Speaker McCarthy risks Trump’s wrath after saying he ‘don’t know’ if the ex-president is the strongest GOP candidate to win the 2024 election
- “Yes, he can beat Biden,” McCarthy said. Trump’s policies are better
- Can he win that election? Yes, he can,” McCarthy said. “The question is whether he is the strongest to win the election, I don’t know that answer.”
- Trump has no argument with the speaker, nor has he received his endorsement
Speaker Kevin McCarthy questioned whether Donald Trump is the strongest candidate to win the 2024 nomination in a comment that raised eyebrows Tuesday morning.
The GOP speaker, who is an ally of Trump, said on CNBC Tuesday morning that he thinks Trump could win the GOP nomination, but he’s not sure Trump is the “fittest” to win a general election.
“Yes, he can beat Biden,” McCarthy said. Trump’s policies are better [more] more straightforward than Biden’s policy.”
Can he win that election? Yes, he can,” McCarthy said. ‘The question is whether he is the strongest to win the election, I don’t know that answer. But can anyone — can anyone beat Biden? Yes, anyone can beat Biden.”
Speaker Kevin McCarthy questioned whether Donald Trump is the strongest candidate to win the 2024 nomination in a commentary that raised eyebrows Tuesday morning
The GOP speaker, who is an ally of Trump, said on CNBC Tuesday morning that he thinks Trump could win the GOP nomination, not sure Trump is the “strongest” to win a general election
“Any time you criticize Trump or don’t fully embrace his status as leader of the party, you’re at risk — you’re just opening yourself up to potentially getting whacked,” a GOP strategist told DailyMail.com.
“It just seems like a very ill-advised statement, very stupid politically or he spoke wrong and should probably clarify because I can’t imagine the Trump team being very happy about it.”
The Trump team did not respond to a request for comment on the comments. Trump has not fallen out with the speaker, nor has he received an endorsement from him – which has landed their relationship in a precarious place.
While sources close to Trump have said he complained privately about the recent debt limit deal — one of McCarthy’s signature achievements — he has not voiced his grievances publicly.
Meanwhile, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, one of Trump’s biggest rivals, tore up the deal with Fox and Friends in May.
‘Prior to this deal, our country was in danger of going bankrupt. And after this deal, our country will still be heading for bankruptcy. To say you can do $4 trillion in raises in the next year and a half, that’s a huge amount of expense,” DeSantis said.
On Friday, McCarthy told reporters he supports a proposal by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and GOP conference chair Elise Stefanik, RN.Y., to “remove” both of Trump’s accusations, even though it’s not clear that there are the votes to pass the measure.
“I voted against both impeachments. The second impeachment did not have a fair trial.” said McCarthy.
He noted that he was opposed to introducing a resolution to also impeach President Biden.
“What came up this week was someone wanted to bring the impeachment proceedings against Biden to the table. And I didn’t think that was right because there’s no due process, right? Shouldn’t you be consistent, especially with the Constitution?’
Trump urged House members to vote for McCarthy during the contentious 15-ballot race, calling on behalf of the GOP leader and urging the 20 Freedom Caucus holdouts to vote for McCarthy.