Ramaswamy floats Trump for Speaker: ‘We need to shake things up’

GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is backing efforts by some members of the House Republican Conference to nominate former President Trump to be the next Speaker of the House. 

“This isn’t crazy. We need to shake things up in there,” he said of the idea in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday.

Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) said he will nominate Trump to be Speaker when the House returns to session, expected to be Tuesday. 

Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) also supported the effort, as has Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).

There is no requirement that a Speaker be a member of the House, but Trump said Wednesday he would not take the top House job, if offered.

“Lot of people have been calling me about Speaker, all I can say is we’ll do whatever is best for the country and for the Republican Party,” Trump told reporters at a Manhattan courthouse.

The former president will instead focus on his reelection campaign, he said.

“My focus is totally on that. If I can help them during the process, I’ll do it. But we have some great people in the Republican Party that could do a great job as Speaker,” Trump said.

Ramaswamy had supported efforts from a small group of conservatives to remove Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as Speaker, which proved successful in a Tuesday vote.

In a video message after the vote, he encouraged Republicans to embrace the “chaos” and renew focus on legislative issues that matter.

“The point of removing the House Speaker was to sow chaos. That’s what the critics of Matt Gaetz and everybody else is saying,” Ramaswamy said Tuesday, referring to the Florida Republican who led the push against McCarthy. “And my advice to the people who voted to remove him is own it.”

“Admit it. There was no better plan of action of who’s going to fill that Speaker role. So was the point to sow chaos? Yes, it was,” he continued. “But the real question to ask, to get to the bottom of it, is whether chaos is really such a bad thing?”

Despite a handful of Republicans now saying they want to see Trump as Speaker, he may not be eligible to take the gavel under current GOP conference rules.

According to Rule 26 of the House Republican Conference Rules, a “member of the Republican Leadership shall step aside if indicted for a felony for which a sentence of two or more years imprisonment may be imposed.”

Trump is facing dozens of felony counts across numerous state and federal cases.

However, House Republicans could also vote to change the rule.

McCarthy announced late Tuesday that he would not attempt to become Speaker again. The GOP conference will have a candidate forum Tuesday to select their pick for the role, with Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) presiding.