House Speaker Kevin McCarthy sent Donald Trump’s allies into a rage Tuesday when he questioned whether the twice-impeached, twice-indicted former president was “the strongest” candidate to beat President Biden in 2024.
“Can he win that election? Yeah he can,” McCarthy said of Trump on CNBC. “The question is, ‘Is he the strongest to win the election?’ I don’t know that answer.”
The often very pro-Trump House speaker added: “Anybody can beat Biden. Can Biden beat other people? Yes, Biden can beat them. It’s on any given day.”
As the clip of McCarthy’s interview circulated on social media, aides and other sources close to the former president were enraged. Shortly after the CNBC interview aired, Rolling Stone began receiving several unsolicited messages from different Trump associates and advisers trashing McCarthy — including for being allegedly ungrateful for the public support and private lobbying that Trump lent him during his protracted battle to secure the speakership.
“Kevin’s in trouble now!” one Trump adviser writes.
Spokespeople for Trump and McCarthy did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone’s requests for comment on Tuesday afternoon. But McCarthy quickly walked back his comments, telling Breitbart Tuesday that “the media is attempting to drive a wedge between President Trump and House Republicans” because “he is Biden’s strongest political opponent, as polling continues to show.”
Sources familiar with the matter tell Rolling Stone that multiple people close to Trump quickly moved to make him aware of McCarthy’s comments and encouraged him to give the House speaker a call.
Another Trump adviser says McCarthy’s team was passive-aggressively sent new public polling showing Trump out-performing President Biden. The poll, via Morning Consult, showed Trump’s top 2024 primary rival — Florida Governor Ron DeSantis — lagging behind Biden. The clear message was, the adviser adds, that “maybe he should’ve gone with that” instead.
“McCarthy is a career politician that kissed up to Trump in order to get the speaker spot,” says Darrell Scott, an Ohio pastor who is close to and politically supportive of Trump. “Now he is trying to hedge his bet during the primary.”
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