In his garish exile at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump has spent the last two days screaming at aides about the betrayal he feels after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy endorsed Liz Cheney to keep her Republican House leadership position after Cheney voted to impeach Trump for incitement of insurrection, CNN reports.
Cheney received a vote of confidence by more than two-thirds of the House Republican caucus during a Party meeting on Wednesday. The vote was cast by secret ballot.
McCarthy and Trump had met one week ago reportedly to discuss how to take the House back to Republicans during the 2022 midterm elections, with Trump releasing a statement that he will “work with Leader McCarthy” to that goal.
After McCarthy stated he wanted to keep House Republican leadership in place, explicitly endorsing Cheney to retain her position as House Republican Conference Chair, the third-highest position in House Party leadership.
Cheney and nine other Republicans voted to impeach Trump after the January 6th domestic terror attack at the Capitol. Trump viewed those who voted with Republicans as traitors and disloyal to him.
McCarthy’s problems may not be limited to the ire of a former office holder. Those in the House who still express fealty to Trump may seek to unseat McCarthy for being insufficiently subservient to the former president. House members like Matt Gaetz and Jim Jordan–who still enthusiastically worship Trump publicly–may try to undermine his leadership after the midterms, particularly if Republicans make no headway in the elections.
Trump is said to be targeting those Republicans in the House and Senate who he views as insufficiently loyal to him and praiseful of his legacy. He’s raised money for a leadership PAC that will finance the campaigns of primary challengers in those races, and he’s hinted at starting a third party to undermine Republicans–a move he reportedly told Republicans he wouldn’t do pending the outcome of his impeachment trial.