Matt Gaetz Declares ‘Trump Is Wrong’ to Back McCarthy: ‘HR Wasn’t Always His Strong Suit’

Matt Gaetz (R-FL) defended his opposition to Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) speakership bid on Fox News and said former President Donald Trump is “wrong” to support him for the position.

Gaetz has been the most vocal and visible opponent of the 20 House Republicans who have repeatedly cast votes for other members. On Thursday, the anti-McCarthy faction succeeded in denying him the speakership for the 11th consecutive ballot.

The Trump-backed McCarthy has reportedly bowed to several demands from the holdouts, only to have them keep voting against him. The California Republican needs 218 votes to become the next speaker, which means he can’t afford to lose five members of the GOP conference, let alone 20.

On Thursday’s edition of The Ingraham Angle, Gaetz reiterated his opposition and said he will never vote for McCarthy.

“You know on the establishment issues, I’m totally with you,” Laura Ingraham told Gaetz. “But I’m always also about the art of the possible. What’s possible here? So, you did get a number of concessions that, I’m not sure if I’m on the other side I would’ve given you, but a number of concessions from McCarthy in an attempt to get to 218.”

She listed several of the concessions McCarthy gave the holdouts, which include members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus.

“He lowered the threshold of the votes required to begin the process of removing himself as speaker,” she noted. “He also agreed to keep his own PAC out of GOP primaries and also to add more Freedom Caucus members to the House Rules Committee. And I understand he also signed on to a separate approval process for earmarks and allowed floor votes on term limits for members and specific border policy legislation. What else do you require that he do or agree to before Matt Gaetz will say, ‘Ok, I’m onboard'”?

“I wouldn’t be betting on my vote for Kevin McCarthy under almost any circumstance,” he replied.

“So, it’s personal then,” Ingraham shot back. “You just made this principled point. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t say, ‘I’m a man of principle and I believe in X, Y, and Z, but if he gives me X, Y, and Z, I’m not gonna vote for him.’ What? How does that make sense?”

“Here’s how it makes sense, Laura,” Gaetz replied. “Kevin McCarthy is the masthead of the lobby corps. And I resent the extent to which Kevin McCarthy utilizes the lobbyists and the special interests to be able to dictate how political decisions are made, how policy decisions are made, and how leadership decisions are made. Kevin McCarthy has been in the leadership for 14 years. And he has sold shares of himself to special interests, to political action committees, and so that’s why I don’t think he is an appropriate choice.”

Ingraham noted that Trump supports McCarthy and that Gaetz has been one of Trump’s most ardent supporters.

“But why is Trump for him?” she asked. “How many posts on Truth Social can we see from President Trump telling y’all, ‘Ok, this has been fun, but let’s wrap it up here.’ Is he wrong?”

“I love President Trump. I defended him a great deal in Congress, but HR wasn’t always his strong suit,” Gaetz continued, before listing some of Trump’s cabinet selections he disapproved of. “President Trump got us folks like Jeff Sessions and Bill Barr and Jim Mattis and Mark Esper – people who didn’t always advance an America First policy.”

“So you say he’s wrong on that?” Ingraham said.

“I do,” he replied. “I think President Trump is wrong to the extent that he supports Kevin McCarthy. I’m gonna support President Trump when he runs for election in 2024, but I’m not going to back him on this play.”

Watch above via Fox News.

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