Boehner: Trump not a conservative and 'barely a Republican'

Former House Speaker John Boehner gave Vice News a blunt assessment of Donald Trump saying, “He’s not a conservative. He’s barely a Republican. He kind of became a Republican in order to run.”

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Despite this, Boehner adds, “His ideas, when you can get to ’em, are frankly more in the direction than I would want the country to go to than Hillary Clinton.” “While Donald wasn’t my first choice, wasn’t my second choice and for that matter he wasn’t my third choice…but he’s the nominee and I’m going to vote for him,” Boehner says.

Speaking of Trump’s opponent, Boehner tells Vice, “I like Hillary Clinton. I’ve known her for a long time, worked with her. She’s not a bad person, but it’s just…be more of the policies we’ve seen out of the Obama administration.”

Boehner has previously said he and Trump were “texting buddies.” CNN reported in May that Boehner had expressed his policy differences with Trump at a Las Vegas hedge fund conference:

Asked, rapid fire, whether he supported Trump’s proposed temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S., his proposal to build a wall on the border of Mexico and the New York billionaire¹s plan to aggressively use tariffs to attack foreign trade competitors, Boehner repeatedly answered with one word: “No.”

He also said Trump¹s foreign policy stance, laid out in a speech two weeks ago, didn’t align with his views. Still, Boehner said, “Anybody who doesn’t think Donald Trump can win, just watch.”

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The quotes about Trump not being a conservative and barely a Republican come from a preview of an interview with Boehner posted online today by Vice News. The interview will be broadcast on HBO’s Vice News Tonight Tuesday evening.

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