Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) tussled with Bulwark publisher Sarah Longwell at the New York Times DealBook Summit on Wednesday.
Longwell shared a clip of McCarthy saying at the event, “If you go to the polls, and not Republican or Democrat, I think it was maybe three months ago [that] Independents believe the greatest threat to democracy was Joe Biden getting reelected.”
“And that was Independents, not Republican or Democrat. So what you say, you can believe, but that’s not what the American public believes,” McCarthy added, pushing back on his fellow panelists highlighting President-elect Donald Trump’s more authoritarian leaning positions.
Longwell, a GOP pollster and leader of the so-called “Never Trump” movement, hit back, saying, “There’s a disconnect between what the American people are alleging and what’s true.”
After some cross-talk on the panel, she continued, “Donald Trump lied about an election being stolen and then sicced the mob on the Capitol. And it’s funny that you roll your eyes at this, Kevin, because you’re the one who went down and resurrected him.”
“You want to know what happened just now in the 2024 election is we elected the most dangerous criminal human being, corrupt human being that America has ever elected. And, Kevin, you helped him. You’re the one who went and got him–” she continued as McCarthy interjected, “You’re welcome.”
“Yes, sure. Thank you. Okay. And in doing so and in doing so, you enabled this. And so Joe Biden, the idea that Joe Biden’s Justice Department is the problem here, as opposed to Donald Trump and the fact that he tried to overturn an election and sic people on the Capitol is I don’t know if people let you get away with that in rooms all the time. But you should never be allowed to get away with it,” she concluded.
Watch the clip above.
