'McCarthy knows' Trump will likely doom his House majority: GOP insider

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is trying to stay out of the Republican presidential primary, but that position may be impossible to maintain.

The California Republican hasn't endorsed Donald Trump, although some believe he privately backs the ex-president, but one House conservative said under the cloak of anonymity that an official endorsement might trigger a civil war inside the "incredibly split" GOP caucus, reported Politico.

“The reality is, if we get Trump, there’s probably a good possibility that we don’t keep the House,” said that House conservative, who has not made a GOP primary endorsement. “McCarthy knows that. He knows that if Trump’s on top of the ticket, that we probably lose New York and California. ... If we lose the House, there’s no way McCarthy stays as minority leader. He’s gone.”

Pressure will mount in the coming months for McCarthy to make an endorsement as the former president wins the backing of GOP members, but pro-Trump Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA) suggested the speaker was trying to clear the way for Republicans to rally behind Trump by the end of the primary.

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“‘Hey, you’re with DeSantis right now -- that’s okay, we get that,'" Meuser said, describing what he believes McCarthy's position to be. "'You’re with Mike Pence, Tim Scott. But in the end, we’ve got to come together with who’s going to be our winning candidate.’”

However, most Republicans seem to agree that the fates of McCarthy and Trump seems to be intertwined, so while the former president's allies want the speaker to endorse now, several GOP lawmakers worry that could derail their agenda with disunity and infighting.

“There’s not a person who is more black and white, who is more hot and cold, who is more politically divisive than Trump,” said a centrist Republican whose district was carried in 2020 by President Joe Biden. “So, while McCarthy spent six months keeping us all together, it’s like the worst thing that you can do is take a stance for or against Trump.”