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This Icy John Boehner Quote Reveals How He Really Feels About Some Republicans

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Politicians, like anyone else, have their fair share of direct and indirect feuds with members of their own organizations and parties. So, it's rarely ever a shock when there's a report of one particular member coming out and issuing a few expletive-ridden remarks about someone else. This is especially unsurprising in the era of Donald Trump's presidency, which has involved lots of on-the-record swearing (think of Anthony Scaramucci and Steve Bannon). Now, in similar heated fashion, former Speaker of House of Representatives John Boehner shared a few choice words for GOP lawmakers, with special emphasis on Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz and Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan. Basically, he thinks they're both "*ssholes."

Boehner hasn't been in the limelight for a while now, since his role as speaker for the House of Representatives ended in 2015. But in a recent and detailed Politico report, the previous speaker let loose and shared his unfiltered thoughts on former colleagues. Chaffetz, who was once a congressman and now a Fox News contributor, was at the receiving end of Boehner's fury, along with Jordan, who is a senior member on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

The exhaustive interview happened over the course of 18 hours spanning over different occasions this year. In one of the conversations with Boehner at the time, Politico's Tim Alberta mentioned the report that South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy could become the chairman of the oversight and reform committee. Though Gowdy ultimately won the position, Chaffetz and Jordan were also considered as possible options. While speaking frankly with Alberta, Boehner first took a comical jab at Gowdy and said, "Gowdy — that’s my guy, even though he doesn’t know how to dress." Then he went on and shared his frustration with Alberta and said, "F*ck Jordan. F*ck Chaffetz. They’re both *ssholes."

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Boehner explained the reason behind his harsh words against Chaffetz. Earlier this year, the former House Oversight chair joined Fox News under the contract of becoming a contributor for the network. Fox News said Chaffetz's contributor role would be to "offer political analysis across FNC and FOX Business Network’s (FBN) daytime and primetime programming." And this appeared to be a source of contention for Boehner who claimed to Alberta that Chaffetz was a "total phony" who only sought self-promotion. Boehner claimed to Alberta, "With Chaffetz, it’s always about Chaffetz."

When it came to Boehner's issue with Rep. Jordan, Alberta wrote that Boehner viewed Jordan as summing up everything unacceptable with the Republican party. According to Alberta, Jordan was "embodiment of the brinkmanship and betrayal that roiled the House Republican majority and made Boehner’s life miserable." And that much was visible in the words Boehner selected for Jordan. Boehner called Jordan a "terrorist" and said, "Jordan was a terrorist as a legislator going back to his days in the Ohio House and Senate. A terrorist. A legislative terrorist."

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Boehner's diatribe wasn't limited to Chaffetz and Jordan. The former speaker had other words for other members of his party as well. For instance, he called North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows an "idiot." While speaking of his decision to step down from the position of speaker, Boehner discussed internal party strife and mentioned the North Carolina representative. "I can’t tell you what makes him tick," Boehner told Alberta.

When it came to the president of the United States, Boehner said, "Donald Trump's not a Republican. He's not a Democrat. He's a populist. He doesn't have an ideological bone in his body. So who, I ask, is the leader of the party? There is nobody."

Alberta's explosive and lengthy profile on Boehner came out on Sunday. So far, Chaffetz, Jordan, and Meadows haven't responded to being described as "assholes," "terrorist," and "idiot" respectively.