Sean Hannity is calling, but the House Freedom Caucus isn’t answering.
After Wednesday night’s debate, the fiery news personality attempted to stir up a coup in the House of Representatives by calling on conservatives to challenge Paul Ryan for the speaker’s gavel.
Hannity told the Washington Post that Ryan was “a saboteur” who’s working to thwart the GOP nominee and needs “to be called out and replaced.”
The talk show host said Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, Mark Meadows of North Carolina and Louie Gohmert of Texas make the top of his list of potential replacements.
But Thursday morning, all three denied any interest in mounting bids to take the speaker’s chair when asked by the Washington Examiner.
Meadows said he’s focused on keeping his swing state red. Jordan’s spokesman insists the Freedom Caucus chairman is focused on his own race. And a Gohmert aide said her boss “has no knowledge of any plans to run for speaker.”
In recent months, Hannity has followed Trump’s lead and trained his populist microphone against the speaker. On television and the airwaves, he’s blasted Ryan for not doing more to support the Republican nominee. And with more than 13 million listeners on the radio and the No. 2 slot on Fox News, that criticism has reverberated in conservative circles.
Still, that criticism of the speaker has fallen on reluctant ears in the Republican conference where Ryan remains popular. That could change when the next Congress convenes, though.
The influence of the cantankerous 40-member Freedom Caucus is inversely proportional to the size of the Republican majority. As the GOP conference shrinks, its influence increases and Ryan’s flexibility diminishes.
After forcing Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, to resign, the caucus has caused numerous fits for the Wisconsin wonk who replaced him.
Since Ryan took the job last October, they’ve spoiled his budget efforts and forced him to turn to the minority for the votes needed to pass legislation. But their opposition hasn’t developed into a challenge for the speaker’s chair.
And next year, Ryan could finally bring wayward House conservatives back to the party’s fold in the House.
The speaker has threatened to ride rough shod over Senate Democrats and send numerous long-awaited reforms to the president’s desk through a parliamentary procedure called budget reconciliation.
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
