Coup-plotting extremist Rep. Scott Perry didn’t have the guts to reveal that he and his newly McCarthy-empowered Freedom Caucus colleagues plan to hold the federal government hostage in order to slash your Social Security, Medicare and more.

If you’re not familiar with Perry, he’s a former “Never Kevin” congressman who eventually voted for Rep. Kevin McCarthy to become speaker of the House after he gave away much of his power to Perry’s gang of extremists known as the Freedom Caucus. They are also a gang of 2020 election deniers or worse. Perry is in the “worse” category. He tried to install an unqualified Trump loyalist to head the Justice Department in order to help Trump overturn the election and he may be under investigation by the DOJ for his efforts.

But none of that was mentioned during Perry’s Fox News victory lap today.

Host Neil Cavuto introduced Perry by saying, with obvious approval, that he had “changed the ballgame” when he voted for McCarthy during the 12th ballot (McCarthy won on the 15th). We saw video of Republicans standing up and cheering for Perry’s long-delayed vote for McCarthy. Cavuto also saluted Perry’s “39 years in the military!”

Perry began by saying that McCarthy’s concessions were “not concessions” but “wins for the American people and, quite honestly, they’re wins for the institution” that will “improve this place.”

Um, almost certainly not. Dana Milbank wrote in The Washington Post that “those expert in tearing things down” are now “in charge of governing.” He called it “insurrection by other means.”

On Thursday, the day McCarthy failed on an 11th consecutive ballot to secure the speakership, he formally surrendered to the 21 GOP extremists denying him the job. He agreed to allow any member of the House to force a vote at will to “vacate” his speakership — essentially agreeing to be in permanent jeopardy of losing his job. He agreed to put rebels on the Rules Committee, giving them sway over what gets a vote on the House floor, and in key committee leadership posts. He agreed to unlimited amendments to spending bills, inviting two years of mayhem. He agreed to other changes that make future government shutdowns and a default on the national debt more likely, if not probable.

Perhaps worst of all, the McCarthy-aligned super PAC, the Conservative Leadership Fund, agreed that it would no longer work against far-right extremists in the vast majority of Republican primaries — a move sure to increase the number of bomb throwers in Congress. Essentially, McCarthy placated the crazies in his caucus by giving up every tool he (or anybody) had to maintain order in the House.

As we noted in a previous post, inflation, preserving democracy, immigration and climate change are the issues Americans think should be the top priorities for Congress. Not wrecking it. Cavuto didn’t mention that, either.

However, Cavuto did note that some of the more moderate Republicans are not happy about some of the changes Perry and his gang forced and suggested they may regret it later.

Near the end of the interview, Perry hinted that he’ll hold the federal government hostage in order to ram through draconian, unpopular spending cuts.

CAVUTO: Would you ever shut the government down, yourself, Congressman? Would you countenance an act that maybe, whatever meritorious in your eyes tied to spending, if it shut the government down or brought us to the brink, you would?

PERRY: Look, I would never say never about anything, Neil. There’s a process in place for a reason, but there has to be a leverage point. If we’re just gonna keep spending money that we don’t have -- look I don’t know exactly where that ends, but it doesn’t seem to me, as a person who balances my own home budget, that it ends in a place that’s sustainable. So, people send us to Congress to make hard choices, the hard choices are before us, let’s make those hard choices.

The last time the government flirted with shutting down, S & P estimated the economy would lose $1.8 billion a week for the duration of the shutdown. The damage if Congress refuses to raise the debt ceiling would be catastrophic.

Perry didn’t have the decency to say what he wants to do, undoubtedly because he knows it would be wildly unpopular. The New York Times reports that McCarthy “appeared to agree” with Freedom Caucus demands that he be willing to shut down the government rather than raise the debt ceiling without major cuts to programs such as Social Security and Medicare. In fact, it was that concession that got many of the “Never Kevin” holdouts to acquiesce to his speakership, the Times reported.

The Hill reported that McCarthy also agreed to reinstate the so-called Holman Rule. Fox News explains what that could mean:

Reinstating the so-called Holman Rule would allow any House lawmaker to propose cuts to federal spending when appropriations bills are being considered, including firing specific federal workers, cutting their pay dramatically or cutting a certain program or programs. The rule was revived in 2017 and never used, but some lawmakers already have some ideas who they want to target.

On the same day the Justice Department appointed Jack Smith as the special counsel to run the department’s investigations into former President Trump, Freedom Caucus member Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., indicated that Republicans would use the rule to defund Smith’s salary.

You can watch insurrectionist Perry pretend he’s on the side of Americans below, from the January 7, 2023 Cavuto Live.

And if you'd like to give Rep. Perry any feedback about his plans, you can contact him at 202-225-5836 or by email here.