It takes a lot to keep former President Donald Trump from weighing in on a political matter, especially within the Republican Party, but he is doing just that regarding Rep. Kevin McCarthy's struggles to be named the next House speaker.
McCarthy, R-Calif., who was backed by Trump and is a longtime ally, failed Tuesday on three ballots to secure the 218 required votes to be named speaker as the 118th Congress convened with the new GOP House majority.
In a brief telephone interview with NBC News on Tuesday night, Trump was asked whether he was sticking with McCarthy for the speakership.
"We'll see what happens," the former president said. "I got everybody calling me wanting my support. But let's see what happens and we'll go — I got everybody calling, wanting my support. That's all I can say. But we'll see what happens. We'll see how it all works out."
Trump told Breitbart that McCarthy deserves a shot as speaker, while also asking McCarthy's most vocal critics – Reps. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.; Andy Biggs, R-Ariz.; Matt Rosendale, R-Mont.; Bob Good, R-Va.; and Ralph Norman, R-S.C. – to stand down from their opposition.
"I like him," Trump said of McCarthy. "I think it's a very dangerous game that's being played. ... Some bad things could happen. Look, we had [former House Speaker John] Boehner [R-Ohio], and he was a strange person; but we ended up with [former House Speaker] Paul Ryan [R-Wis.], who was 10 times worse."
But Trump's endorsement so far has not curried favor with McCarthy's opponents, leading to the most chaotic session of speakership voting in a century.
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