The WorldNetDaily editor's wild plan to return Donald Trump to the presidency by first making him House speaker actually got slightly closer to reality for a very brief time (though he may have to fight Wayne Allyn Root over credit for the plan).
By Terry Krepel Posted 3/20/2023
Joseph Farah
Ever since Donald Trump emerged as a political candidate, WorldNetDaily editor Joseph Farah has been a huge fanboy -- so much so that when Trump lost his re-election bid in 2020, he sank into a morass of discredited conspiracy theories about election fraud and turned WND into a (shrinking) megaphone for them. But shortly after the election, he had an idea, which he first outlined in an April 2021 column:
When Joe Biden took the oath of office to become president – or, should we say, presidential pretender – I was morose.
I was one of the million or so cheerleaders for Donald J. Trump in Washington, D.C., Jan. 5-7 – for what has become known as "the insurrection." Then it was over.
That was not easy to accept. I believe Trump was the greatest president in the history of the United States. That's right! His achievements in four years exceeded that of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan. I loved them all. Reagan changed my politics. But Trump was one of a kind.
So, you can understand my disappointment – and to be replaced by Biden!
This was truly an outrage.
While Trump was the greatest president ever, Biden has been the worst – with a sample size of only three months.
Biden is sullen, his voice hurts my ears, he's cognitively challenged, he's incoherent, he falls a lot – and, worst of all, he's mean. He lies on a grand scale and he's hopelessly immoral.
The worst thing he has ever done is to commit a high crime against America by perpetuating election fraud against the greatest country the world as ever known.
He then recounted a January column in which he fantasized that in 2022 Biden and Kamala Harris would be impeached "for high crimes and misdemeanors – not phony ones like they had to manufacture against President Trump, but real, weighty crimes." He's assuming that Republicans will take the House that year, so that would make Kevin McCarthy president (since the House speaker is third in line), and he could then appoint Trump as vice president. McCarthy would then resign, making Trump president.
Farah went on to tout a speech by former Trump adviser and pardoned criminal Steve Bannon, who in a related fantasy of Republicans naming Trump speaker of the House after retaking it in the 2022 elections, after which Biden and Harris would be impeached or "his illegitimate activities of stealing the presidency." A right-wing mind-meld commenced:
I texted Bannon a message asking if he had read my column.
"I loved it," he said.
Could this be the way this turns out?
[...]
[T]he latest to join the campaign is Ed Martin, president of Phyllis Schlafly Eagles.
Martin told "Secrets": "I'm serious. We need the Trump voters. With the possibility of having Donald Trump as speaker, conservative voter turnout would be through the roof nationwide."
Let's make it a wave. Ride the wave. This is a MAGA moment!
Farah willingly believes the lie that the election was stolen -- just as he willingly believed the lie that Barack Obama's birth certificate was faked -- so of course he would think this is a plausible and desirable outcome.
Farah was still clinging to this fantasy in an Oct. 8 column:
I take some degree of pride in first proposing Donald Trump getting essentially six more years as president, by first becoming speaker of the House, leading the impeachment of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and taking over the White House after being cheated out of the 2020 election.
Now it seems more viable than ever.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., one of Trump's most ardent supporters, has not only heard the call, but has the tentative approval of the president to be nominated for speaker of the House after the midterm elections, assuming all goes well.
Trump would then lead the inevitable impeachments of Biden and Harris and succeed them as president for the next six years (taking into account his reelection in November 2024).
Don't worry, you don't have to be a House member to be speaker of the House! Any American can serve at the pleasure of the House – even temporarily. It's the only way Trump can serve another six years as president. After all he's gone through, it seems like the best way to reward him!
If it looks like a viable path following the midterms next year, he will do it.
Farah did see a hitch in his plan -- which, of course, doesn't involve his own delusions or the fact that Gaetz may not even make it to 2022 given an investigation into him over having sex with a minor among other things:
So what could go wrong?
