‘It’s a Revenge Tour!’ Axios Political Reporter Marvels At Trump Trying to Take Out House Freedom Caucus Chair

Axios political reporter Hans Nichols joined a CNN panel on Tuesday to discuss the upcoming Virginia primaries, in which House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good (R-VA) is fending off a stiff challenge backed by both former President Donald Trump and ex-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).

“Congressman Bob Good won his Virginia House district by 15 points in 2022. Just two years ago, he chairs the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus. And yet, he may be on the verge of getting a pink slip from Republican constituents in his ruby red district. Now, why have they turned against him? It could have something to do with this,” began anchor Dana Bash before showing a clip of Goode’s floor speech voting to oust McCarthy last October.

“That was Good speaking about Kevin McCarthy, just before he joined seven other Republicans in ousting the now former speaker. But it could go back even further to this decision from last spring,” Bash continued, introducing another clip.
“Just want to congratulate and thank Governor Ron DeSantis. America is hungry for courageous conservative leadership, and that’s on display nowhere else like it is in the state of Florida,” Good says in the clip.

“Now. Donald Trump endorsed Good’s challenger, John McGuire, and campaigned for Maguire last night in a tell-a rally just ahead of today’s primary,” Bash added, before playing a clip of Trump bashing Good:

Yeah, if he’s reelected, Bob Good will stab Virginia in the back, sort of like he did with me. As you probably know, he was against me for numerous years. And then, after I won the primaries, he became a big fan. But, that’s not good enough, because those are the people that they tend to leave you very quickly.

Bash then turned to Nichols for his take who joked about them both wearing tan suites and added:

Look, this is so clear what’s happening. For those of us that follow politics and, are interested in it, there’s such a personal dynamic here. And, I suppose I should do the throw-clearing and say, well, let voters decide. But, boy, we all know what this is about. It’s about Donald Trump. And his, lots of it is revenge. And it’s a revenge tour!

“And Kevin McCarthy and Kevin McCarthy. Yeah, yeah,” joked the rest of the panel.

CNN’s Lauren Fox added, “Yeah. He picked to be on the wrong side of multiple people here. Right. And Donald Trump it’s so interesting because he endorsed DeSantis. His whole argument was he wanted DeSantis to be president because he believed that it gave the Republicans a clear path for not just four more years, but potentially eight more years. And then as soon as he was out of the race, that statement that he supported Donald Trump came very close.”

Watch the clip above.