Former president and MAGA kingmaker Donald Trump weighed in Tuesday evening on the tumultuous battle for Speaker of the House.
Sharing his thoughts on Truth Social, Trump reiterated his support for former House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy, whom he had previously supported for the role of House Speaker upon the GOP’s takeover in the November elections.
“Some really good conversations took place last night,” Trump wrote Tuesday night on Truth Social. “[A]nd it’s now time for all of our GREAT Republican House Members to VOTE FOR KEVIN, CLOSE THE DEAL, TAKE THE VICTORY & WATCH CRAZY NANCY PELOSI FLY BACK HOME TO A VERY BROKEN CALIFORNIA, THE ONLY SPEAKER IN U.S. HISTORY TO HAVE LOST THE ‘HOUSE’ TWICE!”
Trump was referencing Nancy Pelosi’s two separate terms as House Speaker, the first occurring in 2007 during the final two years of the George W. Bush presidency and into Barack Obama’s first term, and then again during the Democrats’ reclaiming of the House in 2019.
Trump continued with his support for a unified vote around McCarthy, saying:
REPUBLICANS, DO NOT TURN A GREAT TRIUMPH INTO A GIANT & EMBARRASSING DEFEAT. IT’S TIME TO CELEBRATE, YOU DESERVE IT. Kevin McCarthy will do a good job, and maybe even a GREAT JOB – JUST WATCH!
In December, the former president declared his endorsement of McCarthy for the role of Speaker of the House in an interview with Breitbart News.
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“Yeah, I support McCarthy,” Trump said. “Look, I think this: Kevin has worked very hard. He is just — it’s been exhausting. If you think, he’s been all over. I think he deserves the shot. Hopefully he’s going to be very strong and going to be very good and he’s going to do what everybody wants.”
During the course of the interview, Trump acknowledged that he would be breaking with lawmakers with whom he had some of the closest support during his presidency.
“Now, I’m friendly with a lot of those people who are against Kevin. I think almost every one of them are very much inclined toward Trump, and me toward them. But I have to tell them, and I have told them, you’re playing a very dangerous game,” he said. “You could end up with the worse situation. I don’t even want to say what it is, but I could tell you it’s a worse situation. You could end up with some very bad situations.”
Trump then brought up the concern of possibly finding a replacement worse than McCarthy would appear, referencing the transition from a not-so-great Speaker John Boehner to an even-worse Speaker Paul Ryan.
“You could end up with some very bad situations. I use the Boehner to Paul Ryan example. You understand what I’m saying? It could be a doomsday scenario. It could be. You could end up with somebody who would be a disaster like Paul Ryan was,” Trump mentioned.
The Tuesday no-votes for McCarthy included Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC), Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-OK), Rep. Mike Cloud (R-TX), Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA), Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ), Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL), Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN), Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT), Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), and Rep. Keith Self (R-TX).