Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy pledged to back Donald Trump in his 2024 election bid and expressed openness to joining his cabinet, while also panning the former president’s campaign trail promise to exact “retribution” for his backers.
McCarthy (R-Calif.) was resolute that Trump will be the GOP nominee in an interview that aired Sunday.
“Yes. And if Biden stays as the nominee for the Democrats, I believe Donald Trump will win,” the Californian told “CBS Sunday Morning” in response to a question about Trump getting the GOP nod.
When asked if that was an endorsement, McCarthy replied that he “will support the president, I will support President Trump.”
Over the summer, McCarthy roiled Trump world by questioning whether the 45th president would be the strongest Republican standard bearer.
He later walked that back and repeatedly talked up the former president, who largely remained on the sidelines during the speakership mutiny in October.
For months, McCarthy repeatedly stopped short of issuing a formal endorsement in the 2024 contest, but made sure to laud Trump.
McCarthy announced last week he will depart Congress by year’s end. He was deposed as speaker in October after eight Republicans staged an uprising with a solid bloc of Democrats to topple him.
When asked about accepting a cabinet post, McCarthy kept the door open.
“In the right position. Look, if I’m the best person for the job, yes,” McCarthy replied.
“I worked with President Trump on a lot of policies. We worked together to win the majority, but we also have a relationship where we’re very honest with one another.”
In that very same interview, McCarthy also cast aspersions on Trump’s message of retribution.
During his address to the Conservative Political Action Conference at the Gaylord National Convention Center back in March, Trump vowed to be “retribution” for his backers.
Since then, Trump has re-upped the “retribution” line repeatedly on the campaign stump.
“He needs to stop that,” McCarthy told CBS about the messaging on retribution. “He needs to stop that.”
McCarthy shrugged off concerns that Trump won’t listen to him and contended that the former president has history in which he will “adapt when he gets all the facts.”
“America doesn’t want to see the idea of retribution,” McCarthy went on. “If it’s rebuild, restore and renew, then I think you’ll see that.”
“I’m not gonna change who I am. And I’m not gonna stop giving him the advice. And look, I lost the job of Speaker. Maybe I don’t have the best advice. But I know one thing is, I love this country.”
Late last month, McCarthy appeared to dangle former South Carolina Gov. and US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley as a vice president pick for Trump.
“If I was picking for purely political decisions — what it looks like today is the anti-Trump vote is going to Nikki Haley,” McCarthy said at the New York Times’s 2023 DealBook summit.
“But the question is: Who you select, will they serve? So that’s another question you have to have. And it’s about addition.”
McCarthy also blasted Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) who led the crusade to oust him.
“I think history will show who Matt Gaetz really is,” McCarthy said, declining to state whether he will back a primary challenge against him.