And he shares a harsh view of former President Donald Trump, writing that he was happy to have left office before Trump was inaugurated.
Here are five takeaways from Boehner’s book, which was obtained by CNN before it came out next week:
“He claimed voter fraud without any evidence and repeated those claims, taking advantage of the trust his supporters had placed in him and ultimately betraying that trust,” Boehner wrote.
In another passage, Boehner writes that Trump’s “refusal to accept the election results has not only cost the Republicans the Senate but has also led to violent mobs.”
Sharp criticism of Tea Party figures
Boehner’s book is a conversational tour of his rise as a bomb-dropping congressman fighting in the House, his growth into leadership roles with mentors such as former President Gerald Ford, his dealings with both McConnell and Democratic leaders, and his frustrations with a tea party generation. from conservatives, including Texas Senator Ted Cruz and two former House members and Trump chiefs of staff: Mick Mulvaney and Mark Meadows.
“If I hadn’t learned Jerry Ford’s wisdom about the House early in my career there, I might have spent a few terms as a bomb-throwing Meadows / Mulvaney-type jacka ** before burning up and going home. Of those alternatives is enough. to make me sick, ‘Boehner writes.
He gives his most harsh assessment of Cruz, who he says made it difficult to function as a speaker in early 2010.
Under Crazytown’s new rules, I might have been Speaker, but I didn’t have all the power. By 2013, the chaos caucus in the House had built a power base of its own thanks to creeping right-wing media and outrage-driven fundraising. And now they had a new one. “Mad man who was in the lead, who wasn’t even a member of the House. There’s nothing more dangerous than a reckless bastard who thinks he’s smarter than everyone else. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Senator Ted Cruz,” Boehner writes.
The time Don Young held a knife to his throat
Boehner tells some worn-out Washington stories, including saying that Alaska Representative Don Young pulled a 10-inch knife and held the House floor net to his throat after a Boehner speech attacking ear tags.
“Never do that again,” he growled, “Boehner wrote, adding that he responded by looking Young” straight in the eye and saying, “F *** you. ”
He writes that he told then-Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid to ‘go fuck yourself’ at a White House rally, after Reid – in what Boehner characterized as a deliberate attempt to drive House conservatives into a frenzy. – called the House “a Speaker’s dictatorship”.
The speech was aimed directly at the madmen of the house – he tried to spice them up even more and make my position worse. So when I saw him in the White House the next day, talking softly to Mitch McConnell before the meeting, I walked up to Reid and said, “Are you even listening to all that s *** coming out of your mouth? You can go and fuck yourself,” Boehner writes.
Praise to DC veterans on both sides
Boehner largely praises longtime Washington figures in both political parties, many of whom have passed away, including former Massachusetts Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy, former Arizona Republican Senator John McCain (whom he says he loves but mistakes for choosing “one of the chief crazies as his running mate” in 2008) and former Michigan Democratic Rep. John Dingell.
He sometimes refers to President Joe Biden as “Uncle Joe” and writes that Biden once covered his deal at the last minute to take it easy against the standing ovations during Obama’s State of the Union.
He even offers backward praise to Vermont independent Senator Bernie Sanders.
The thing about Bernie, by the way, is that he’s probably the most honest person to ever become president. We came to Congress together, and I can tell you he genuinely believes in all that crazy s *** he says. So he might be crazy, but at least he’s not cynical – and a non-cynical politician is rare no matter how you cut him, ”Boehner writes.
Boehner’s Relationship with Trump
Boehner writes that the two first met while playing golf before Trump entered politics.
“He called me quite often when he first took office for advice or an interview. I was never afraid to tell him when I thought he was wrong, and encourage him when he was right. But the calls came less and less in. as his tenure continued. That’s probably because he felt more comfortable in the job. But I also suspect he got used to me advising him to shut up, “Boehner writes.
He says he was glad he left office before Trump became president.
“I was absent when Donald Trump was inaugurated as the forty-fifth president of our country. I was fine with that, because I’m not sure I belonged to the Republican Party he founded,” Boehner writes.
CNN’s Dan Merica, Caroline Kelly, Lauren Dezenski, Clare Foran, Ethan Cohen, Alex Rogers, Jason Hoffman and Terence Burlij contributed to this report.