Mere hours after Kevin McCarthy was ousted as Speaker of the House, Sean Hannity came right out with an update on the next scenario on everyone’s mind: Could the Republicans really have Donald Trump queued up for the job?
Not only does the longtime Fox News host seem to think so, he suggested Tuesday night that the process may already be underway.
“Welcome to Hannity – history on Capitol Hill tonight – eight republican lawmakers joining all 208 House Democrats to remove Kevin McCarthy as speaker, the first time in our nation’s history,” he said. “And McCarthy will not seek the speaker seat again.”
That’s where Hannity suggested that House Republicans’ next move could be equally without precedent:
“Now sources are telling me at this hour that some House Republicans have been in contact with, and have started an effort to draft, former President Donal Trump to be the next Speaker – and I have been told that President Trump might be open to helping the Republican party, at least in the short term if necessary.”
It was no huge scoop – talk of Trump as speaker has been brewing since before McCarthy’s own fraught-filled selection process. But Trump has said previously he’s not interested in the role, so Hannity’s reporting does move the needle a bit there.
Meanwhile at least three House GOP members – Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Troy Nehls of Texas and Florida Rep. Greg Steube – have already openly stated they’d support Trump in the role, which does not constitutionally require that the speaker be a member of the House.
“This week, when the U.S. House of Representatives reconvenes, my first order of business will be to nominate Donald J. Trump for Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives,” Nehls said in a statement, according to Newsweek.
Steube wrote “@realDonaldTrump for Speaker” on X, while Greene also posted a lengthy thread on her own designs for who’ll be the next speaker.
Though a theoretical Trump speakership is constitutionally possible, there were plenty of voices suggesting the idea was absurd on its face:
Watch the entire exchange in the above video clip.
