“There is no Republican Party. There’s a Trump party. The Republican party is taking nap somewhere,” said former House Speaker John Boehner.
The former top Republican lawmaker spoke Thursday morning at the Mackinac Policy Conference in Michigan, sipping a Bloody Mary in between answering questions.
While his comment on the Republican Party sounded critical of Trump, he continued on to offer praise for the administration.
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“If you peel away the noise and the tweets, the things that he's doing are really good things,” Boehner said.
The ex-lawmaker—who quit Congress in 2015—also said that Trump, who is a golf buddy of Boehner’s, didn’t think he would win the presidential election.
“Well, you know, Donald Trump, who I know well, was one of my supporters, when I was speaker,” Boehner said. “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 also claimed that the president promised his wife that he would not win the election against Hillary Clinton.
“I think Donald Trump promised Melania that he would not win. 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 quipped.