Mary Trump, the niece and outspoken critic of former President Donald Trump, concurred with the comparison of the modern Republican Party to terrorists made during a recent interview with political correspondent Brian Karem.
Karem appeared on the Friday edition of Mary Trump's "The Good in Us" substack video series. During the discussion, the pair touched on the chaos engulfing the House of Representatives as Republicans have continually 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. At various points in the discussion, Karem touched on points made in a recent column he wrote for Salon titled, "Hamas and the GOP are both terrorist groups — it's just a matter of degree."
On October 3, Representative Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, became the first House speaker in U.S. history to be ousted from the role by a floor vote, after a motion to vacate was brought against him by GOP Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida. Since then, successive GOP candidates for speaker have failed to garner the necessary majority of votes, an issue worsened by the party's razor-thin margin of control in the House.
Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the House majority leader, was the first candidate chosen, but he ultimately failed to get the votes needed on the chamber floor and withdrew from consideration. Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, the candidate initially endorsed by Trump, was next up, but he also failed to garner the needed votes, losing more and more support in three consecutive rounds of voting.
Speaking on Friday, 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."
"You have Hamas in the Middle East, and you have the Republicans in the United States," Karem said. "They're the ones that are playing into the hands of Hamas, Iran, and Russia."
He continued: "I call Jim Jordan a political termite. He'll chew things up, but he can't build anything. Republicans kind of remind me of a school of cannibalistic piranhas."
"You give them more credit than I," Mary Trump said in response.
Newsweek reached out to Jordan's office via email for comment.
In his Salon column from earlier this month, Karem further elaborated on his comparison of Republican lawmakers to terrorists.
"They are terrorists like the leaders of Hamas. They are despots like Vladimir Putin. They are men like Donald Trump, who has never gone without a meal or lacked the social lubricant of money his entire life, and yet has convinced millions he is the answer to all our problems," he wrote. "Trump and many other politicians in this country are not so different from the craziest leaders in many foreign nations. They preach division. They preach hate. They teach fear. Scalise and [Tim] Scott are part of the GOP that ruthlessly and relentlessly demonizes political opponents — who are not supposed to be 'enemies' — no matter the cost...There is little difference between Scott, Scalise, and Hamas."
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Thomas Kika is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in upstate New York. His focus is reporting on crime and national ... Read more
