- Rep. Matt Gaetz said he’d like Trump to become House Speaker “for like, three or four hours.”
- Gaetz has been trying to persuade Trump to accept the hypothetical nomination a while, to no avail.
- He imagined a low-effort Trump term mainly devoted to taking the speaker’s gavel from Nancy Pelosi.
Florida congressman Matt Gaetz said Tuesday that he has been trying to persuade former President Donald Trump to attempt to become House Speaker — even if it’s just for a matter of hours.
Speaking to “America First,” a radio show hosted by former Trump adviser Sebastian Gorka, Gaetz said he made a pitch to Trump over dinner on Tuesday — making it clear that Trump wouldn’t have to do much work.
“I told him, you don’t even have to be Speaker for like the whole day,” he said. “Like, you could do it for like, three or four hours.”
Gaetz’s scenario is based on the possibility that Republicans have a strong enough showing in the mid-terms to take back the House. They would then have enough votes to oust Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, from her position as Speaker.
Although the convention is that the speaker is also an elected member of the House, it is not a requirement. In the far-fetched scenario that Trump were to seek the speakership, and get enough votes, he would be eligible to take it.
The Twitter account Patriot Takes clipped the interview segment:
—PatriotTakes ?? (@patriottakes) February 23, 2022
In his hypothetical tenure, Gaetz said, Trump could give a “great speech” and “make a few structural reforms to the institution” before stepping down again.
“I just think America deserves that moment when Nancy Pelosi hands Donald Trump the gavel,” he said.
It’s something he’s pressed Trump on for some time. Gaetz said in December last year he’d raised it with the former president, and even campaigned on the premise in July.
A Trump spokesperson said in December that the former president had “zero desire” to assume the position.
“I don’t know if I’ve got him sold on it yet,” Gaetz conceded on Tuesday.
