After making a public statement promoting US Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) for the next Speaker of the House, President Donald J. Trump is facing pushback from some of his most ardent supporters.
Trump is diving headfirst into a huge struggle inside the Republican Party over who will lead the incoming Congress.
During McCarthy’s two years as minority leader, he did little to nothing to push back against the radical Marxist Democrats, according to numerous members of the Conservative Freedom Caucus, who have openly opposed McCarthy and want nothing to do with him, running their own candidate for Speaker, US Representative Andy Biggs, to challenge him.
McCarthy is now in the lead for the powerful post, but not by a sufficient margin to secure the job.
CNN reported on the battle for Speaker of the House and Trump’s support:
“Donald Trump has weighed in on the contentious battle confronting GOP leader Kevin McCarthy in his bid to be the chamber’s next speaker, with the former president calling on his supporters in Congress to halt their opposition tactics against McCarthy and stop “playing a very dangerous game.”
“Look, I think this: Kevin has worked very hard. I think he deserves the shot,” Trump said Friday in an interview with Breitbart News. “Hopefully he’s going to be very strong and going to be very good and he’s going to do what everybody wants.”
The former president cited the scenario from 2015, when then-House Speaker John Boehner resigned after clashes with conservative GOP hard-liners and was then replaced by Paul Ryan.
“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,” Trump told Breitbart. “Paul Ryan was an incompetent speaker. I think he goes down as the worst speaker in history.”
McCarthy is in a fight for the speakership with five hardline Republicans opposing him. With House Republicans holding 222 seats in the next Congress, such opposition would deny him the 218 votes he’d need to be elected speaker.“
After regaining control of the House and regaining power, the American people do not appear delighted to having McCarthy back in power, but Trump has thrown his support behind him, and not everyone is thrilled, including US Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL).
Mediaite reported the following:
Rep. Matt Gaetz made some rare harsh words on former president Donald Trump’s endorsement of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy for the next speaker position.
Gaetz has stated on many occasions that he will not be one of the 218 votes McCarthy requires to lead the House when Republicans recapture the chamber next month. McCarthy’s candidacy is threatened by a few of Republican legislators in a House that will be narrowly controlled by Republicans.
On the Monday broadcast of Steve Bannon’s War Room from a Turning Point USA event, Gaetz stated that Trump is “wrong” to support McCarthy.
“I can’t wait to vote for Donald Trump in the 2024 election,” Gaetz said. “But if Donald Trump believes that Kevin McCarthy should be speaker of the House, then Donald Trump is wrong. And Donald Trump has not always nailed it on the HR front.”
I support President Trump.
But if he believes that Kevin McCarthy should be Speaker of the House, then Donald Trump is wrong. pic.twitter.com/uT2kLdwSd6
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) December 19, 2022
More on this story via The Republic Brief:
Gaetz stated Trump’s support of McCarthy has failed to convince any of the latter’s opponents to back his bid.
“He sets the vision,” Gaetz continued. “But Donald Trump has not moved a single vote when it comes to the people considering how to cast their lot in the speaker’s race.” CONTINUE READING…