Former House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is leaving no doubt about whether he would consider running for office again, more than six years after he left Washington, D.C.
NBC’s Chuck Todd asked Boehner, 71, if he would “ever” run for office again.
“I’d rather set myself on fire than to run for office again,” he responded.
Todd said, “The only reason I asked that question is because I expected an answer just like that.”
“You’re a sh*t,” Boehner shot back with a chuckle.
Todd took Boehner’s remark in stride as he said, “I assume I’m getting that as a compliment. I’ll take that as a backhanded compliment.”
WATCH: @SpeakerBoehner: “I’d rather set myself on fire than to run for office again.”@chucktodd: “The only reason I asked that question is because I expected an answer just like that.”
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) April 18, 2021
John Boehner: “You’re a shit.” pic.twitter.com/t7JEbDNGJ5
Boehner’s appearance comes after the release of his memoir “On the House: A Washington Memoir,” where he took aim at members of what he called the “Knucklehead caucus” — and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) who he referred to as “Lucifer in the flesh.”
He wrote in his book that the Texas senator made it difficult to operate as speaker, “Under the new rules of Crazytown, I may have been Speaker, but I didn’t hold all the power. By 2013 the chaos caucus in the House had built up their own power base thanks to fawning right-wing media and outrage-driven fundraising cash.”
“And now they had a new head lunatic leading the way, who wasn’t even a House member. There is nothing more dangerous than a reckless a**hole who thinks he is smarter than everyone else. Ladies and gentleman, meet Senator Ted Cruz,” he added.
Boehner first entered Congress in 1991 and served as speaker from 2011 to 2015 when he resigned from the post and his Congressional seat.
Also in his memoir, Boehner said it was “fine by me” that he left office before former President Donald Trump entered the White House because “I’m not sure I belonged to the Republican Party he created.”
“I don’t even think I could get elected in today’s Republican Party anyway. I don’t think Ronald Reagan could either,” he added.
