Kevin, don't hold your breath.
So, remember back in October (and also in a NY Times interview more recently), when former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said, to a crowd in Oxford, UK. ...
... "When you look at the Democrats, they actually look like America. When I look at my party, we look like the most restrictive country club in America."?
Me, too, and it was identity politics at its worst — from a Republican, no less.
McCarthy's ill-advised admission even prompted an easy layup response from Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison: "Even a broken, good-for-nothing clock is right twice a day." Sadly true.
Welp, McCarthy's back. With more — let's just call it "interesting" — commentary.
The ousted Speaker, who recently announced he plans to resign his congressional seat at the end of the year, told "CBS News Sunday Morning" in an episode that will air this Sunday that he not only believes Donald Trump — who all but "ordered" McCarthy's removal from the Speakership — will be the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, but also that the former president can count on his full support.
When asked by CBS' chief election and campaign correspondent Robert Costa if he would accept a cabinet position in a second Trump administration, McCarthy said "yes," with a caveat.
In the right position.
Groveling?
So let's think this through. McCarthy abruptly resigned from Congress — effective on January 1, 2024 —basically due to what amounted to a snit over being unceremoniously kicked to the curb.
Now, the ex-Speaker not only publicly declares he'll support Trump — the guy who wanted him out — if he's the nominee, but then, he also tosses his hat in the ring for a cabinet position if, a: Trump is the nominee and goes on the win the election, and, b: Trump offers him a position. Why would he say that? (We'll get there.)
Groveling or not, this is a perfect example of the stuff I loathe about politics.
The Bottom Line
Here's the thing(s). Barring an unforeseen turn of events — which is not uncommon in politics, by the way — Donald Trump is going to be the 2024 Republican presidential nominee. Love it, hate it, or somewhere in between, it's going to happen.
If so, the chances of Trump offering a cabinet position to Kevin McCarthy, given the former president's very public, multitudinous beatdowns of the former Speaker, are somewhere between nil and zero. In my not-so-humble opinion, of course. Moreover, McCarthy is at least as aware of it as most of the rest of us are.
So, why would McCarthy put himself out there like that? Why would he say he'd serve in a Trump cabinet, likely knowing full well that such a position would never be offered?
Wait — maybe I just answered my own question.