Trump Suggests Democrat Would Be House Speaker if Not for His Influence

Former President Donald Trump has suggested that the Republican-controlled House would have elected a Democrat as speaker if not for his last-minute phone calls in support of Kevin McCarthy.

McCarthy was elected speaker on January 7 following a series of extended negotiations with hard-right holdouts and a total of 15 rounds of voting in the House, the most required to pick a speaker since 1859. McCarthy was ultimately elected by the thinnest of margins, after the most stubborn of the holdouts agreed to change their votes to "present."

On Tuesday, Trump touted his influence over Republicans and the speaker selection process during a phone interview on the Real America's Voice show, Just The News No Noise. The former president argued that his persuasive skills might have prevented the "disaster" of the chamber electing a Democrat as speaker despite Republicans holding a majority.

"I didn't like what was happening ... It was starting to look a little bit chaotic, it was starting to look a little bit not good," Trump said during the interview, in a clip shared to Twitter by former federal prosecutor Ron Filipkowski. "And what happened is, I started calling them and I started getting people to agree with me and coming on board."

The former president then noted that just before McCarthy was successfully elected, the House nearly voted in favor of a recess that would have paused the process until Monday.

"It was just about over, where they were gonna leave," said Trump. "I think that if they left ... You might have ended up with a Democrat, to be honest with you ... It would have been a disaster."

Trump reportedly made multiple phone calls to the GOP holdouts in the hours before McCarthy secured the speakership.

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a hard-right Trump loyalist who divided the MAGA world by backing McCarthy, boasted of what she called a "perfect phone call" that Trump made to the House floor last week as part of the effort to elect McCarthy in a tweet early Saturday morning.

A photo shared on Twitter by the congresswoman, a moment that was captured by Getty photographer Chip Somodevilla, shows her holding up and pointing to a phone that Trump was calling while holdout GOP Representative Matt Rosendale seemingly waved her off.

Although Trump has taken credit for McCarthy's ultimate victory, a number of political observers have argued that his influence over Republicans has been waning, with some viewing the extended battle for speaker as evidence of the former president's diminishing powers.

Last year's midterm elections also featured poorer-than-expected performances by Republicans, especially among Trump-endorsed candidates in close contests, while Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is seen by many as a viable challenger to Trump for the 2024 nomination.

However, polls suggest that Trump remains a very popular figure among Republican voters. On Monday, a CBS News/YouGov poll found that 35 percent of Republican voters believe loyalty toward Trump is "very important" moving forward, while 30 percent said that it was "somewhat important."

Newsweek has reached out to the Republican National Committee for comment.