House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (CA) is a powerful man… at least in theory.
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House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (CA) is a powerful man… at least in theory. He is the highest-ranking Republican in the land and third in line for the presidency. In reality, he is a pretty pathetic figure who knows his place, which is wherever former President Donald Trump wants him to be.
That was once again made abundantly clear on Tuesday when McCarthy dared to (briefly) step out of line. In an interview on CNBC, the speaker said something that is undeniably true when asked about Trump’s chances of winning the 2024 election in light of his legal troubles.
“Can he win that election? Yeah, he can,” McCarthy said. “The question is, is he the strongest to win the election? I don’t know that answer.”
It’s tough to argue with that.
First of all, nobody knows the answer to that question. We have our own opinions about whether it’ll be great for the GOP to choose as its nominee a man whom likely independent voters describe as “criminal,” “disgusting,” “asshole,” “crazy,” and “liar,” but even we don’t know.
So, unless McCarthy has a crystal ball stashed away somewhere, he can’t definitively say who would be the strongest Republican in 2024.
In addition, he is also pretty dumb, so there is that.
But at least he was smart enough to realize that he really stepped in it by making this completely normal statement.
Because MAGA world lit him up.
Right-wing firebrand Steve Bannon vowed to go on a “jihad” against McCarthy for daring to say Trump may not be the best man for the job.
Laura Loomer, another prominent MAGA voice, had her own choice words for the speaker.
“KEVIN MCCARTHY IS A FUCKING EVIL SNAKE WHO IS WORKING TO SABOTAGE PRESIDENT TRUMP!” she tweeted in Trump’s favorite all-caps style.
I don’t know how many times I need to say this:
FUCK KEVIN MCCARTHY
KEVIN MCCARTHY IS A FUCKING EVIL SNAKE WHO IS WORKING TO SABOTAGE PRESIDENT TRUMP! HE HAS NEVER LIKED DONALD TRUMP! HE WANTED TO SEND DONALD TRUMP TO PRISON! HE HAS ALLOWED FOR BIDEN TO GET AWAY WITH ALL OF…
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) June 27, 2023
Loomer also called McCarthy “Donald Trump’s biggest enemy” (actually, she wrote “KEVIN MCCARTHY IS DONALD TRUMP’S BIGGEST ENEMY!) and said he must be “removed from power” (well, “REMOVED FROM POWER!!!!” to be precise). Whether with caps or without, you get the idea that Loomer wasn’t pleased.
So what did the speaker do in response? Did he tell these unelected fools to shove it? Did he point out that it’s impossible to say who the best candidate would be and that he was therefore totally right?
No.
He tucked in his tail, went on the most right-wing “news” outlet he could find and walked back his remarks from a few hours earlier.
As it turns out, all of this is the fault of two of MAGA world’s go-to villains: “the media” and the “weaponized” Department of Justice (DOJ).
“As usual, the media is attempting to drive a wedge between President Trump and House Republicans as our committees are holding Biden’s DOJ accountable for their two-tiered levels of justice,” McCarthy said. “The only reason Biden is using his weaponized federal government to go after President Trump is because he is Biden’s strongest political opponent, as polling continues to show.”
And, just to be sure that people understand that he remains a committed sycophant, he added that “Trump is stronger today than he was in 2016.”
Thanks for clearing that up, Kev! And way to stand up for yourself.
