First up? His chat with Dana Bash on CNN's State of the Union; she called his book "definitely the funniest and probably the most candid" political memoir shes' ever read. Having said that, she dove right in, pointing out we've had 47 mass shootings already in this year, and reminded him of his failure to get any kind of gun control passed after the Sandy Hook shooting. First, did he have regrets about that, and second, does he want to see the Rs coming to the table "to at least pass something?"
He said back in the day, "we couldn't find common ground with the other side" but hopefully that'll be different now, because "this - it's - frankly, it's heartbreaking. I think it's embarrassing our country to the rest of the world. And we have got to find a way to deal with the problem." He agreed it would be a "top priority" if he were still Speaker, and he noted that it's "not about what everybody wants. It's a matter of what can be accomplished in a bipartisan way."
Pointing to the many names he used to refer to some of his former colleagues ("political terrorists, knuckleheads, the chaos caucus"), Bash said he was kind of "like a doctor who is identifying a disease, but not giving a prescription" for fixing it, and wondered why he didn't tell us how to fix it in the book.
Boehner said he thinks "governing in America today is far harder than it was when I was there. But what I have suggested here over the last several months is, Republicans have to go back to being Republicans," which means focusing on fiscal responsibility, and a strong national defense. They'll need a plan they can all agree on if they're to get back into the majority in the House and Senate, or to win back the White House.
But still, Bash said, he talks in his book about misinformation and lies, both from right-wing media and from GOP lawmakers, including perpetuating the big lie, that the election was stolen. She asked if they were eroding democracy. After a bit of pressure, he said both parties have fringe members, and
remember, there are good members on both sides of the aisle. You know, 90% of Congress are good, decent, honest people trying to do the right thing for their constituents and for the country. But, in my case, on any given day, there were two or three dozen what I call knuckleheads who just wanted -- they wanted chaos. They wanted it all their way or no way.
And on bills related to how Americans exercise their right to vote, some 360 of them, according to the Brennan Center for Justice? Boehner noted that before he was in Congress, when he was a legislator in Ohio, election issues were bipartisan issues, "because people need to have confidence in those systems," but after "the challenges that the last election proved out," states are "trying to figure out a way to make it more fair, more secure."
And, he said, those folks who want chaos? They have a bigger platform to "make their points and, frankly, create chaos."
It brings more attention to them. They're able to raise more money. And the idea of governing is something foreign to most of them.
Finally, on 2024,
...what I want to happen is somebody that stands up and represents all the principles of the Republican Party, somebody that can bring the Republican Party together and win elections.
And, here are some highlights from his interview with Chuck Todd on Meet the Press. Their conversation started with a question on what if any responsibility Boehner has, or that he holds himself to, "for the change in the party" as it lurched rightward during his tenure as Speaker. He said that some of them just didn't want to join the party, they wanted it "100% their way or no way." He also said he didn't think he could have done more,
You know, hindsight's 20/20. It's easy to look back now, ten years, six years ago and wonder. But I can tell you that I did everything every day I could to bring them into the party, make them part of the party, but some of them just frankly didn't want to come.
On white supremacy, and the attempt to start what's effectively a white supremacist caucus, Chuck wondered how this worked its way into the Republican party.
I have no idea how this even showed up. I wouldn't call it mainstreamed in our party, but I can tell you that this so-called America First Caucus is one of the nuttiest things I've ever seen. Listen, America is a land of immigration. We've been the world's giant melting pot for 250 years. And we ought to celebrate the fact that we are this giant melting pot. And to see some members of Congress go off and start this America First Caucus is -- it's the silliest thing I've ever seen. And Republicans need to denounce it.
Boehner has said he voted for Trump's re-election; Chuck wondered how he feels about that post-January 6th.
I was disappointed in what happened after the election, the president continuing to make claims about the election being stolen. And I kept looking for evidence, like most Americans did. Where's the evidence? How can you keep saying something that -- without providing any proof? And there wasn't any. And clearly on January 6th, it was one of the saddest days in my life, watching the place I have worked -- watching a place where I and my team did everything we could for that institution -- being trashed by a mob.
That said, Boehner refused to say if the actions of the former president were disqualifying from leading the country again.
Listen, Chuck, I'm not in office any more. What he does or doesn't do really is of no interest to me. I'm trying to make sure that Republicans understand, as a Republican Party, we need to go back to the principles of what it means to be a Republican...things that hold Republicans and the Republican Party together and has for the last 150 years. Let's go back to being Republicans.
And, in case you're wondering, here's Boehner's answer on any potential future political campaign.
I'd rather set myself on fire than to run for office again.
No comment on that last part. See you around campus.
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