Veteran GOP political consultant Mary Matalin is pooh-poohing reports she ditched the Republican Party to register as a libertarian — telling
Newsmax TV she has always been a libertarian.
"I don't know what the hoo-ha is about. I reregistered as a libertarian. I wasn't trying to make news or a statement," Matalin said Monday on "The Steve Malzberg Show."
"I've always been a libertarian. I felt libertarianism was a sound and solid and eternal element of [being] conservative. [It's] much ado about nothing."
Watch Newsmax TV on
DirecTV Ch. 349, Dish Ch. 223 and
Verizon FiOS Ch. 115. Get Newsmax TV on your cable system —
Click Here Now
Matalin made news last week when she revealed her libertarian affiliation on
Bloomberg TV's "All Due Respect," proclaiming "I'm not a Republican for a party or a person. The Libertarian Party represents those constitutional principles that I agree with."
The onetime adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney and campaign director for President George W. Bush also revealed on Bloomberg that she thought of herself as a Republican in the "Jeffersonian, Madisonian sense."
Matalin told Malzberg that for now she is a "provisional" supporter of Donald Trump, who, she says, is "not a Republican."
She added that House Speaker Paul Ryan — who stunned Trump and his supporters by saying he is not ready to throw his support behind the billionaire businessman — is in a "tricky situation."
"At least [Ryan is] waving the flag of conservative principles. I thought it was a pretty principled stand and I don't think he's doing it as some have speculated because he wants to 'white knight' the convention. I'm not saying that," Matalin said.
"Trump has won fair and square. What I am saying is if he thinks he can win without conservatives … then that's what we should know, what we're voting on. At some point, somebody's going to win and believe it or not, most presidents do what they say they're going to do.
"So wouldn't it be nice if we knew what he was really going to do [what he says] except build the wall and make the Mexicans pay for it?"
Matalin said she wants to hear Trump throw out some names as possible replacements for the late Antonin Scalia on the U.S. Supreme Court as well as flesh out his plans for the economy.
"The concern Ryan raised … is what are the principles?" Matalin said.
As to the possibility of a third-party candidate such as Mitt Romney swooping in a bid to wrest the GOP nomination from Trump, Matalin isn't convinced it's a good idea.
"Some commonsense conservatism would be a good idea. I don't see how a third party headed by an old party would do anything other than hand the election to Hillary [Clinton]," she said.
"If they're serious about a third party, then it has to have the same resonance that [1992 and 1996 third-party candidate Ross] Perot had with more gravity than that. But no, I'm not just for any old third party."
Matalin is the wife of Democratic strategist and political commentator James Carville. They are the authors of
"Love & War: Twenty Years, Three Presidents, Two Daughters and One Louisiana Home," published by Plume.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.