Mary Trump, the niece and critic of former President Donald Trump, has compared the modern Republican Party to terrorists during an interview with political correspondent Brian Karem. The conversation revolved around the House of Representatives, where Republicans have consistently failed to elect a new Speaker of the House, preventing the chamber from passing any measures aimed at addressing the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Karem’s recent column titled “Hamas and the GOP are both terrorist groups — it’s just a matter of degree” echoed Karem’s comparison.
On October 3, Representative Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California, became the first House speaker in American history to lose his position in a floor vote. Since then, the GOP’s razor-thin margin of control in the House has made it more difficult for them to win the necessary majority of votes for speaker. Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana was the first chosen candidate, but he ultimately failed to get the votes needed on the chamber floor and withdrew from consideration. The following candidate was Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, who had initially received Trump’s support. However, he too failed to win enough votes and gradually lost support over the course of three voting rounds.
Karem accused the Republican Party of playing into the hands of Hamas with the ongoing House speaker drama, a sentiment Mary Trump concurred with. He further admonished the GOP as “a school of cannibalistic piranhas” and singled out Jordan in particular as a “political termite.” Mary Trump responded by comparing the GOP to terrorists, comparing them to leaders of Hamas, despots like Vladimir Putin, and men like Donald Trump who has never gone without a meal or lacked the social lubricant of money his entire life.
