Former President Trump is mulling a circuitous path back to the presidency: via a stint as speaker of the House.
“That’s so, that’s so interesting,” Trump told conservative radio host Wayne Allyn Root on Friday in an appearance on “Raw and Unfiltered,” Root’s daily show.
“People have said, run for the Senate, okay?” Trump said. “But you know, your idea might be better.”
Trump’s comment came after Root floated the notion that the former president could launch a 2022 campaign for a congressional seat in Florida, his new home state — which, thanks to population growth, is getting a new House district ahead of that election.
“Why not run in 2022 for the United States Congress, a House seat in Florida,” Root suggested excitedly. “Win big, lead us to a dramatic landslide victory, taking the House by 50 seats.”
“And then,” Root went on, “you become the speaker of the House, lead the impeachment of Biden.”
“That’s very funny,” Trump said with a chuckle.
“And then you’ll be president,” Root concluded. “Do it! You’ll be a folk hero to conservatives!”
The speaker of the House is third in the line of presidential succession — so Root’s plan would also necessitate the removal of Vice President Kamala Harris, a roadblock he did not mention.
Root’s presidential pathway echoed one floated by Steve Bannon, Trump’s former White House adviser, earlier this year.
Trump has made no secret of his wish to return to political power — although he has stopped short of announcing a third White House bid.
He is addressing North Carolina’s GOP convention on Saturday night and will hit the road for campaign-style rallies this summer in Ohio. Florida, and other battlegrounds.
A stint in Congress would be a historical anomaly: not since John Quincy Adams in 1831 has a former commander-in-chief taken a seat in the House, and Andrew Johnson in 1874 was the last ex-president to serve in the Senate.
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