Will Gaetz and Lee be forced to leave the party?

And Gaetz?

“Reclaiming Congressional power is the Constitutional conservative position!” Devin Murphy, Gaetz’s legislative director, wrote to all Republican offices around 11 a.m. Thursday, underlining the text, according to the email obtained by The Washington Post.

The message, arguing for Republicans to buck the president, ended: “We WILL be voting in favor of H. Con. Res. 83, and hope you will do the same!”

[...]

Trump fiercely complained about Gaetz after aides informed Trump that his office had sent the email backing the resolution.

[...]

“The Trump administration was disappointed in the congressman’s vote and is hopeful that as the president’s foreign policy continues to unfold, he will reconsider his points of view,” Eric Ueland, the head of legislative affairs for the White House, said in an interview.

  WaPo

Does all that ass-kissing he did during the House impeachment hearings count for nothing?

Gaetz has been called “the Trumpiest Congressman in Trump’s Washington,” a judgment that he features prominently on his campaign homepage, along with quotes depicting him as “Trump’s Best Buddy,” “Trump’s Ultimate Defender” and “Rising star of the Trumpian right.”

All it takes is one slip.

Describing the resolution, Gaetz’s office used Trumpian punctuation: “It simply seeks to reclaim some of the Article 1 authority that we’ve ceded to the Executive over the past 20 years. (Sad!) It states that only Congress has the authority to declare war, and that Congress has not authorized military force against Iran.”

[...]

A staffer for Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) called Gaetz’s email “a dig at the administration’s lawful use of authority to kill the biggest single terrorist of the post-Cold War era.”

[...]

An aide to Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.) simply sent all Republican offices Trump’s tweet urging Republicans to vote against the resolution.

A senior White House official said it was “super uncool” and “quite unwise” for Gaetz to push for limits on the president’s authority. This person added that White House officials would not be returning Gaetz’s phone calls, text messages, “smoke signals or his kneelings in the snow.”

Super uncool. Harsh.

But can he still kiss the ring?  The next few days are going to be touch and go.

[Gaetz] spent much of the day Friday defending his vote and praising Trump.

  WaPo

Of course he did.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 1/13:  Mike Lee working to stay in the party.