In an exclusive interview, we first saw posted to Breitbart’s Instagram account, Matthew Boyle reported former President Donald Trump told the conservatives currently withholding support from House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy in McCarthy’s speakership bid to stand down.
“I like him,” Trump said of McCarthy, before teeing off on those working against him such as Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Matt Rosendale (R-MT), Bob Good (R-VA), and Ralph Norman (R-SC). While Trump did not name those trying to stop McCarthy from taking the Speaker’s gavel on January 3, he in no uncertain terms said he disagrees with their efforts—and warned that there could be serious consequences if McCarthy does not get the gavel and they could make Washington worse for conservatives.
Trump’s interview with Mr. Boyle came Friday morning at his Doral golf resort in Miami and covered a broad range of topics including the Speakership race and much more.
According to Matt Boyle’s reporting, Trump warned that when conservatives took out now-former House Speaker John Boehner in 2015, they ended with now-former Speaker Paul Ryan—whom he said was much worse—in the process.
“I think it’s a very dangerous game that’s being played,” Trump said. “It’s a very dangerous game. Some bad things could happen. Look, we had Boehner and he was a strange person but we ended up with Paul Ryan who was ten times worse. Paul Ryan was an incompetent speaker. I think he goes down as the worst speaker in history. We took [out] Boehner—and a group of people, some of whom are the same, and they’re very good friends of mine. All those people are very good friends of mine.”
In his article Mr. Boyle noted former President Trump is hardly the first major conservative leader to raise these concerns. Nationally syndicated radio host Mark Levin has raised the concerns, as have people such as Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and James Comer (R-KY)—the incoming chairmen respectively of the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees. Congresswoman-elect Harriet Hageman of Wyoming, who just defeated outgoing Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), has also warned of the concerns.
Boyle reported Trump expanded on the point of just how bad Ryan was for the party, saying Boehner was like a historic world leader in comparison, and now Republicans have to “live with this maniac” Ryan.
From our perspective this is another example of Mr. Trump’s poor personnel judgement.
Paul Ryan was no “maniac” he knew exactly what he was doing in stymieing Trump’s MAGA agenda and conservatives who opposed Ryan for Speaker of the House warned Trump that Paul Ryan was not to be trusted.
Those warnings were ignored, and it wasn’t until Trump’s first year agenda was in tatters that he finally figured Ryan wasn’t inept – he was killing MAGA legislation on purpose.
Kevin McCarthy is no conservative, and the way he spent the money he raised for the midterms should disabuse conservatives of the notion that he is a “nice guy” who will try to get along with all the factions of the new House Republican majority.
And his first act as leader of the new majority – reinstituting the corrupt practice of “earmarks” in spending bills – shows he intends to be a principle-free inside operator who will not hesitate to use good old fashioned inside-the-Beltway legal bribery to get what he wants.
Trump’s argument in favor of Kevin McCarthy for Speaker amounts to favoring the Devil he knows over the prospect of doing the hard work necessary to elect a saint.
We urge CHQ readers and friends to call the Capitol Switchboard (202) 224-3121 and tell Republican Representatives that you oppose principle-free California Representative Kevin McCarthy for Speaker of the House. Tell them you want a conservative Speaker who will fight for conservative principles, not a principle-free insider who will cut deals with Democrats and RINOs.
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I don't think it is correct to call this a "personnel decision." President Trump has no vote on this, and it is not a position that he can appoint someone to. Republicans in the majority in the House will decide who their Speaker is. Like it or not, Kevin McCarthy is in the driver's seat. If there are some other viable candidates, it will be fair to ask where Trump stands on those people. However, they haven't materialized. Likewise, there was nothing for Trump to do about Paul Ryan. Trump was just a longshot candidate in 2015, he had no influence or power. Trump walked into office and these were the characters he had to work with. Ryan's biggest failing…
This further reinforces my belief that conservatives need a new political party to represent them. Reforming the GOP is not a viable option at this point after decades of sustained failure.
I do not normally criticize President Trump. I am not a McCarthy fan. I would prefer someone else. But do any of these other guys have a clearer path to 218 votes? I am not sure. Perhaps they should seriously consider electing someone not in the House as the next Speaker.
Perhaps it is about keeping your enemies close. A known commodity vs an unknown who might replace McCarthy. With the infighting perhaps a real Democrat.