Well, there's someone else who wants to be speaker – Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. But who in his right mind would see this as an obstacle? To give Trump almost two extra years as president? McCarthy can compete for the speaker's post after the smoke clears and the position is vacant. Shouldn't Trump get the chance to impeach Biden and Harris? This would be historic.
What does Trump say?
"Well, I've heard the talk, and it's getting more and more," Trump told Christian Broadcasting Network's David Brody back in June about becoming speaker. "But it's not something that I would've considered, but it is certainly – there's a lot of talk about it. I have a good relationship with Kevin [McCarthy], and hopefully we will do everything traditionally. But the election was a horrible, horrible thing for our country."
I'll take that as a definite yes.
Time is short, but the payoff is huge.
But it all hinges on a free election next November. It must be a victory that stuns even the Democrats. And with Biden at 39% in his approval rating, it's looking like a landslide for the Republicans.
This is where Farah's over-the-top Trump fanboyism has led him. Also, there's a whole year for Biden to get his approval numbers back up. He's willing to lie about election fraud, so it's no surprise he's chosen to delude himself with this fantasy.
Farah continued to cling to it into 2020. He rehashed it again in his March 28 column, with a massive dose of Biden derangement as well as some copy-and-paste from his April 2021 column:
When Joe Biden took the oath of office to become president – or, should we say, presidential pretender – I was morose.
It was not an easy rigged election to take. Come on, man! Do you really think Biden got an astonishing record 81,284,666 votes – more than Barack Obama did? I believe the last three numbers – but no way did he win legitimately. He probably got half that many. He didn't even campaign. He never left his house.
That was not easy to accept. I believe Donald Trump was the greatest president in the history of the United States. That's right! His achievements in four years exceeded that of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. I loved them all. Reagan changed my politics. But Trump was one of a kind – a Republican and a fighter for America and the Constitution, just like Washington, Jefferson and John Adams.
So, immediately I started calculating how to get him more time to complete the job. I knew the only way I could figure out a plan depended on getting him up to six years as president – two if he assumed the presidency after a brief time as speaker of the House, followed by another four-year term.
[...]
Biden is sullen, his voice hurts my ears, he's cognitively challenged, he's incoherent, he falls a lot – and, worst of all, he's mean. He lies on a grand scale, and he's hopelessly immoral.
The worst thing he has ever done was to commit a high crime against America by perpetuating election fraud against the greatest country the world as ever known.
[...]
[T]he latest to join the campaign is Ed Martin, president of Phyllis Schlafly Eagles.
Martin told "Secrets": "I'm serious. We need the Trump voters. With the possibility of having Donald Trump as speaker, conservative voter turnout would be through the roof nationwide."
Let's make it a real big "red wave." Ride the wave. This might be a magic MAGA moment!
All I want for my role in this is a "thank you" note from Trump, and to be a semi-regular attendee at his White House press conferences.
Just like Farah to demand credit for something that not only has not happened but is extremely unlikely to.
In his June 21 column, Farah referenced a column a few days earlier by fellow Trump fanboy Wayne Allyn Root, who interviewed Trump yet again and deduced from his criticism of Mitch McConnell and refusal to endorse him that "I drew the conclusion Trump is considering running for House speaker and leaving his options open. B-I-G news!" He ranted:
Do you agree with Root and me that we can't wait for January 2025?
I've been waiting for a long time to get President Trump back in office.
It seems possible now. It seems necessary now. It seems VITAL now.
There is a way under the laws of our land. There always is.
It won't be easy.
It will take much planning under our constitutional system.
There will be much opposition.
And, we mustn't take anything for granted.
[...]
We must win big! Very big! We have to take on the RINOs and the Democrats. We must deliver the House and the Senate – which doesn't seem plausible with the mathematics of it. But here's how we must do it. We have to win so big that we scare the RINOs into backing the "Speaker Trump" plan as the only one that can SAVE THE COUNTRY – because it is!
Beginning in January, Speaker of the House Trump then would preside over the impeachment of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
[...]
