House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reportedly called and apologized to 45th President Donald Trump over remarks he made about the former president’s chances against Joe Biden in should he become the Republican nominee.
Trump was reportedly left fuming after McCarthy declared he wasn’t certain Trump would be the party’s strongest candidate for 2024, apparently viewing it as a slight from a man who he repeatedly endorsed. The former president was also part of the lobbying effort to elect McCarthy as Speaker of the House.
“Can he win that election? Yeah, he can win that election,” McCarthy acknowledged during an appearance on CNBC. “The question is: ‘Is he the strongest to win the election?’ I don’t know that answer.”
Trump White House
Trump world immediately erupted against the Speaker who is already on shaky ground with the populist wing of the party. According to Politico, “Top aides to the former president and allies who know both men quickly traded messages asking, in short: What the fuck?”
Now CNN has reported that McCarthy called Trump after making the remarks to personally apologize for doubting the former president’s strength going into 2024. Trump routinely beats Biden in hypothetical match up polls, and remains ahead of his closest Republican opponent – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis – by as much as 33 points in early primary states.
Describing it as a “day of cleanup,” CNN reported that McCarthy “held a call” with Trump “where he both apologized, he told the president he misspoke, and of course he blamed reporters for taking the comments out of context.”
“McCarthy called the former president yesterday to apologize… He told the former president he misspoke and blamed the reporters for taking the comments out of context. Later, his campaign sent out a fundraising email saying Trump was stronger than ever” pic.twitter.com/Njra5rAnWG
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 28, 2023
CNN noted that McCarthy also gave an exclusive interview to Breitbart News, calling Trump “stronger today than he was in 2016” and extolling the virtues of the former president and sent out a fundraising email praising Trump.
McCarthy told Breitbart that “the media is attempting to drive a wedge between President Trump and House Republicans as our committees are holding Biden’s DOJ accountable for their two-tiered levels of justice,” and suggested the indictments against Trump prove his strength against Joe Biden as a .
“The only reason Biden is using his weaponized federal government to go after President Trump is because he is Biden’s strongest political opponent, as polling continues to show.”
McCarthy has struggled to mediate between moderate Republicans in the House and those who are vocal populists and supporters of Trump’s agenda, at time seeing the House thrown into chaos by fast-tracked impeachment votes or plans to hold procedural votes hostage until demands are met.
Boosted by support from Trump in his elections, he has regularly turned to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene as a high profile Trump ally to be a soothsayer to the base and rebellious House Republicans.
