Turner: Government Paralyzed By ‘Radical Individuals Who Don’t Have An Ideology’

In a Sunday interview, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH) declared that the federal government is paralyzed by “radical individuals” whose sole ideology is “chaos.”

During the appearance on CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” Turner called out the numerous establishment Republicans who have decided to retire or resign from Congress — most of whom appeared to have strategically planned their exit to prevent their states from replacing them until January 2025 or otherwise hinder the effort to replace them, which effectively destroys the Republicans’ majority in the House.

“This obviously is very unfortunate,” Turner told CBS News host Ed O’Keefe. “This has been a very strange time period, where we see that the — the Senate is at 50/50. We see the House at 50/50. Even the presidential race has run basically at 50/50. It’s almost unfolding that way perhaps again.”

“And it shows that we can have radical fringes, even radical individuals who don’t really have an ideology or an agenda, other than chaos, that can cause disruptions,” he added.

“And that’s what we have seen. That certainly makes it difficult for people who just want to get the job done. In the area of national security, I think Speaker Johnson’s made it, you know, very clear that he — we have his support to get national security agenda items done. And I think we will.”

The CBS News host then tried to push Turner to attack former president and Republican nominee Donald Trump over his decision to sell a special edition of the Bible — the “God Bless the USA” Bible.

“Do you think it’s appropriate for the former president, for the likely Republican nominee to be selling such a product?” O’Keefe asked.

However, Turner didn’t follow that narrative — refusing to call out the leader of his party over a decision that only served to further the Christian ideals of the GOP. Instead, he pivoted to point out that, while Trump is embracing Christianity, President Joe Biden has been stifling religious freedom — citing the White House’s decision to prohibit religious imagery from a children’s art contest for the most important Christian holiday of the year, Easter.

“I think I’m more concerned about the White House restricting the ability of children to put religious symbols on Easter eggs for the Easter egg roll at the White House,” Turner responded. “You know, I’m glad that CBS gives people the right to express their religious freedom.”

“I can’t imagine that we’re in a situation where the Biden White House is restricting, especially that of children, their ability to express their religious freedom,” he added.