Gleeful Kinzinger Says ‘Coward’ McCarthy Will Be Held ‘Hostage’ by Greene and Gaetz, Who Want to ‘Burn It All Down’

Retiring Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) will have “the worst time of his life” if he becomes the next speaker.

Republicans underwhelmed in last week’s midterm elections, but their House candidates fared well enough to retake the chamber by a majority that may be in the mere single digits.

McCarthy survived a challenge to his leadership on Tuesday in a vote that saw 31 Republicans vote against him. But to become speaker, he needs a majority of votes from the full House, including Democrats. If no Democrats vote for McCarthy, he could ill-afford anything close to 31 votes against him from his own caucus.

Appearing on Wednesday’s Deadline: White House on MSNBC, Kinzinger expressed his disappointment with McCarthy and said even if he becomes speaker, he’ll be held hostage by a handful of Republicans.

“Kevin is the biggest disappointment, probably of any friend I’ve ever had,” Kinzinger told host Nicolle Wallace. “And he was a friend. Before the election, I started to notice he was defending Donald Trump more than he was defending his own members of Congress.”

The congressman cited McCarthy’s reaction to the Capitol insurrection that Trump incited. Immediately after the smoke cleared, several Republican lawmakers such as McCarthy condemned Trump. But in the comings days and weeks, most of them started publicly supporting Trump again. That included McCarthy, who just three weeks after the riot, took a smiling photo with him at Mar-a-Lago.

“Kevin McCarthy is a coward,” Kinzinger continued. “If he becomes speaker, it will be the worst time of his life and history will not be kind to him.”

Wallace asked how beholden McCarthy will be to the likes of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL).

After criticizing McCarthy publicly, Greene said she now backs his speakership bid. Presumably, in return, McCarthy will reinstate her committee assignments after Democrats stripped them from her over social media activity endorsing political violence. Gaetz, meanwhile, said he won’t back McCarthy.

“How hostage do you think he will be to Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz?” Wallace asked. “What will that look like?”

Kinzinger smiled and emitted a joyful laugh.

“He’s going to be completely hostage,” he answered. “If he wins, if he gets to 218 – because we don’t know what the majority is going to be, it’s likely there will be a Republican majority – any one of those people, a couple, two or three, can deny him to the 218 votes he needs. And so, he’s going to be walking around making deals with everybody, cutting every deal he can with the crazies.”

Kinzinger subsequently declared that the crazies want “to burn it all down.”

Watch above via MSNBC.