GOP's Scalise: White House Should Fire Podesta for 'Jonestown' Remarks

House Republican Study Committee Chairman Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) has called on President Barack Obama to fire John Podesta as his senior adviser in the wake of startling revelations about comments he has made.

In an interview with Politico for a Politico Magazine profile, Podesta compared the Republican Party to the Jonestown cult that Jim Jones led in the 1970s, of which 900 members committed mass suicide via cyanide poisoning in 1978.

“They [the Obama administration] need to focus on executive action given that they are facing a second term against a cult worthy of Jonestown in charge of one of the houses of Congress,” Podesta said of what the administration must do in dealing with the Republican controlled House.

Scalise thinks such comments should be a fireable offense. He called on Obama to take action and terminate Podesta’s employment right away.

“It’s disgraceful and telling that President Obama’s new Counselor is not only comparing the Republican Party to a cult that murdered those who disagreed with them, but is also using that comparison as an argument in support of shredding the Constitution and governing like a third-world dictator,” Scalise said in a statement provided to Breitbart News. “The American people will not stand by and allow the Obama White House to destroy the checks-and-balances defined in the Constitution that are critical to a working democracy, and neither will Congress!” 

“The American people elected a divided government in Washington, and the Obama Administration would do well to respect that fact instead of undermining the will of the American people at every turn,” he continued. “President Obama ran to change the tone in Washington, and it’s time for him to live up to that promise by relieving Mr. Podesta of his official duties immediately.”

Scalise is not the only Republican upset about Podesta’s rhetoric. Rory Cooper, the spokesman for House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), said in a statement provided to Breitbart News that such comments make it difficult for House Republicans to work with the administration.

“This type of appalling and inflammatory rhetoric is a very troubling sign of how this White House plans to govern over the next three years,” Cooper said.

Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), a freshman conservative member, said in a statement provided to Breitbart News that the American people should not accept Podesta’s or the White House’s arguments for executive orders and exceeding new authority on the administration’s behalf.

“Faced with an imploding health care law built on a façade of deception, ruling class leftists like John Podesta resort to vitriolic attacks against, and demonization of, their political opponents,” DeSantis said. “This seems like an entirely baseless excuse for the President to act unilaterally in ways that exceed his constitutional authority.”