There is still some disagreement among Republicans about who should be the next House Speaker. Most are willing to vote for Rep. Kevin McCarthy, but not everyone is on board with that plan.
President Trump has now urged Republicans who are currently withholding support from House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy’s bid for speakership to stop doing so. Trump stated that he “disagrees” with their actions and warned that there could be serious consequences if McCarthy does not become Speaker, potentially making Washington worse for conservatives.
Trump also spoke out against former Speaker Paul Ryan, calling him “an incompetent speaker” and “the worst speaker in history,” and warned against repeating the same mistake by ousting McCarthy. Trump expressed his support for McCarthy, saying he “deserves the shot” and is “going to do what everybody wants.”
He also warned those working against McCarthy to knock it off or risk making things worse and reminded them that when conservatives removed former House Speaker John Boehner in 2015, they ended up with former Speaker Paul Ryan, who he called “incompetent” and “the worst speaker in history.”
“I think it’s a very dangerous game that’s being played,” Trump said. “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. Paul Ryan was an incompetent speaker. I think he goes down as the worst speaker in history. We took [out] Boehner—and a group of people, some of whom are the same, and they’re very good friends of mine. All those people are very good friends of mine.”
“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,” Trump 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. 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 also criticized Ryan for his role on the board of Fox Corporation, saying that he is “destroying Fox and he’s destroying the New York Post.”