WEIGHING IN ON KEVIN MCCARTHY
“Kevin does not play victimization politics. When he gets compared to Donald Trump, that is the single biggest difference between them.” “Trump’s his own man. Trump’s not a very good listener. I don’t think anybody can change that. Kevin tried. I know that the two of them are buddies. Kevin tried to get him to the right place. It didn’t always work, for sure.”
— FRED UPTON, Michigan GOP congressman “I don’t see him as recognizable anymore. He’s not the same person. He’s dealing with a countercultural movement within the party. He has to pivot to leading a fiery mob . ... The old Kevin McCarthy would have protected the party from the mob. He has been overrun.”
— MIKE MADRID, Republican consultant
Central Valley GOP Rep. David Valadao, who voted to impeach Trump, “survived because McCarthy said, ‘Look nobody else is going to hold that seat.’ That was a case where Trump listened to McCarthy.”
— NEWT GINGRICH,
Former House speaker, on how McCarthy prevented Trump from attacking Valadao