Amid the rare brou-haha yesterday, Donald Trump initially refused to say if he was sticking with his support for Kevin McCarthy in his bid for Speaker of the House and blamed Mitch McConnell for “turmoil” in the Republican Party.
McCarthy lost the Speaker vote three separate times Tuesday, garnering no more than 203 votes in a contest in which he needs 218. He lost 20 votes in the final effort, an increase from the initial 19 dissenting votes.
The former President has supported McCarthy, but when asked by NBC News after the session adjourned for the day if he stands by the California Republican, Trump hedged.
“We’ll see what happens,” he said.
EXCLUSIVE: Former President Trump declined to say if he’s sticking by his endorsement of Kevin McCarthy for speaker tonight, telling me in a brief phone interview he’s had calls all day asking for support, and “We’ll see what happens. We’ll see how it all works out.”
— Garrett Haake (@GarrettHaake) January 3, 2023
Trump Backs McCarthy For Speaker
By Wednesday morning, Trump had come around and issued a strongly worded statement of support on his Truth Social media platform.
“Some really good conversations took place last night, and it’s now time for all of our great Republican House Members to vote for Kevin, close the deal, take the victory, [and] watch Nancy Pelosi fly back home to a very broken California,” he wrote.
“Do not turn a great triumph into a giant … embarrassing defeat,” he pleaded. “It’s time to celebrate.”
Trump even predicted McCarthy might very well do a “great job” as Speaker of the House.
Trump’s statement seems to be a concession that one has to play ball with McCarthy, given the make-up of GOP conference.
An interesting development as Trump was accused of refusing to support more moderate Republican candidates who could ultimately win in the midterm elections and actually deliver the much-hyped red wave.
What will be even more interesting is how some of the America First lawmakers such as Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), and Paul Gosar (R-AZ) respond to Trump’s plea.
Will they drop their opposition or risk raising the ire of the former President? It may be a wild day today to see if Trump truly maintains his grip on the MAGA element in the House.
Trump endorsed McCarthy… but does any Trump supporter actually like McCarthy?
— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) January 3, 2023
RELATED: Mitch McConnell to Join Biden In Event Celebrating ‘Infrastructure’ Spending Bill
Blames Mitch McConnell
In further social media statements on the Speaker vote, Trump seemed less interested in blaming McCarthy’s past actions for his humiliating defeat, but rather, pointed a finger at Mitch McConnell.
“There is so much unnecessary turmoil in the Republican Party, in large part do to people like the Old Broken Crow, Mitch McConnell,” he wrote, also lumping in the Senate Minority leader’s wife and his “RINO allies.”
Trump suggested the embarrassment wasn’t what happened in the House Tuesday, the real “downer” was when McConnell and other squish Republicans voted in favor of the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill.
The real problem, he explained, are GOP lawmakers “constantly capitulating to hopeless Joe Biden and the Democrats.”
McConnell, The Political Insider reported earlier this week, will be making an appearance with President Biden to celebrate “infrastructure” spending.
The move is being heralded by the White House as an example of ‘bipartisan’ success under the Biden regime, and will see McConnell aid Democrats in their messaging that the economy is moving in the right direction under this President.
Isn’t this sweet? McConnell and Biden will kumbaya on Wednesday in Kentucky–expect to hear lots about “working together” and “moving past” political differences for the “good of the country.”https://t.co/N9eltxKuaj
— Julie Kelly ?? (@julie_kelly2) January 2, 2023
McCarthy though hasn’t exactly been the polar opposite of McConnell when it comes to his treatment of the former President.
Audiotapes this past Spring reveal McCarthy describing Trump’s actions surrounding the January 6th riot at the Capitol as “atrocious” while debating the 25th Amendment to remove him from office.
Their book is out today.. but @jmartNYT & @alexburnsNYT are still dropping audio bombs.
This time Kevin McCarthy says:
“What the president did is atrocious and totally wrong.”Full story: https://t.co/lLGEf1uiD9 pic.twitter.com/Ag0mbDsmhb
— Ryan Nobles (@ryanobles) May 4, 2022
It may have been a knee-jerk reaction to the events during that time, but has McCarthy truly evolved on the notion so much so that Trump will back him and his supporters will just go along with it?
How much difference is there really between him and McConnell?
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