Donald Trump Throws Gasoline on House Speaker Fire

Amid Tom Emmer’s GOP nomination win for House Speaker, Donald Trump issued a strong rebuke against the Minnesota congressman.

Emmer is one of nine Republicans who have put themselves forward to become the party’s new candidate for House Speaker. On Tuesday House Republicans picked Emmer as their nominee three weeks after Kevin McCarthy was ousted from the role in a historic 216-210 vote on October 3 after Representative Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican, spearheaded an effort to remove him. This comes after Republican Representative Jim Jordan fell short of the required 217 votes to become the next speaker after three rounds of voting.

In a post to Truth Social, Trump called voting for Emmer as speaker a “tragic mistake” while also calling out the congressman for not being loyal to the MAGA cause.

“I have many wonderful friends wanting to be Speaker of the House, and some are truly great Warriors. RINO Tom Emmer, who I do not know well, is not one of them. He never respected the Power of a Trump Endorsement, or the breadth and scope of MAGA—MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! He fought me all the way, and actually spent more time defending Ilhan Omar, than he did me,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Trump, who endorsed Jordan for House Speaker, continued to state Emmer was out of touch with Republican voters and alleged the congressman’s change in loyal allyship to him is only because “that’s what it takes to win.”

“He is totally out-of-touch with Republican Voters. I believe he has now learned his lesson, because he is saying that he is Pro-Trump all the way, but who can ever be sure? Has he only changed because that’s what it takes to win? The Republican Party cannot take that chance, because that’s not where the America First Voters are. Voting for a Globalist RINO like Tom Emmer would be a tragic mistake!,” Trump added.

However, a spokesperson for Emmer’s office previously told Newsweek there is no tension between him and the former president, noting how the congressman has frequently praised Trump, and that Trump had endorsed Emmer in 2022.

Newsweek has reached out to Trump’s team via email for comment.

Ahead of the voting on Tuesday, the congressman reached out to the former president over the weekend for backing, only to be derided as Trump said he was talking to a lot of candidates about the job.

Additionally, the former president spoke to reporters on Monday responding to whether or not he would endorse Emmer as speaker and said, “Well, I think he’s my biggest fan now because he called me yesterday and he told me, ‘I’m your biggest fan.’ So I don’t know about that…I’m sort of trying to stay out of that as much as possible.”

Although Emmer won the majority, his seemingly rocky relationship with Trump quickly threatened his nomination, as he lost more than two dozen Republican votes on Tuesday.

While the House continues to be in turmoil over who will fill the position of speaker, Trump allies and other hard-liners, who have been critical of Emmer over his support of a same-sex marriage initiative and perceived criticisms of the former president, are now attacking Emmer, according to The Associated Press.