'Kevin McCarthy or chaos': Newt Gingrich tears into Republicans throwing a ... trends now

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Newt Gingrich said  on Monday that a small faction of Congressional Republicans who oppose House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy do not have the 'moral right' to derail his bid for the Speaker's gavel.

Gingrich, a former House Speaker himself, gave McCarthy's inter-party campaign an 11th hour boost during a Fox News interview just a day before the GOP votes on who will lead their new majority in the House of Representatives.

Beginning that majority without a consensus on their leader - and a very public dispute on the matter - has set the GOP off on a bumpy start.

Gingrich warned that failing to elect McCarthy could plunge both Congress and the country into 'chaos.'  

McCarthy's allies have spent weeks trying to convince his critics, mainly conservatives to his right, to fall in line behind the California Republican. But they want concessions that moderates in the party - and until recently, McCarthy himself - have been unwilling to give.

With just a slim 222-seat majority in the 118th Congress, McCarthy can afford to lose no more than four votes to win the Speakership.

'This is a fight between a handful of people and the entire rest of the conference,' Gingrich said on Monday. 'And they're saying they have the right to screw up everything.'

'The choice is Kevin McCarthy or chaos. And there's nobody going to replace Kevin, because he has far more people totally dedicated to him than this handful of never-enders.'