Just the idea of House Speaker Trump could be a dream or nightmare for each party

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Then-President Donald Trump appears in front of the U.S. Capitol in 2018. Some of his most loyal supporters want him to return to power in Washington as speaker of the House if the Republican Party wins back control next year.





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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and then-Vice President Mike Pence appear behind President Donald Trump at the 2019 State of the Union address, a perch Trump could enjoy behind President Biden if he somehow became speaker.





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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and then-Vice President Mike Pence appear behind President Donald Trump at the 2019 State of the Union address, a perch Trump could enjoy behind President Biden if he somehow became speaker.


Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images

It’s a mass media performance opportunity Trump would revel in. And as some of his supporters like Root have suggested, the speakership would be the perfect place for Trump to take political revenge from.

«You become the speaker of the House, lead the impeachment of Biden and start criminal investigations against Biden, Root told Trump. «You’ll wipe them out for his last two years, and then you’ll be president. Do it!

But the downsides could also be tremendous, even if Trump clearly wanted the job. Feehery thinks he couldn’t really offload all the actual work of the speaker’s office to House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, or «my Kevin as Trump likes to call him, who would ostensibly be his No. 2.

«You can’t avoid the responsibilities, no, Feehery said.


Even in theory, it’s a potential midterm mobilizer


Unless and until Trump himself totally shuts down all this chatter, Trump as a potential speaker is becoming a political issue. Republicans in Make America Great Again districts love it, Republicans in swing districts don’t and it’s something that could help Democrats mobilize their base.

«The idea for some that Donald Trump could become the speaker of the House is almost as frightening as the idea of him becoming president again, said Democratic strategist Karen Finney. «That will potentially advantage Democrats — again, just the fear of it, just the very thought of it.

Democrats would want to force every Republican House candidate to answer the question: If Trump wants the job, would they vote for him?

Saying no would anger their MAGA base, but saying yes would risk turning off swing voters who are exhausted with the former president. They’d be stuck, which is appealing to Democrats.

«I think it’s totally fair game, said Democratic strategist Doug Thornell. «Look, like Republicans do this to Democrats all the time. To our front-liners, they say, ‘Well, would you vote for Nancy Pelosi?’ For Republican members, yeah, they should absolutely be on the record on … would they vote for Trump as speaker.

For Republicans, according to one lobbyist, the thought of Trump as speaker is either a joke or a nightmare or a dream come true.

Feehery is among those who consider the concept a clear plus for Democrats.

«If we lose this election, it’ll be because the election’s not about Joe Biden but about Donald Trump, he said. «I know that Trump believes that everything good happens when the people talk about him. But actually, in this midterm election, for Republicans to be successful they need to kind of keep the focus on Joe Biden’s failures, not Donald Trump’s speakership.

Trump himself will have a lot of control over how that plays out because he continues to sway what many Republicans are talking about.