Kevin McCarthy: Trump ‘stronger today’ than in 2016, Biden ‘is weak’
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Kevin McCarthy may no longer be speaker of the House, but that doesn’t appear to be impacting his assessment of Donald Trump.
McCarthy (R-Calif.) contended Thursday that Trump is in a dominant position in both the 2024 Republican primary and general election 12 months before voters go to the polls.
“If you look at the numbers, President Trump is stronger today than he was in 2016. President Biden is weak,” McCarthy told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “If you look at the latest polling and you look at those swing states, President Trump is stronger than he has been in the past.”
The former speaker’s remarks came a little more than four months after McCarthy rankled Trump World by questioning on the same program whether the 77-year-old was positioned as the “strongest to win the election.”
McCarthy quickly backtracked and has since pumped up Trump’s prospects in multiple subsequent interviews, even knocking the former president’s chief rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“I don’t think Ron DeSantis is doing well. You know, he started out very strongly — he’s coming down,” McCarthy said. “Nikki Haley seems to be coming on rather strong. I think Tim Scott would be an excellent VP as well.”
“But that’s a choice for President Trump who wins the nomination.”
Trump had been a critical ally as McCarthy struggled to retain his grip on the speakership, which he ultimately lost Oct. 3
McCarthy also opined on the fallout from this week’s elections, in which Republicans and conservative candidates and causes endured losses in Ohio, Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and elsewhere.
He chalked up the setbacks in Virginia to redistricting, and stressed that the GOP has been on a slow upward trajectory in the House of Representatives since after the 2018 midterms.
“Republicans are stronger going into the next election, in a year, than we had been in the last two election cycles,” McCarthy surmised. “President Biden cannot fix his problem. His problem is his age.”
Biden, already the oldest president in US history, is set to turn 81 on Nov. 20, three days after the deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown.
The last fight over government funding paved the way for a mutiny against McCarthy led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.). McCarthy drew Gaetz’s wrath by bringing up a vote on a stopgap continuing resolution to keep federal operations running.
“The last 45 days — when you get to the next week — was designed for us to go to conference and work out the differences between the Senate and the House,” McCarthy bemoaned.
“Unfortunately, we went through a speaker’s race and we didn’t have time to do all this. So we’re kind of back at square one.”
New Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has been floating different plans to avoid a shutdown, including a so-called laddered CR featuring sunset provisions, pressuring Congress into passing each of the traditional 12 separate appropriations bills.
That concept appears to be a nonstarter for Democrats, who have demanded a spending patch without any strings attached.
“I don’t see them doing that to Speaker Johnson now,” McCarthy said when asked about a mutiny if he brings up a CR.
In a separate interview, set to air on CNN Sunday, McCarthy aired his grievances against the “crazy” eight Republicans who banded together with 208 Democrats to topple him.
“Tremendously,” McCarthy told CNN in a preview clip when asked how much House Republicans would benefit if Gaetz was gone.
“People have to earn the right to be here,” McCarthy went on. “He’ll admit to you personally he doesn’t have a conservative bent in his philosophy and just the nature of what he focuses on.”
The Golden State congressman stopped short of backing the expulsion of Gaetz, but said, “I don’t believe the conference will ever heal if there’s no consequences for the action.”
Turning to Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), who joined in on the revolt, McCarthy predicted she will struggle with re-election after he previously helped fundraise for her.
“Not because of this. I mean, if you’ve watched her — just her philosophy and the flip-flopping, I don’t believe she wins reelection,” the former speaker surmised.
Gaetz fired back, saying “thoughts and prayers to the former speaker as he works through his grief.” Mace defended her vote against McCarthy and accused him of “lying all the time to her.”
McCarthy’s ouster marked the first time in US history that a sitting speaker had been booted by a House vote.
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