Republicans Mocked Over Day of Chaos: 'Toddlers'

As tensions and divisions within the GOP plunged Capitol Hill into chaos on Tuesday, Republicans were mocked for their less-than-upstanding behavior on social media, with users dismissing lawmakers as "toddlers."

In a series of separate incidents on Tuesday, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who represents California's 20th District, reportedly got into a physical altercation with one of the lawmakers who ousted him last month, while Rep. James Comer of Kentucky called Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Florida, a Democrat, a "smurf"—a little blue Belgian comic character.

On the same day, Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma challenged union leader Sean O'Brien to a physical fight in the middle of a Senate hearing after reading out tweets in which the Teamsters president had called him a "clown" and "fraud."

The chaos unfolded in the Capitol Hill building at a time when Congress is trying to avert a government shutdown before the holidays. That hasn't gone unnoticed by members of the public and Democratic lawmakers, who reacted with mockery to the turbulent behavior of the GOP members.

"These are toddlers," journalist Aaron Rupar wrote on X, after recapping the events of the day. "This morning in Republicans: - one House R accused another of sucker punching him; - a senator challenged a witness to a fistfight as people gasped; - the Oversight chair called a Dem member a 'smurf' and repeatedly called his line of questioning 'b******.'"

"House Democrats continue to fight for everyday Americans. Extreme MAGA Republicans are fighting each other. Literally," Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries wrote on X .

"If Republicans can't even get it together to impeach Mayorkas over his egregious dereliction of duty re: the criminal illegal invasion at the wide-open border, what CAN they do? Seriously," wrote podcast host Monica Crowley on X.

The dispute between Comer and Moscowitz started during an Oversight Committee hearing when the two sparred over reports that Comer loaned his brother $200,000 despite criticizing President Joe Biden for doing the same thing. Comer denied those reports, but Moskowitz asked the Kentucky Republican why the American people should believe that.

"There's a different rule for the president. There's a different rule for you. Why should they believe what you're saying?" he said. Comer shouted as the two went back and forth, at one point calling Moskowitz "a liar."

A spokesperson for Comer told Newsweek after the hearing: "Representative Moskowitz continues to spew disinformation and is attempting to distract the American people from Biden family corruption. Chairman Comer will not be deterred as he works to uncover the facts about President Biden's involvement in his family's influence peddling schemes."

Newsweek contacted Moscowitz's office for comment by phone on Wednesday but didn't receive an immediate response.

According to reporting by NPR, McCarthy walked past Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee and shoved him, which led to the latter chasing the former House speaker and lunging at him, starting a physical fight.

A possibly more violent scuffle was averted in the Senate by Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders, who intervened to stop Mullin, a former mixed martial arts fighter, from starting a brawl with O'Brien. "Sit down!" Sanders shouted at the Republican senator, who had since risen from his seat. "You're a United States senator."

Newsweek contacted McCarthy's and Mullin's offices for comment by phone on Wednesday, but didn't receive an immediate response.

"While Democrats fight (metaphorically) for our right to organize, Republicans LITERALLY try to fight our organizers. Senator Mullin is a multi-millionaire, BTW," journalist Nick Knudsen wrote on X. "Tell me your party hates working people without telling me..."

"Yea, Republicans had a bad day today, spewing dysfunction, getting in fights with each other and even threatening to beat up a witness. But the media is acting like the GOP's behavior today is the end of the republic or something," commented former Republican presidential candidate Joe Walsh.

"You know what the end of the republic is? The end of the republic is when a sitting President refuses to accept an election loss, then tries to overthrow the election, then leads a violent insurrection, and his party STILL worships him to the point where they make him the nominee for president in the next election, an election in which he says, if he wins, he'll become a dictator and throw his political opponents in jail, and his party hears him say all that and STILL bows to him," he continued.

"That right there. That's the end of the republic."