'A weak joke': Bush speechwriter skewers James Comer as 'not respected' by Republicans

Recent Republican chaos in the House of Representatives is the result of a failed plan to prop up former President Donald Trump executed by lawmakers without the talent to carry it out, according to a former speechwriter for President George H. W. Bush.

Now, according to David Frum, those Republicans are trapped in a political reality gameshow as they vie to escape the chaos and land on Trump's presidential ticket.

"[It's] a contest of self-humiliation," Frum told MSNBC anchor Katy Tur Friday. "The prime criterion is zero-ness. So we're watching 'America's Next Top Zero.'"

David Frum detailed an imploding Republican game plan, years in the making, that he argues has been defined by immediate and repetitive failure.

"What you're watching is the breakdown of the failure to implement," Frum said. "But there was a plan here."

Republicans planned on winning a big majority in 2022 and to funnel that power into investigations to critically wound the Biden administration while balancing out the Trump administration scandals," Frum said.

The problem was a 2022 midterm election that saw Republicans win only a narrow House majority and lose one Senate seat, two governorships, and four state legislatures, he said.

"From the beginning, they were on the wrong foot," Frum said. "The investigations all went wrong, partly because there wasn't anything there, and partly because the thin Republican majority just didn't have the talent."

Frum called out two such Republicans by name.

The first was House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), whom Frum argued gambled and lost on the Republican side backing aide to Ukraine, and Rep. James Comer (R-OH), whose impeachment inquiry publicly and repeatedly failed to uncover a smoking gun.

"Comer, he's not respected by his own Republican members," Frum said. "To the Democrats, he's just a weak joke."

Republican struggles only worsened as Comer failed to impeach Biden and criminal indictments rolled in against Trump, said Frum.

"The Republican Congress then began to turn on itself," said Frum. "You're watching the failure and chaos and rubble from a strategy that was put in place in order to advance Republican hopes in 2024, and that isn't working."

Frum then applied his "lack of talent" theory to a very different political race, the race that has many Capitol House Republicans racing to New York City to stand in front of the courthouse where Trump faces the first of four expected criminal trials.

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Tur called the appearances "a tryout" to be Trump's running mate in the upcoming presidential election, and asked Frum to comment on how those lawmakers must feel about backing a man whose supporters chanted they wanted to "hang" former Vice President Mike Pence.

Frum divided the contenders into two groups: the political sharks, who include Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND) and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), and the zeros.

The sharks, according to Frum, are getting ready to grin and bear it.

"They think you just eat the toads," said Frum. "Four years of vice presidency, leave office, and then you're well positioned to be the party's nominee and president yourself."

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But those sharks have failed to take into account Trump's fondness for talented sycophants and his ability to smell a rat, Frum argued.

"The problem is Trump recognizes those people," said Frum.

"What he is looking for is a human zero, somebody who if he says, 'Hang Mike Pence,' will put the noose around his own neck and hang himself first," Frum said. "Anything that smacks of talent or character or independent judgment is going to be anathema to Trump."

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