(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . GOP in disarray: Bannon rips Huckabee Sanders for insulting Trump; Gaetz gets Maced at dinner [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-09 Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders came under strong criticism from liberals for her dystopian response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address in which she assumed the mantle of “anti-woke” cultural warrior queen and attacked LGBTQ and Black Americans. But it seems that her speech also left a sour taste among some right-wing extremists who found her SOTU response insulting because she bit the hand of the man who fed her and brought her into the national spotlight as the chief White House spokesperson — namely Donald Trump. Sanders, 40, who was recently sworn in as Arkansas’ first female governor, also said, “It’s time for a new generation of Republican leadership.” Trump is now 76. The New Civil Rights Movement, which monitors right-wing extremism, reported on how Huckabee Sanders’ official Republican response to Biden’s SOTU got panned when former Fox Business anchor Lou Dobbs appeared on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast on Wednesday. And both conjured up a new conspiracy theory that Huckabee Sanders was engaged in a plot by the Republican Governors’ Association to boost Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as a potential challenger to Trump for the 2024 presidential nomination. Dobbs said Huckabee Sanders’ speech was “unacceptable” and “an insult to President Trump because she didn’t mention his name once, even when lengthily recounting a Christmas visit to the troops in Iraq by the president and first lady. "To not mention his name, to talk about 'new leadership' -– it looked like the Governor's Association had written much of that speech, and aligned themselves with Ron DeSantis," Dobbs said, calling it a "lack of respect to POTUS." Bannon, a former White House political strategist who was convicted on two federal criminal contempt charges, agreed that her remarks were "an insult to Trump." "She does not exist, politically, if it's not for President Trump," Bannon added. "I thought the speech was terrible." Bannon said “wokeism is very important,” but there were other important issues like the debt ceiling that needed to be raised in her speech. “She not intellectually capable of going to the heart of the matter, right? Let's be blunt." Bannon said, adding "This was like written by Ron DeSantis and the entire RGA." Dobbs chimed in by saying that failure to mention the former president’s name was “a metaphor for what the donor class is trying to do to Donald Trump right now.” He said big GOP donors wanted to use Trump’s legacy for “a RINO presidency that they can control.” x Embedded Content *** Meanwhile, Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina skewered fellow Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz at Wednesday night’s Washington Press Club Dinner. She referenced allegations that the Florida congressman had sex-trafficked a 17-year-old girl. A federal investigation into the allegations is winding down and no charges are expected to be filed against Gaetz. Mace is one of those House Republicans who tries to sound reasonably sane, except when it comes to casting an actual vote. So Mace got in some zingers directed at Gaetz. She noted that Kevin McCarthy needed 15 ballots to be elected House Speaker, which came when Gaetz finally changed his vote from “no” to “present.” Did you watch McCarthy during the speaker’s vote? I know many of you were in halls of Congress during that vote. I haven’t seen someone assume that many positions to appease the crazy Republicans since Stormy Daniels. It only goes downhill from here, people. I mean, come on! But let’s be honest. We all knew that Matt Gaetz would never let the vote get to 18. I hope that C-SPAN has a buzzer or a bleep because this s--t is about to get real, ok? It only goes downhill from here. I do have a message from Matt this evening. He really, really wanted to be here tonight, but he couldn’t find a babysitter to be his date. Gaetz did not attend the dinner. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/9/2152080/-GOP-in-disarray-Bannon-rips-Huckabee-Sanders-for-insulting-Trump-Gaetz-gets-Maced-at-dinner Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/