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Kevin McCarthy Says ‘Weak’ Schumer, Jeffries Opened Door For ‘Socialist Wing’ Takeover

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Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday roasted House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, saying their weakness enabled the rise of left-wing Democrats like mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani of New York City.

Mamdani secured the Democratic nomination for mayor of the Big Apple in the June 24 primary, beating out former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York and other candidates. McCarthy said that all Schumer and Jeffries offered were “excuses” after “America’s Newsroom” co-hosts Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino asked him about comments by former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

“I think that Democrats have been slow to understand the changes in how people get their information, slow to understand some of the cultural changes that have been happening, and maybe most problematic of all, too attached to a status quo that has been failing us for a long time,” Buttigieg said during an interview with National Public Radio.

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“Every week it’s something else. It’s just excuses. Their problem is their policies are wrong, they don’t have leadership, and the sad part is they’re moving further to the socialist wing because those are the ones that are actually fighting to become the leaders,” McCarthy said after Hemmer asked him to “interpret” Buttigieg’s comments. “If they were smart, they would have done what they did in the 90s. They targeted the Ross Perot voter, and that was a more — it’s really like a Trump voter, and that meant their policies went there.”

“They’re allowing to go the other way, and that’s because the leadership under Schumer and Hakeem is so weak, they won’t make decisions and somebody else is filling that void,” McCarthy continued. “And you’ve got a socialist candidate in New York running for the mayor that every day he gets stronger.”

During a June 29 interview with “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker, Mamdani refused to condemn the use of the phrase “globalize the intifada” on multiple occasions, after declaring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be arrested if he came to New York City and defending the boycott, divest and sanction (BDS) movement.

Mamdani also called for increasing taxes on predominantly white neighborhoods of New York during his campaign to win the Democratic Party’s nomination to challenge Democratic Mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent this election. Mamdani also is pushing an array of left-wing policy positions, including establishing government-run grocery stores.