‘Too Stupid’ To Be Speaker: Critics Trash Kevin McCarthy Over New Trump Tape
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was caught in a big lie on Thursday.
The California Republican denied a New York Times report that he told GOP leaders he would advise former President Donald Trump to resign after the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol, calling it “totally false and wrong.”
Just hours later, however, New York Times reporters Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin released audio of McCarthy saying exactly that during a phone call with Republican leaders on Jan. 10, 2021. On MSNBC, the Times journalists said there was a lot more where that came from.
Now, McCarthy’s critics are calling him out over it.
A.B. Stoddard, a columnist at the conservative website RealClearPolitics, described it as an “amazing, breathtaking failure” and proof McCarthy is “simply too stupid” to become speaker of the House.
“The idea that he put out an emphatic denial just hours ago to be upped like this with tapes just hours later is truly just an epic embarrassment to the Republicans and to the man who’s been trying to be speaker for all these years now,” she said.
The Democratic National Committee released a statement calling McCarthy a “fraud and a liar.”
“Republicans are not fit to govern and Republican majorities would mean little more than complete subservience to Donald Trump,” the organization said.
Others used Twitter to slam McCarthy:
Breaking: Kevin McCarthy is a liar and a coward. https://t.co/ukIk2fwoy1
— Sarah Longwell (@SarahLongwell25) April 22, 2022
I don’t understand how Liz Cheney was thrown out of @HouseGOP leadership for doing exactly.the.same.thing. @GOPLeader McCarthy said he would do. He folded. She held strong. Shouldn’t he lose his job and she keep hers?
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) April 22, 2022
I think there would be no more fitting end to Kevin McCarthy’s dream of becoming speaker than the “scandal” of him being exposed as privately believing the right and moral thing.
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) April 22, 2022
Well damn… @GOPLeader busted wide open ON TAPE WITH LIZ CHENEY… 👀 https://t.co/0ufgwfU9FMpic.twitter.com/4Fsf1MquZn
— Joy-Ann (Pro-Democracy) Reid 😷 (@JoyAnnReid) April 22, 2022
nice to see liz cheney carrying on the family tradition of shooting a man right in the face https://t.co/BWrgHpq9G6
— kilgore trout, death to putiner (@KT_So_It_Goes) April 22, 2022
Wow. McCarthy literally today said this was a lie and just a few hours later the tape with his voice from his mouth proves THAT was a lie. Incredible. @GOPLeader ought to be ashamed. Republicans, your leaders think you are dumb. Let’s be done with them. https://t.co/lkQaZIcD3M
— Adam Kinzinger (@AdamKinzinger) April 22, 2022
I can already picture the press conference…
“Why did you lie?”
“I think the real question is why didn’t Nancy Pelosi blah blah blah”— Acyn (@Acyn) April 22, 2022
Again: What’s amazing about Kevin McCarthy is how he knows what the right thing to do is—and will never do it. He’s a coward. And he’s willing to destroy democracy because he’s too scared of his party. https://t.co/uFSCLixewC
— Garrett M. Graff (@vermontgmg) April 22, 2022
It’s on tape, Kev.
Caught lying again. You’re a coward, mate. 🖕#Maddowhttps://t.co/FzhHYVqu0O— ICantDecideStuff 🤓 Call me J (@cantcodeforthat) April 22, 2022
The only thing more pathetic than Kevin lying about calling Trump to tell him to resign is Kevin McCarthy than going to Mar-a-Lago to kiss Trump’s ass.
— Rob Reiner (@robreiner) April 22, 2022
Kevin McCarthy has reached the end of his political career. He will never be the Speaker of the House. He has been undone by his cynicism, lying and stupidity. He is a checkers player who has been undone by a chess player.
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) April 22, 2022
Kevin McCarthy got Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Techniqued the moment he ended up the last Paul Ryan guy in a Paul Gosar caucus. He's just been taking his five steps very slowly since.
— Foster (@foster_type) April 22, 2022
McCarthy could not be reached for comment (at the testicular tannery)
— Schooley (@Rschooley) April 22, 2022
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
