On CNN Wednesday, New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman broke down how former President Donald Trump has lost his once-ironclad grip on House Republican lawmakers.
This comes as Trump goes to bat for GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as he tries to clinch the Speakership, but a double-digit contingent of Republicans — the vast majority of whom were endorsed by Trump and elected on a Trump-like platform — repeatedly block him from the necessary margin he needs to win.
"What's interesting about the backdrop of this is you have the former president, Donald Trump, making a public endorsement of McCarthy," said anchor Anderson Cooper. "What he doesn't support is allowing this chaos to continue. That doesn't seem to have changed any minds. In fact, Lauren Boebert, who has been down to Mar-a-Lago and is a creation of Trumpworld, in many regards dissed him, saying he has it wrong."
"That's right," said Haberman. "There's an element of a fear factor that's not present right now. It's worth recalling that this energy, this House Freedom Caucus energy, grows out of the Tea Party, which predates Donald Trump. Donald Trump seized on it and capitalized on it and fueled it and benefitted from it and found common cause with these folks. He didn't create this kind of energy in the House. I think that he believes he did. I think he believes these are people who like him and will do whatever he wants. They're not seeing it that way right now."
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To the contrary, in fact, Haberman noted, "McCarthy lost one vote after Trump reissued his support this morning."
"If McCarthy ends up getting a deal and becomes the Speaker, Trump will claim credit," added Haberman. "He will say he was there all along. If McCarthy loses support, Trump will support whoever looks like will be the winner, because that's how Trump behaves. He goes where he sees the wind blowing. This says more about McCarthy than Trump, what's happening in the House right now. It's not a good sign for Trump. Appears weak. He didn't have to. He jumped into this."
Watch the video below or at this link.