Former aide reveals ‘dumpster fire’ inside Paul Gosar’s ‘crazy’ office
House minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is facing increasing pressure to punish Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) for an apparent threat against a Democratic lawmaker, but a former aide said the right-wing congressman might actually enjoy the notoriety.
The Arizona Republican tweeted out an anime-style video depicting himself murdering Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and attacking President Joe Biden with swords, after a recent history of associating with white nationalists and justifying the Jan. 6 insurrection, and multiple sources identified the source of Gosar's most toxic antics as his chief of staff Thomas Van Flein, reported The Daily Beast.
"Through the last decade, Gosar has 'always been kind of crazy,' and his office often 'a dumpster fire,' said a former aide to the congressman, who recalled that Gosar and Van Flein often egged each other on in terms of how outrageous their messaging could be," the website reported. "The former aide ... suspected that Gosar's glorification of political violence on Twitter was driven by staff, but that the congressman surely signed off on the content and tone. He is not known as an anime fan, but is understood to have an 'obsession' for communicating through video, the former aide said."
Republican leaders have ignored most of Gosar's behavior, partially because they understand he's trying to get attention, but also because they fear his views are shared by many of their voters.
"He's trying to get approval where he can find it," the former aide said. "He's found a spot where he can be a star."
A current senior GOP aide said Democrats could force a vote on censuring Gosar or removing him from committees, which would force McCarthy to decide whether he wants a vote that would connect Republicans to the right-wing lawmaker or let Democrats censure him, but the congressman's former aide said his old boss would be pleased by either outcome.
"Gosar, the former aide said, 'would view it as a badge of honor,'" The Daily Beast reported.
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