Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) stated on Wednesday, July 30th, 2026, that former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) treated Republicans poorly, recalling that she would sometimes "yell" at GOP lawmakers. Speaking on Fox News’s "Jesse Watters Primetime," McCarthy discussed a graphic comparing how conservatives and liberals perceive each other, agreeing that most liberals view conservatives as "savages" while conservatives see liberals as "children."

McCarthy referenced what President Trump has dubbed "Trump derangement syndrome" to explain the intense criticism of Trump on the left. He said, "Like, we shouldn’t be in the room — she would yell at me sometimes," and added that magnetometers (metal detectors) were used to try to deny Republicans entry and prevent co-authoring with them.

He described the atmosphere in Congress as reflecting a broader breakdown in political discourse, saying, "It was so outrageous that you couldn’t respect the other one, and this is the problem I have, where I think America has failed a little bit when it came to politics. We should be able to disagree with somebody without being disrespectful."

McCarthy claimed Republicans generally respected Democrats despite political differences but accused Democrats of treating Republicans like "monsters and murderers" over their beliefs.

Meanwhile, McCarthy’s successor, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), has intensified rhetoric toward Democrats ahead of the midterm elections. Johnson accused the Democratic Party of planning a communist takeover amid the rising popularity of democratic socialist figures. On social platform X earlier in July 2026, Johnson wrote, "THE BARBARIANS ARE INSIDE THE GATE! We are fighting right now in Congress over whether we’re going to maintain our status as a constitutional republic OR trade that in, dismantle the foundations and GO DOWN THIS DARK ROAD OF DEATH TO COMMUNISM."

Sources