The infighting reached such a point in the fall that some newcomers requested that the weekly freshman meetings be disbanded because they had turned into shouting matches, with freshmen loudly criticizing the leaders.

“You’ve created a monster,” Rep. Renee L. Ellmers (R-N.C.), a former nurse elected in 2010, warned House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), according to Draper’s book…

As Boehner and Obama engaged in secretive talks trying to craft $4 trillion in savings, the speaker’s best friends demanded an emergency meeting to discuss their fear that the freshman would rebel over possible tax hikes and that his internal rival, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), would benefit from Boehner’s demise.

“Some of the freshmen don’t have a grasp of what the facts are, and they’re going to rebel. You’d be finished,” Reps. Tom Latham (R-Iowa), Steven C. LaTourette (R-Ohio), Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) and Patrick J. Tiberi (R-Ohio) warned Boehner, according to Draper’s interviews with two of the men.