McCarthy Praises How Trump Saved Mike Johnson’s Job: ‘Made the Difference Here’

Former Republican congressman Kevin McCarthy congratulated Mike Johnson on his reappointment as House speaker following a Friday vote replete with closed-door drama. However, according to McCarthy, a former speaker of the House, it was President-elect Donald Trump who did all the work.

In a Saturday morning interview with Fox & Friends, McCarthy told host Guy Benson that Johnson owes a great debt to Trump’s “unifying” influence over the GOP.

“Congratulations first to Speaker Johnson,” said McCarthy. “Well done, but I think having such a big election, real congratulations to President Trump.”

He added, “I was with [Trump] last night, he made the difference here. He united a conference that is tough to keep together.”

Because the Republicans hold only a razor-thin majority in the House, Johnson could only afford to have lose two votes and still keep his job, which he eventually did by 218 to 215 votes amid a flurry of alleged backdoor wooing by the president-elect.

Efforts to rally undecided GOP officials behind Johnson fell on deaf ears when it came to Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky, however, who stood in opposition of Johnson until the bitter end.

“You can pull all my fingernails out. You can shove bamboo up in them. You can start cutting off my fingers. I’m not voting for Mike Johnson,” said Massie previously.

Speaking with Fox on Saturday, McCarthy went on to stress the need for GOP unity if the party is to push through Trump’s agenda once he formally takes office later this month.

He said, “We won across the country, but in Congress, the majority shrunk a little, and it’s even gonna get smaller by two more as they go to the administration. So nobody can have a disagreement if we wanna get this agenda through.”

McCarthy then added, “President Trump is the unifier. Members have got to stop focusing on themselves and look to the policy.”