On Tuesday evening, former President Donald Trump was radio silence on his endorsement of Rep. Kevin McCarthy after Republicans failed to elect him as Speaker of the House. When asked by NBC News Senior Capitol Hill respondent Garrett Haake if he was still backing McCarthy, Trump replied that “we’ll see what happens.”
However, on Wednesday, Trump broke his silence and reaffirmed his support of McCarthy for speaker on Truth Social.
“Some really good conversations took place last night,” Trump said in reference to his conversation with McCarthy on Tuesday evening, “and 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!”
He also warned Republicans that not electing McCarthy as speaker would have dire consequences on the GOP’s success for midterm elections.
“REPUBLICANS, DO NOT TURN A GREAT TRIUMPH INTO A GIANT & EMBARRASSING DEFEAT. IT’S TIME TO CELEBRATE, YOU DESERVE IT,” he wrote. “Kevin McCarthy will do a good job, and maybe even a GREAT JOB – JUST WATCH!”
Trump originally announced his support for McCarthy as speaker back in mid-December.
“Look, I think this: Kevin has worked very hard,” for former president noted at the time. “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.”
Voting is expected to resume at noon on Wednesday.
If Republicans fail to elect McCarthy as speaker, it could allow the vote to go to plurality, which could allow Democrat leader Hakeem Jeffries to be elected as House Speaker. A scenario that none of us want to see.
Let’s hope that Conservatives can pull together and clean up this mess because it gets any worse.
