Continue to toy

Trump and allies continue to toy with Kevin McCarthy, report says

Eric Ting

During a Thursday night speech ahead of President Joe Biden's national address panning "MAGA Republicans" and threats to democracy, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said it was Biden who threatened democracy.

"Joe Biden and a politicized DOJ launched a raid on the home of his top political rival, Donald Trump," McCarthy said. "That is an assault on democracy."

The House Speaker was criticized for comparing the FBI raid — which came after a year and a half of unsuccessful attempts to recover classified documents from Trump — to plots to overturn the 2020 presidential election. A new report from Puck News might help explain why McCarthy felt so inclined to defend Trump during his speech.

On Tuesday, Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social that McCarthy "is fighting hard for the Republican victories in the House" and is not a "RINO lowlife" like Sens. Mitch McConnell, Mitt Romney, Susan Collins and Ben Sasse. Puck reported that after that post went out, former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows made calls to House Republicans asking them to "keep their powder dry on McCarthy and not come out and endorse him" for House Speaker should Republicans retake the House.

"[Meadows'] message: Given the Republican party’s newfound headwinds and McCarthy’s own political ambitions, this is precisely the moment to extract concessions from the guy, like leadership positions on subcommittees and demands that certain rules be changed to ultimately decentralize control and bestow power to the caucus," Puck reported.

In the months since the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade, Republicans have seen several warning signs in special elections that the predicted "red wave" may not be as big as expected. In the event Republicans retake the House with a smaller-than-expected majority, the rightward flank of the GOP caucus — which includes Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert, among others — will likely have outsized influence in selecting the next House Speaker.

Puck reported last week that McCarthy told donors he only expects to pick up 15 seats. McCarthy reportedly said that if the margin is smaller, he's "f—ked" and completely at the mercy of Greene, Gaetz and company. In other words, expect McCarthy to continue to do whatever he can to keep those members of his caucus — as well as Trump — happy.