House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) will meet with former President Donald Trump in Florida Thursday after seemingly angling to get back in the former president’s good books.
The news was first reported in the Punchbowl newsletter.
McCarthy reportedly requested the meeting, per CNN.
While McCarthy initially acknowledged that Trump “bears responsibility” for the January 6 Capitol insurrection, he has since been scrambling back to a more pro-Trump posture.
He changed his tune Sunday to asserting that “everybody across the country” bears some responsibility for the attack, and voted against Trump’s impeachment.
Still, Trump has reportedly been furious with McCarthy over his initial comments.
McCarthy has also walked a careful tightrope in dealing with members who voted for impeachment, including Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY).
“Look, I support her, but I also have concerns,” he said during a recent appearance on Greta Van Susteren’s “Full Court Press.” “She took a position as a number three member in conference, she never told me ahead of time.”
Cheney has been hounded by her colleagues, particularly Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), for the vote and some are seeking to kick her out of her leadership position.
Most recently, McCarthy has shown his reluctance to anger the MAGA contingent by so far refusing to commit to any punishment for Rep. Marjorie Greene (R-GA), whose newly unearthed social media comments showed her musing about the execution of Democratic politicians.
Let the sucking up commence!
The Republican Party is now officially the Fascist Donald Trump Party, and we are in serious danger if the country and all its institutions don’t accept that soon.
I have this perhaps quixotic idea that you don’t have to crawl to get enough money and status to at least be respectable. In fact not crawling is a big part of being respectable, the way I’ve heard. McCarthy obviously feels otherwise.
Second impeachments are an opportunity to make that case.
The biggest news in the GOP is the weakness of Mitch McConnell. No one in the GOP is turning to him as the leader of the GOP. They’re turning to Trump, the disgraced, twice impeached former POTUS who is likely facing multiple legal problems.
Since the Electoral College vote on 12/14/20, McConnell got owned on the stimulus bill by Trump and the Dems. His side lost the 2 GA Senate races. He got owned by Hawley and Cruz who were clearly conspiring with the Trump campaign and right wing white nationalists to disrupt the 1/6 certification of the electors by Congress. He then made a brazen power grab vs Schumer and lost that fight. Now, he’s getting owned by Rand Paul on the impeachment trial. McCarthy, the guy who should be bestowing legitimacy on McConnell as the leader and North Star of the party, is instead heading to the swamp at Mar a Lago. I can’t think of anything more humiliating for McConnell. He’s going to fold like a cheap suit, but if he was truly gangsta’, he work to convict Trump.