AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) did not ask former President Donald Trump to help him grip his on power as a small group of GOP rebels threatened his speakership over the last few weeks and days.
According to Politico, McCarthy never reached out to Trump despite the role he played in helping McCarthy secure the gavel earlier this year when a group including many of the same holdouts forced McCarthy to endure 15 votes before eventually crowning him. The reason, per one source, is that McCarthy did not want to be coerced into endorsing Trump’s campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.
Sam Geduldig, a Republican lobbyist with ties to McCarthy, told the outlet that “If he [McCarthy] was to ask Trump for help to intervene on his behalf that would mean he’d have to endorse Trump for the presidency and that opens up a whole host of challenges for his colleagues.”
“McCarthy makes deals when he thinks he needs to but renting out the speaker’s office and cutting a deal to save
During Trump’s presidency, he considered McCarthy a close ally on Capitol Hill, but McCarthy’s short-lived condemnation of Trump after January 6 complicated matters — although McCarthy quickly repaired the the relationship by traveling to Mar-a-Lago for a photo op.
McCarthy has not yet made an endorsement in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, and has oscillated between appearing to hope that Trump would reprise his role atop the Republican ticket and hoping that he might be supplanted.
During an interview with CNBC’s Joe Kernen in June, McCarthy was asked if he thought Trump could win a general election against President Joe Biden.
“Can he win that election? Yeah, he can,” replied McCarthy.
“You think he can?” followed up Kernen.
“The question is, is he the strongest to win the election?” suggested McCarthy. “I don’t know that answer, but can anybody beat Biden? Yeah, anybody can beat Biden. Can Biden beat other people? Yes, Biden can beat them. It’s on any given day.”
But by September, McCarthy was eager to dismiss Trump’s nearest primary challenger.
“Look, I served with Ron DeSantis – he’s not at the same level as President Trump by any shape or form,” said McCarthy, who predicted that Trump would win the nomination because he’s “stronger today