McCarthy did however manage to anger one key constituent. According to a source familiar, a stir-crazy Trump has spent the last two days livid and fuming to aides and allies about what he views as a betrayal by McCarthy for standing by Cheney and not punishing her for her vote to impeach. This just over a week after McCarthy made an appeal to Trump by visiting him down at Mar-a-Lago and extracting a public commitment that the former President will work to elect a Republican House majority in 2022.
Trump isn’t the only Republican disappointed with McCarthy. Many in the establishment were looking for a more direct and stinging rebuke of Greene from the GOP leader. They worry failure to do so has damaged the party’s ability to win by tying its brand to a conspiracy theorist.
“Kevin never takes a stand, he is always on every side of every issue,” said one influential Republican adviser, who called the episode a “huge embarrassment and failure of leadership.”
“Does he want to be the Republican party or the QAnon party?” the adviser added.
Join the Conversation
VIP members get the ability to comment on articles.