Donald Trump says Jesus should become the next House speaker
Trump officially filed for the first-in-the-nation primary on Monday, 23 October, at the New Hampshire State House where he said Jesus should become the next House speaker. (Getty Images/PinkNews)
Former US president Donald Trump has backed Jesus to become the next speaker in the House of Representatives.
On Monday (23 October), Trump was in New Hampshire to register for its presidential primary, where he named his pick for the vacant role in the House.
Speaking to conservative broadcaster RSBN about the threshold to become speaker, Trump, said: “There’s only one person that can do it all the way: Jesus Christ. [If] Jesus came down and said, ‘I wanna be speaker’, he would do it. Other than that, I haven’t seen anybody who can guarantee it.
“But we’re going to have somebody pretty soon.”
The House has been without a speaker since 3 October, following the historic ousting, via a 216-210 vote, of anti-LGBTQ+ congressman Kevin McCarthy, less than a year after he took on the role.
Nine candidates pitched themselves for the job on Monday, with a closed-door vote on Tuesday morning (24 October), aiming to whittle down the pool of candidates, who need to win the necessary 217 votes.
Republican majority whip Tom Emmer has been billed as the frontrunner, but Trump has reportedly told his allies he doesn’t want him, according to The Telegraph.
At the filing, Trump compared himself to the former president of South Africa and anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela.
According to AP, he said: “I don’t mind being Nelson Mandela because I’m doing it for a reason. We’ve got to save our country from these fascists, these lunatics that we’re dealing with. They’re horrible people and they’re destroying our country.”
Democrat senator Maggie Hassan and New Hampshire Democratic Party chairman Ray Buckley held a press conference ahead of Trump’s formal filing, warning against a second term in the White House the former president.
Buckley said, as reported by The Hill: “As Trump files for the [New Hampshire] primary today, Granite staters are remembering just how disastrous his presidency was for our state.
“Trump has proven over and over that we cannot trust him with New Hampshire’s economy or important crises, at home or on the world stage.”
Despite being the first president to be charged with criminal activity, Trump remains the frontrunner in the 2024 Republican candidate race.
Ron DeSantis also filed in New Hampshire, but polling still has him trailing well behind Trump.
New Hampshire’s poll averages put Trump at 45 per cent to the Florida governor’s 9.3 per cent, while Nevada also shows the former president well ahead, despite his well-publicised legal problems.
Trump announced in November that he was once again vying for the White House after being roundly defeated by Joe Biden in 2020.
He kicked off his campaign by doubling down on the anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and policies that defined his time in the Oval Office.
If re-elected, Trump has promised to ban gender-affirming healthcare for trans youth. He has also attacked hospitals that provide such treatments and is pushing for a federal law that recognises only two genders.
