Kevin McCarthy Endorses Donald Trump for President
Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy says he would be open to a cabinet position should Donald Trump again win the presidency.
Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has endorsed Donald Trump in the 2024 election.
McCarthy, who is planning to leave Congress at the end of the year, was ousted from his speakership in October, after eight ultra-conservative Republicans removed him from his post by deploying a motion to “vacate the chair.”
As he heads for the exit, McCarthy, who declined to endorse a Republican presidential candidate while speaker, has fully thrown his lot behind the former president.
Speaking with Robert Costa on CBS Sunday Morning, McCarthy predicted Trump would win the GOP nomination for the presidency in 2024.
“If Biden stays as the nominee for the Democrats, I believe Donald Trump will win, I believe the Republicans will gain more seats in the House, and the Republicans will win the Senate,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy answered in the affirmative when asked if Trump could count on his support. When asked if he’d serve in a Trump cabinet, McCarthy said “if I’m the right person for the job.”
“I’ve worked with President Trump on a lot of policies,” he told Costa. “We worked together to win the majority. But we also have a relationship where we’re very honest with one another.”
“You praise Trump’s policies. You say he’s a good guy,” Costa said to McCarthy. “But many Americans, they look at his language, they listen to his speeches, and they hear an authoritarian, some say even a fascist on the horizon in this country. What do you say to those people who have those real concerns?”
“Look, I don’t see that, and this is what I tell President Trump, too. What President Trump needs to do in this campaign, it needs to be about rebuilding, restoring, renewing America,” McCarthy said. “It can’t be about revenge.”
Costa pushed back, noting that Trump is “talking about retribution, day in, day out.”
“He needs to stop that,” McCarthy responded. “He needs to stop that.”
Costa then expressed skepticism that Trump would take that advice, McCarthy insisted that Trump would “adapt when he gets all the facts.”
“He’s not backing away from his calls for retribution,” Costa countered.
“But remember — you have a check-and-balance system. At the end of the day –“
“Where’s the check-and-balance on him in the Republican Party?” Costa interjected.
“–America doesn’t want to see the idea of retribution. If [his campaign message is] ‘rebuild, restore and renew,’ I think you’ll see [Trump win],” McCarthy said. “But I’m not going to change who I am and I’m not going to stop giving him the advice.
“Look, I lost the job as Speaker,” McCarthy concluded. “Maybe I don’t have the best advice, but I know one thing: I love this country. I want tomorrow to be better than today. And I’m going to do everything in my power and I’m going to be engaged in the process to make it better.”
During the interview, McCarthy reflected on his ascension to the speakership and the things he had done to promote conservative policies while also defending the actions that got him ousted from the Speaker’s chair, namely to push through a measure to temporarily fund the government, ensuring the United States did not default on its debt.
“I never said I didn’t want this job,” he said. “I loved the challenge. I knew at the time I probably wouldn’t be able to end the job. Not on my terms.”
Referring to his detractors within the raucous and often fractious GOP caucus, he said, “I knew who I was dealing with. I think history will say they were wrong in that decision.”
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