Former President Donald Trump seems to divert from his landmark style of leadership. For a long time, Trump campaigned against career politicians, which attracted voters toward him.
Now, Trump is campaigning for career politician Kevin McCarthy to become House Speaker, should Republicans secure a House majority in the midterm elections.
Trump Supporting Kevin McCarthy for House Speakership
One of the primary reasons for Trump’s extraordinary performance in the 2016 presidential election was his movement against long-term politicians who have been ruling the United States for decades.
Whereas now that Republicans are one seat away from winning the House majority in the 2022 midterm elections, Trump is supporting Kevin McCarthy to become House Speaker. McCarthy won his first House elections in 2006 and has been serving in the chamber since then.
Trump is backing McCarthy at a time when many Republican stakeholders are raising their voices against him. For instance, the conservative wing of the GOP, the House Freedom Caucus, tried to remove McCarthy from the Republican House leadership position.
Likewise, another conservative congressman, Andy Biggs, lashed out at McCarthy’s style of leadership, calling him too soft for the House speakership.
Biggs noted that Americans want House Republicans to bring the budget under control, safeguard the southern border, and reduce skyrocketing inflation. Still, McCarthy is not aggressive enough to pass all of these bills.
Furthermore, Biggs asserted it is not possible to pass important legislation from the House by waiting for the Biden administration to get along; so the House leader needs to be a tough person.
Mitch McConnell has "led" the GOP to two defeats in a row in the Senate, while Kevin McCarthy barely eked out a majority in the House. Neither deserves a leadership position. Worse, evidence is that McConnell actually refused to help Trump endorsed candidates. Despicable. pic.twitter.com/p2tkBQRLM7
— Ronald J. Watkins (@RonaldJWatkins1) November 15, 2022
McCarthy Even Winning Support From the Far Left
Despite the rising criticism against McCarthy, Trump is still supporting him.
CNN reported that Trump is consistently motivating his allies to support Kevin McCarthy for the House leadership role, as the former president thinks that McCarthy is the right man to support his presidential run in 2024.
Meanwhile, far-right Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene also supports McCarthy over Biggs to become House speaker. Biggs, who is himself a far-right politician, was expected to win the support of Greene, but she is aligning with Trump’s choice.
Watch: @RepMTG says that with a slim majority, the extremist MAGA wing will be in control of the House.
Both she and Trump are supporting Kevin McCarthy’s leadership bid. pic.twitter.com/rIKk9YIYJc
— Zac Petkanas (@Zac_Petkanas) November 14, 2022
Greene established that Biggs should not challenge McCarthy since Republicans are only winning the House with a razor-thin margin, adding that McCarthy is the only person who can work with all Republican lawmakers in such a narrow majority.
In addition, Greene noted Democrats could quickly recruit some Republican politicians if everyone is not gathered under McCarthy’s leadership.
Political insiders believe Greene has practical reasons to support McCarthy. For example, she may want to take revenge on those Democrats who stripped her from her House committees last year. McCarthy is likely to help him in her cause.
However, Trump has no practical reason to justify his support of a career politician like McCarthy.
When Trump is expected to announce his 2024 presidential campaign, he needs to mobilize his ideological voters, which may only be possible by not backing any career politician like McCarthy.
