.
The Florida Republican singled out one episode, when Rep. Cori Bush, a first-year Democrat from Missouri, camped out on the US Capitol steps to protest the Biden administration's initial decision to end a pandemic moratorium on evictions.
"Is not one of the greatest flexes of the 117th Congress Cori Bush sleeping on the steps of the Capitol and getting the Biden Administration, in a matter of, like, 48 hours, to totally reverse their position?" Gaetz told Time. His timeline is a little exaggerated, but Gaetz is correct in saying that Bush's protest was widely viewed as key in getting the administration to reverse its position.
Gaetz added that while he didn't agree with Bush's views, her successful protest demonstrated how even a relatively new lawmaker could affect change.
"I obviously don't share the policy goals of Congresswoman Bush, but there's a freshman congresswoman who, by virtue of a pretty compelling direct action, got the Biden Administration to straight-up flip," he said.
Gaetz and Ocasio-Cortez recently traded barbs on Twitter, with the New Yorker demanding that her colleague say whether he asked President Donald Trump for a pardon.
Gaetz and Greene have aligned themselves with fellow "MAGA" Republicans. As the Time piece details, they hope to increase the number of ideologically aligned Republicans in the House as a way to exert power much as progressives have done.
The "Squad" started out in 2018 with Ocasio-Cortez and her fellow Democrats Reps. Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley. The loose group has now expanded with new members, including Bush and Rep. Jamaal Bowman, a New York Democrat.