Boehner says it’s Democrats’ turn for a Tea Party movement

Former Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Friday that he expects the Democratic Party to experience its own Tea Party-style movement that will push the party to the left.

In an interview with CNBC, the former lawmaker said he is unsure who will become the Democratic presidential nominee in 2020, but that he expects the candidate will represent the left wing of the party.

{mosads}”It’s their turn in the barrel,” Boehner told the network. “What Democrats are going through in 2016 and 2018 with the progressive movement, Republicans went through in 2010 and 2012 with the Tea Party movement.”

“My guess is they’ll nominate someone that’s very far left — and in my view out of step with where the American people want to go — and thereby increasing the chances of Donald Trump being reelected, assuming that he runs,” Boehner added.

Boehner’s term as Speaker was punctuated by battles with the conservative Tea Party factions of the Republican Party that frequently clashed with House leadership over issues like government spending.

The former Ohio lawmaker recently joined the advisory board for a lobbying group working on pro-marijuana policy.

Former President Obama in 2016 warned Democrats against adopting methods similar to the Tea Party activists, saying that attempting to primary Democrats seen as disloyal to the party would not help in the long run.

“The thing Democrats have to guard against is going in the direction that the Republicans are much further along on, and that is this sense ‘we are just going to get our way, and if we don’t, then we’ll cannibalize our own, kick them out and try again,'” Obama said at the time.