JEOPARDY

House Republicans Looking to Whack Kevin McCarthy as Minority Leader if Trump Loses: Report

His support for a QAnon-espousing candidate, loyalty to Trump, and demands for campaign donations have put him in the crosshairs.

A cluster of Republican lawmakers is apparently considering a plot to oust House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, as the GOP ponders its post-Trump future, a new report says. Insiders predict an intraparty war for the soul of the GOP and a small group of members are reportedly discussing whether someone should challenge McCarthy if Trump is defeated Nov. 3. The Washington Post reports that the matter came to a head following McCarthy’s support for QAnon-espousing Marjorie Taylor Greene, a fringe House candidate in Georgia who has made numerous racist comments and is a 9/11 truther. “Multiple Republicans implored McCarthy to help defeat her by supporting her primary opponent. But McCarthy refused,” the Post reports, citing interviews with more than 10 House Republicans. There were also widespread complaints about a demand that GOP members donated to the president’s re-election campaign. “There’s no doubt that McCarthy is a Trump loyalist, through and through,” said Doug Heye, a former House GOP leadership staffer who has known McCarthy personally for decades. “I think the challenge for everyone in the Republican conference is, at some point there will be a post-Trump world, whether that’s coming in three months or later. What direction does the party go?”