Conservative radio host Mark Levin on Friday said he is opposed to House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) taking over for retiring Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).
Picking McCarthy to be the new Speaker would show Republicans are still ignoring their conservative constituents, he said.
{mosads}“Kevin McCarthy is Eric Cantor with 10 less IQ points,” Levin told Breitbart on Friday, comparing the majority leader to his predecessor, former Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.).
“The Republican establishment never learned their lesson after Cantor,” Levin said, citing Cantor’s shocking primary loss to Rep. Dave Brat in 2014. “They replaced Cantor with McCarthy, who is a wheeler and a dealer.”
“My concern now is that they will do the same thing again,” he added. “He is not a principled conservative.”
Boehner stunned lawmakers Friday by announcing he is vacating both his Speakership and his House seat Oct. 30.
Levin said the Ohio lawmaker’s decision marks an opportunity for real change in the Republican conference in Congress.
“These guys are such lightweights,” he said of the current GOP-led Congress. “We need true leaders. They have too much tied to Washington, too much tied to the Chamber of Commerce, corporatists and the donor class.”
Levin called on the House Freedom Caucus to push for transformational leadership in the wake of Boehner’s departure.
“Those thirty or so Republicans need to stay united,” he said, citing Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) as a possible replacement for Boehner.
“We need leaders who are solid, who are intelligent, who are strategic, who are constitutionalists, who can bring in — not just the mainstay of the party — but demonstrate to millions of us in the grassroots that the message has finally been received,” Levin said.
“I’ve been pushing very hard for the replacement of this leadership, not just to save the Republican Party, but to save the Republic itself against an out-of-control president,” he added.
McCarthy is widely considered the front-runner for the Speaker’s gavel.
Reps. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) and Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) each ruled out seeking the Speakership Friday.