Matt Gaetz Says He’s Talked With Trump About Making Him Speaker Of The House
Nicholas Reimann Dec 7, 2021,05:08pm EST
FTA
TOPLINE Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) said Tuesday he’s spoken directly with former President Donald Trump about installing Trump as House speaker if Republicans win control of the chamber in the midterms, reviving an idea he pushed over the summer that was largely dismissed by all but the most extreme right fringes of the GOP.
When asked at a news conference whether he’d spoken with Trump about the idea, a beaming Gaetz—one of the most hard-right representatives in Congress—responded: “I have,” though he wouldn’t go into further details.
Gaetz launched a fundraising effort in the summer after he promised to nominate Trump as speaker if the GOP retakes the House, though Trump associates denied he had any interest in the role.
The idea did gather some steam among high-profile, far-right Republicans, like Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who said she “would love” for Trump to be speaker and for House Republicans to impeach President Joe Biden.
Representatives at what’s Trump’s dubbed the “Office of the Former President” didn’t respond to a request for comment.
SURPRISING FACT
The speaker of the House doesn’t have to be a member of Congress, but every speaker in U.S. history has been. Only one vote is needed for someone to be nominated for the post, the third position in the presidential line of succession.
KEY BACKGROUND
Republicans need to win just five seats in the 2022 midterms to take control of the House. The GOPs chances appear strong, due to favorable redistricting maps and generic congressional polling that shows the party with a lead over Democrats, which is essentially unheard of in generic ballot polling history. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is in line to become speaker in a GOP-controlled House, after taking over as the top Republican in the chamber following the retirement of former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) in 2019. Trump said during the summer speculation over who should become speaker that he has “a good relationship with Kevin [McCarthy] and hopefully we will do everything traditionally.”
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
Gaetz also vowed Tuesday that hard-right figures like himself, Greene and recently censured Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) are going to push to “take power after this next election.” “When we do, it’s not going to be the days of Paul Ryan,” Gaetz said. Ryan is widely considered a moderate Republican.
TANGENT
Gaetz suggested in July that he already mentioned the idea to Trump, or was planning to. In response to Punchbowl News reporter Jake Sherman saying “Trump world” doesn’t want the former president to be speaker, Gaetz responded: “Who is ‘Trump world?’ I talk to Trump directly.”