Donald Trump made a couple of quick reversals on Thursday that we need to cover here.
He went from being vague about being named Speaker to saying he would take the role, albeit with a caveat.
He also dropped his lawsuit against former fixer Michael Cohen.
There is a contingent in the GOP that continues to want to see Donald Trump as the House Speaker for some reason.
There is no rule that says you have to be a member of Congress to be Speaker, but that is how the role has been traditionally filled.
Trump has avoided considering this in the past, but he suddenly changed his mind, telling Fox News:
"I have been asked to speak as a unifier because I have so many friends in Congress. If they don't get the vote, they have asked me if I would consider taking the speakership until they get somebody longer-term, because I am running for president.
"They have asked me if I would take it for a short period of time for the party, until they come to a conclusion — I'm not doing it because I want to — I will do it if necessary, should they not be able to make their decision."
Trump also said he would do this to unify the party.
Now, I am not trying to take a shot at Trump here, but let's be serious… the most significant break in the party came when Trump was president. Furthermore, the break in the party now is worse than it was before.
We actually have three factions fighting it out: MAGA, the Establishment, and Moderates.
Trump never brought the party together as president, and he struggled to get legislation passed with a GOP House and Senate during his first two years, so this is just a ludicrous idea.
This does not even consider that Trump has seven cases in litigation and a presidential campaign to run.
Donald Trump sued Cohen for $500 million in April for breaching his attorney-client relationship.
He has decided to pause that suit until some of his calendar clears up. The case was dropped only days before Trump was scheduled for his deposition.
A Trump spokesperson stated:
"Once President Trump has prevailed in dealing with the witch hunts against him, he will continue to pursue his claims against Michael Cohen, who rightfully deserves to, and will be held accountable for his unlawful words and actions just as the Southern District of New York held him accountable for numerous non-Trump related acts and crimes, making Cohen a very 'proud' felon."
So, Cohen is clearly not off the hook here, but it is one less legal battle that Trump will have to worry about as we get closer to the primary season.
The Cohen case speaks for itself, so I am not going to spend any time on that today, but we really need to address this Speaker nonsense.
I don't care if you are a Trump supporter, a DeSantis supporter, or one of the others. You have to see there is absolutely ZERO benefit to having Trump as the Speaker.
Democrats blocked his every move as president, so the idea that Trump would be able to unite Congress is just idiotic.
As Trump himself noted, we have some great members of Congress who can fill this role, so there is no need to bring him into this.
I want the government to actually be operational and do something, and that would not happen with Trump as the Speaker.
Furthermore, as I noted above, the man has a pretty full plate right now, and adding Speaker duties to that plate is asking far too much of Trump.
The two frontrunners for the position right now are Reps. Steve Scalise (R-LA) and Jim Jordan (R-OH). Trump has already endorsed Jim Jordan for the position.
I believe moderates and Democrats would better receive Scalise, but I think either of them will get the full support of the Caucus, so let's vote on this, put a name out there, and get a Speaker back in position so we can start moving forward with legislation again.
Please, people, stop playing games.
