John Boehner: “No Republican Party. Just Trump Party.”

John Boehner the former Speaker of the House and proud Republican from the state of Ohio enjoyed his battles while in charge of the lower chamber but that is Paul Ryan’s problem now. He walked away from the job in 2015 and headed to Florida where he spends time along with his home in the Cincinnati and not too often his old Washington, D.C, place.

Boehner would much rather be at his condo on Marco Island playing golf or in his boat out on the water. When he is not in Florida he is on the road speaking and that was the case this week when we got a glimpse of the vintage Boehner.

He made news on Thursday when he was a speaker at the Mackinac Policy Conference in Michigan. The colorful blue-collar boy from Cincinnati has never been shy to give his opinion when asked.

So, with a bloody marry in one hand he began a question and answer session. The former Speaker of the House was asked what his thoughts were about the state of the Republican Party?

“There is no Republican Party. There’s a Trump party. The Republican Party is kind of taking a nap somewhere,” Boehner quipped.

He was quick to point out that while he spoke to President Donald Trump, before he was a candidate and considered him a friend, he never the billionaire New York developer and reality television star would actually become the leader of the “leader of the free world.”

“Donald [Trump], who I know well, was one of my supporters, when I was speaker,” Boehner recalled. “I was having a rough week, Trump would call me, pat me on the back, cheer me up, played a lot of golf together. But president? Really? I never quite saw this.”

Boehner told the crowd at the gathering in Detroit that he didn’t think Trump would win and even speculated that he promised Melania Trump that he would not become president.

“I think Donald Trump promised Melania that he would not win,” Boehner said. She didn’t have to worry about ever living in the White House. It’s probably why she doesn’t look real happy every day. But, well, maybe one reason,” he said.

As usual Boehner never disappoints, the folks at the Mackinac Policy Conference paid for a show and they got it. However, the former Speaker might not be playing golf anytime soon with the man he didn’t think would be president.

 

Jim Williams is the Washington Bureau Chief, Digital Director as well as the Director of Special Projects for Genesis Communications. He is starting his third year as part of the team. This is Williams 40th year in the media business, and in that time he has served in a number of capacities. He is a seven time Emmy Award winning television producer, director, writer and executive. He has developed four regional sports networks, directed over 2,000 live sporting events including basketball, football, baseball hockey, soccer and even polo to name a few sports. Major events include three Olympic Games, two World Cups, two World Series, six NBA Playoffs, four Stanley Cup Playoffs, four NCAA Men’s National Basketball Championship Tournaments (March Madness), two Super Bowl and over a dozen college bowl games. On the entertainment side Williams was involved s and directed over 500 concerts for Showtime, Pay Per View and MTV Networks.