"I told Trump that I don't know if America will exist in 2024," Root noted. "Trump responded with pure honesty, 'That's actually the much bigger question ... will the country (exist). There's been more damage done in the past year and a half ... than in the worst 25 years in America's history (combined).'"
The worst thing Biden has ever done was to commit a high crime against America by perpetuating election fraud against the greatest country the world has ever known.
I know this country continues to be strong, but we dare not test its limits. The plan to save it I've outlined here must go forward.
Are you with me?
The fact that the only folks buying into Farah's fantasy are extremists like Root and Steve Bannon tells you all you need to know about this attempted coup by another name.
The goal moves closer -- briefly
The Republican infighting over picking a new House speaker after taking control of the House in the midterm elections, however, gave Farah a glimmer of hope, when Trump's name was put into nomination during one round of voting. Bob Unruh sycophantically wrote in a Jan. 5 article:
President Trump already has announced his candidacy for the office of president in 2024.
But now his name is appearing in the fight inside the GOP in the U.S. House over the new House speaker, and the idea, although unlikely, could get him back to the White House even sooner.
It's because Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., has voted for Trump to be the next House speaker, a position that requires being elected by the House, but does not require the winner to be a House member.
The Washington Examiner said Gaetz has been leading a GOP revolt against having Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., a party leader for many years, installed in the post.
The GOP already has gone through multiple votes this week without a winner for the job.
Unruh went on to note others who had advanced the idea, including Root, but surely pleased his boss by claiming that "originating the plan was WND Founder Joseph Farah."
Farah, meanwhile, devoted his Jan. 5 column to taking credit for Gaetz putting Trump's name into nomination:
He said it – finally.
Steve Bannon said it. It was more than a question. It was a PLEA!
Regarding the failure to elect a House speaker, Bannon said: "Why not Trump? Why not Trump?"
[...]
This is where it all started: me asking the question on Jan. 3, 2021, and Steve Bannon backing me up a few days later. I couldn't let go of the idea. Other people picked it up.
Then Rep. Matt Gaetz put his name into the mix Thursday, voting for Trump for speaker on the seven round of balloting. Later Gaetz nominated Trump for speaker, prior to the 11th roll call vote.
It was like magic when he dropped it.
It sounded as good as it originally sounded to me in 2021.
[...]
Will he do it? Yes, if he's asked. If he has the people's support. He cannot say no to the American people. He'll do it if he's needed. And boy is he needed.
It can be done – Donald Trump will answer the bell.
Trump is listening. He's weighing the options. Obviously, he's not in it to lose. He wants to see a path to victory.
Will you give it to him, America?
Is he still the greatest president whoever served this country? Do we need him now? Will anyone else do?
The answers to that last paragraph are no, no, and yes, but Farah is still too wrapped up in Trump worship to care about the facts.
Neither Unruh nor Farah mentioned that the only vote Trump got in that round of voting was from Gaetz. And never mind that, just a day earlier, a WND article by Joe Kovacs quoted Trump making it clear that he supported McCarthy as speaker.
Nevertheless, Unruh wrote an article the next day touting Trump posting on social media a Photoshopped picture of himself making a goofy face inserted into an image of Biden speaking at a State of the Union-style address, which Unruh soberly portrayed as Trump responding to speculation about him being House speaker. Again, Unruh made sure to credit his boss for coming up with the idea.
Meanwhile, Trump's name never came up for nomination again, and Gaetz's vote was the only one Trump received in all 15 rounds of voting, after which McCarthy finally won the speakership. But Farah didn't seem to want to talk about afterward; his Jan. 6 column hyping how debt-limit concerns played into the speaker vote didn't mention Trump at all.
Root, meanwhile, had his own Trump-fluffing spin on the speaker situation. In his Jan. 6 column, he shockingly disagreed with Trump on McCarthy as speaker:
McCarthy is a prime example of a UniParty fraud: He is a D.C. swamp, deep-state RINO fake who backstabbed former President Donald Trump and then raised money to attack and defeat Trump-backed, America First, MAGA candidates in the 2022 election. He is the worst kind of fraud, coward and pansy.
