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Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California has said that President Donald Trump will stay involved in the nation's political life and the future of the Republican party, regardless of whether Trump serves a second term as president.
In a public briefing on Tuesday, a journalist asked McCarthy if he could characterize how the Republican party might look different moving beyond President Trump.
"Well, you're assuming President Trump is moving on," McCarthy began before asserting his belief that Trump will continue to play a part in the nation "regardless of whether he's president again or he's citizen Trump."
As such, McCarthy echoed the sentiment of numerous congressional Republicans who continue to suggest that Trump could still successfully contest the election results by having hundreds of thousands of ballots in several key swing states thrown out so that he is declared president-elect rather than his Democratic opponent, President-elect Joe Biden.
Continuing his comments, McCarthy said that Trump helped new congressional members get elected. While Republicans picked up eight seats in the U.S. House, some Republicans, such as Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, have said that Republican congresspeople were elected into office by split-ticket voters who otherwise rejected Trump for president, granting them victory where Trump lost.
"We expanded the party so how's the party going to look different," McCarthy added. "It's going to look broader. It's going to reach more people than it reached before. It's going to expand like we haven't seen from New Americans to first generations to the expansion throughout."
McCarthy may be alluding to the fact that in the 2020 election, Trump improved over his 2016 performance among Black men by over 5 percentage points, Black women by over 4 percentage points, Latino men by over 4 percentage points and Latinas by over 3 percentage points. Overall, Trump earned more nonwhite votes than any Republican presidential candidate since 1960, according to USA Today.
McCarthy also said the Republican party would continue to support Trump's agenda of rebuilding a stronger military and "making our streets safe and secure" by funding police despite a push of some progressives to defund the police.
The "defund the police" movement seeks to reallocate police funding into affordable housing, social services, drug treatment programs and other community services that could reduce crime while redefining police-community relations.
During the 2020 campaign, Trump repeatedly positioned himself as a "law and order" candidate amid nationwide protests against anti-Black police brutality. Trump said that lawless Antifa mobs would overtake cities if Biden won.
While Trump has increased military funding during his time in office, the current level of military funding as of 2019 remains at levels lower it was during 2008 to 2014, the first six years when Biden served as vice president under former President Barack Obama, according to the BBC.
Newsweek contacted McCarthy's office for comment.
