Gaetz Discusses How to Defeat the Swamp: 'I Need More Backup'

President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to drastically reduce the size of the government with Elon Musk, and Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) discussed how the House of Representatives, with a Republican majority in sight, could help in that endeavor. However, he noted that he could not do it alone, declaring he needed "more backup" in a recent appearance on Benny Johnson's podcast.

"The swamp machine may be resilient, but it doesn't win every time. We need more members of Congress who will wake up and fight corruption every day. Otherwise, all we're going to get are incompetent or malign institutions like we saw with FEMA," Rep. Gaetz posted the clip to X (formerly Twitter).

Host Benny Johnson asked Rep. Gaetz if he believed the government's corruption was too deep to save it without destroying it.

"My theory of the case is obviously that we just need to keep shooting at the Death Star," the Florida Congressman began, invoking the fictional superweapon from the Star Wars films, adding that his success in removing Representative Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from the Speakership last October ultimately proved a mixed bag.

"When I took out McCarthy, there was this view that everything was going to change; we were going to have a fully liberated House, amendments, single-subject spending bills. And I wish that removing McCarthy had resulted in more change than it did. It resulted in some change and it resulted in meaningful change, but we are largely still funding the government," Rep. Gaetz continued.

While disappointed that continuing resolutions remain the norm and that FISA authorities have been expanded, Gaetz suggested McCarthy's removal "shows that the machine does not win every time."

"Now the machine is resilient when you shoot at it and maybe take off a wing or take off a rudder. It reassembles, and it does its best to right itself. But I saw the very same lobbyists who owned McCarthy doing everything they could to get their hooks in Johnson or whomever came next," the Florida Congressman continued.

As a result, Gaetz declared, "I need more backup. I need more [Representative] Anna Paulina Lunas (R-FL), people like [Representative] Eric Burlison (R-MO), Andy Ogles (R-TN), Eli Crane (R-AZ), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), those are the type of people who wake up every day shooting at the Death Star, and we are going to get a few more. Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ) is going to be a great member of Congress, [and] Brandon Gill (R-TX) is going to be a great member of Congress. We are going to get a few more, and then we have got to radicalize the others to the belief that if this corrupt system persists, all you are going to get are these incompetent or malign institutions."