Senate Republicans are peeved that former President Donald Trump’s influence tanked the GOP’s latest speaker nominee, Tom Emmer.
Now, they’re hoping House Republicans will just ignore Trump’s takes on the race altogether.
“I was disappointed in it,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.). “As much as I like Donald Trump and I support him, I just think it’s too bad that members of the House of Representatives would be influenced by it.”
“I couldn’t care less what Donald Trump thinks about the speaker of the House. What I care about are the members who can vote on him and get it done,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). “They should box out the outside influences and lead.”
Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), who chairs Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, said Trump’s voice will be “very important” but that it’s up to the House to “sort this out.”
Trump spent Tuesday openly bashing Emmer on his social media platform, TRUTH Social, calling the congressman a “RINO” who “never respected the Power of a Trump endorsement.” After Emmer dropped out of the race Tuesday, Trump bragged to his allies about trouncing the short-lived speaker nominee, according to our colleagues.
But Emmer dropping out means the House GOP is back to square one. They’ll spend Tuesday evening doing yet another candidate forum, to nominate yet another speaker candidate who could — like the others — very well struggle to get to 217 votes.
All the while, government funding is on the line ahead of the Nov. 17 deadline, and aid for Israel and Ukraine is still in limbo. Even if the Senate passes anything, sending legislation to the House right now would be the equivalent of tossing a bill into a black hole.
“External forces — everybody, I’m not just talking about President Trump — ought to just let them figure it out because they’re having a lot of problems with it,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said of the House. “Any opinions are kind of unwelcome.”
Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) said Trump may have been “piling on” and called it “another missed opportunity to bring some much needed stability and functionality to the House.”
While Trump still counts many allies in Congress, he has some notable foes in the Senate, where a number of more moderate Republicans have bucked him over the years. During his second impeachment trial, seven Senate Republicans crossed party lines and voted to convict him.
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) was the lone senator to vote to convict Trump in both impeachment trials. And while he said it’s up to House members whether or not to take cues from Trump on the speaker’s race, the senator did offer an assessment.
“He’s been for some and against others,” Romney said. “And so far, he seems to be better at stopping people than electing people.”