Trump argued with me on my Real America's Voice TV show "America's Top Ten Countdown" last week that Sen. Mitch McConnell is even worse and that McCarthy would be better than a lot of other horrible choices for House speaker. Basically, Trump was arguing "everyone in the D.C. swamp sucks, so let's settle for the best of the worst."
I disagree 110%.
I want to remind Trump of how he became one of the wealthiest and most famous human beings in world history. By never settling. By aiming for the stars. By never accepting less than No. 1. No one – including Trump – ever got famous by aiming for the lowest common denominator. You aim for the stars; you don't aim for the curb.
Kevin McCarthy is the curb.
Being "the best of the worst" is not something to vote for. I'm a Republican-conservative patriot. I want conservative, America First, MAGA patriots to lead my party. I want a general to lead us into battle. Not a wishy-washy, middle-of-the-road, RINO fraud who never fails to disappoint conservatives, but always caves to Democrats. That's McCarthy.
Root then took credit for pushing the idea of Trump as speaker, which he might want to have a talk with Farah about:
I hate to say, "I told you so," but ...
President Donald J. Trump should have been our House speaker.
I was the first to publicly propose that idea on Jan. 30, 2021. I was the first to ask Trump about it. And I was the first to urge Trump to go after the House speaker position in my one-on-one interviews. I was right.
That's the solution. That's how we break this logjam. We need Trump now more than ever. Trump is the man to lead the battle. We can't wait until 2024. This is how we get Trump today.
Step up, Mr. President.
Of course, Trump is too lazy to actually do something like that (not that Root will admit it, of course).So, in his Jan. 14 column, he reframed things to portray McCarthy's eventual election as speaker as a victory for Trump:
I told you so. My plan worked. It just worked in a way I never imagined.
Like Martin Luther King Jr., I had a dream. My dream was former President Donald Trump as House speaker. I was the first in America to propose the idea in a commentary on Jan. 30, 2021. Then I talked about it nonstop for months on my nationally syndicated radio show. I personally lobbied Trump in numerous appearances on my radio and TV shows.
But Trump made it clear he never really wanted it. Trump is always No. 1. The chairman of the board. The five-star general. He doesn't take orders from anyone. I think he always looked at Nancy Pelosi, Paul Ryan and John Boehner (the last three House speakers) as errand boys and girls. Order takers. So, Trump never wanted the job. Not enough star power for him.
And who can blame him? Look at Trump's life. Trump has had the greatest life on Earth. He became not only a billionaire, but the most famous billionaire on Earth. The celebrity of all celebrities. With the most famous celebrity estate: Mar-a-Lago. And the most famous reality TV show, "Celebrity Apprentice."
Who'd give that life up?
Trump did. To save America and the forgotten middle class. To fight the D.C. swamp and the deep state. To make America great again. He gave up his one-in-a-billion life for you and me!
Now he wants to be president again. Trump never saw House speaker as his calling. He was flattered by my idea, but he never wanted the job. House speaker takes up too much time. Trump needs to be free to run for president again.
Trump plays chess at a much higher level. My idea was a good one. Trump just made it happen in a different way. You see, Trump is the newly elected House speaker – just not in name. In name, the title goes to Rep. Kevin McCarthy.
But guess who got McCarthy elected? Trump. And guess who controls McCarthy's every move as House speaker? The MAGA, America First, loyal Trump members of the Freedom Caucus.
MAGA has McCarthy by the short hairs. McCarthy can't take a bathroom break without asking the Freedom Caucus for permission. So, guess who's actually running Congress? De-facto House Speaker Donald J. Trump.
This is "the House that Trump built."
Root concluded by praising Trump's laziness as an asset:
Yes, Trump took my idea and ran with it. Trump is now the de-facto House speaker ... without any of the day-to-day work that would prevent him from running for president. Nothing in Congress will happen without Trump's approval. And Trump runs the whole show, direct from Mar-a-Lago.
