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Speaker Mike Johnson and his top lieutenants had a mission last week when they made a trek to Mar-a-Lago: Secure a Donald Trump endorsement for an incumbent House Republican over an insurgent primary rival boosted by Rep. Matt Gaetz.
According to multiple GOP sources, Johnson lobbied Trump to back Republican Rep. Mike Bost against his MAGA-aligned primary foe, Darren Bailey, in the southern Illinois district – a sign of how the new speaker is leveraging his relationship with the former president as internal GOP primary battles threaten to reshape the makeup of Congress.
Other Republicans also personally urged Trump to support Bost – including Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina, who heads the House GOP’s campaign arm and was present for the Mar-a-Lago meeting with Trump, and Rep. Max Miller, a freshman from Ohio and ex-Trump aide. The former president announced his endorsement of Bost just one day after the brief visit from Johnson and Hudson, who were in Florida for an annual House GOP leadership retreat.
As Republicans made the pitch on why they believed Bost – a loyal Trump supporter, committee chairman and five-term incumbent – deserved the backing of the former president, some hoped another message would effectively be delivered to Gaetz: That the House GOP would not be remade in his mold, a sign of the lingering bad blood more than four months after the Florida Republican led the unprecedented charge to oust Kevin McCarthy from the speakership.
“Seeing as how President Trump endorsed Mike Bost, Matt always finds himself on the wrong side of history,” Miller told CNN. “He wants more chaos. He has mommy and daddy issues to work out.”
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