WASHINGTON — A band of conservative rebels flouted former President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Kevin McCarthy to be House speaker Wednesday — with Matt Gaetz of Florida calling it “Sad!” as support for the Californian’s bid continued to falter after six ballots over two days.

The 76-year-old Trump’s attempt to intervene won McCarthy no votes among a hard core of 20 dissenters, despite most of them being closely linked to his “Make America Great Again” brand.

The House adjourned until 8 p.m. Wednesday after deadlocking in three more ballots — after three similarly inconclusive votes Tuesday.

McCarthy could only lose five GOP votes but instead lost 20 to Byron Donalds of Florida throughout the second day of voting.

McCarthy himself earned just 201 votes after Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) chose to vote “present” beginning on the fourth ballot — as lawmakers technically remained “representatives-elect” because they have yet to be sworn into office due to the leadership struggle.

Trump, who is seeking a second non-consecutive term as president in 2024, called some of McCarthy’s foes overnight and posted a fresh endorsement Wednesday morning on his Truth Social platform — to no avail.

“Some really good conversations took place last night, and it’s now time for all of our GREAT Republican House Members to VOTE FOR KEVIN,” Trump wrote, adding, “Kevin McCarthy will do a good job, and maybe even a GREAT JOB – JUST WATCH!”

The anti-McCarthy rebels openly defied Trump’s pick to follow Democrat Nancy Pelosi — citing grievances including McCarthy’s past support for large spending bills and their desire to boost the power of individual legislators.

Gaetz, a leader of the so-called “Never Kevin” bloc, tweeted, “Supporting McCarthy is the worst Human Resources decision President Trump has ever made. Sad!”

Rep.-elect Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) contradicted Trump, a onetime GOP kingmaker, on the House floor while speaking in favor of Donalds.

“Let’s stop with the campaign smears and tactics to get people to turn against us, even having my favorite president call us and tell us we needed to knock this off,” Boebert said ahead of the fifth ballot.

“I actually think it needs to be reversed. The president needs to tell Kevin McCarthy that ‘Sir, you do not have the votes and it is time to withdraw,’” Boebert added to gasps from fellow Republicans.

A pro-McCarthy source close to Trump said that the dissenters risk the ex-president’s wrath — pushing back on their hope to flip the mercurial MAGA chief.

“He swung hard for Kevin and made it clear that he wasn’t abandoning him, but like most terrorists, Gaetz and his crowd only respond to force,” the source said. “Trump attacking them directly, by name, would change their calculus.”

Instead, Trump was forced to put out a second statement reinforcing his support for McCarthy after a doctored Truth Social post urging GOPers to back Donalds circulated online.

“I have always supported Byron Donalds, have consistently Endorsed him for Congress and, in fact, feel that I was a primary reason he entered politics in the first place,” Trump wrote. “He is a young man with a great future! With that all being said, the story and statement that was just put out that I endorsed Byron for Speaker of the House is Fake and Fraudulent. He will have his day, and it will be a big one, but not now!”

McCarthy sought to display confidence after the sixth ballot, saying, “We will get 218, will solve our problems and we will all work together.”

But McCarthy’s chances worsened during the day as Spartz voted “present” after supporting him in the first three ballots Tuesday.

Asked why Trump’s words failed to keep her in McCarthy’s column, Spartz said, “I am an independent legislator. I only care what my people say and the people that elected me.”

Spartz told reporters after round four that she was “still supporting” McCarthy but “we need to move the needle” by going “back to the room” to “discuss how we can address the concerns of 20 people.”

Moments later, however, the House careened into its fifth and sixth votes without substantial additional negotiations.

As the day wore on, McCarthy remained short of the 217 he needed — with Spartz’s “present” factored in — and frustration from the majority of Republicans who support him grew.

On Wednesday evening, Republican Trent Kelly of Mississippi, a former Army general, called on the anti-McCarthy bloc to relent.

“You have 20 people demanding that 201 surrender to them unconditionally. Well, I will not surrender unconditionally,” Kelly said.

“The pro-McCarthy side, there’s anger out there right now,” Don Bacon (R-Neb.) told reporters after the House adjourned Tuesday. 

“There’s the chaos caucus, the Taliban 19, Taliban 20 … There’s anger because we negotiated in good faith and gave a lot more than we ever wanted,” Bacon sizzled. 

A former House leadership aide involved in anti-McCarthy maneuvering told The Post the plan was to continue to block McCarthy and House Majority Whip-designate Steve Scalise (R-La.) from becoming speaker until both men removed themselves from consideration for the post. At that point, the floor would be thrown open to nominations until a compromise conservative candidate emerged.

“Trump’s endorsements have been crap from the beginning. It’s one of the faults we overlook in him,” the anti-McCarthy source said, adding that in their opinion, “if anything, Trump has backed down a bit” with his seemingly low-energy attempt to help McCarthy across the finish line.

However, a pro-McCarthy source pushed back, saying the GOP leader “ain’t budging” and planned on “staying in until he’s elected.”

Gaetz claimed in a Wednesday afternoon tweet that “McCarthy is losing it. He texted one of my colleagues who didn’t vote for him: ‘I am ready to fund an endless war’ I’m assuming this is in *addition* to Ukraine.”

The conservative dissenters voted for Donalds, 44, after coalescing behind Republican Jim Jordan of Ohio on Tuesday, despite Jordan saying he didn’t want the job so he could instead grill witnesses as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

Republican Chip Roy of Texas nominated Donalds, elected to a second term in Congress Nov. 8, by saying he was an outsider who could take on “the swamp” in Washington.

“For the first time in history, there have been two black Americans placed into the nomination for speaker of the House,” Roy said, noting that Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York also was nominated by his party.

“There is an important reason for nominating Bryon, and that is this country needs a change. This country needs leadership that does not reflect this city, this town that is badly broken,” Roy said.

Donalds grew up in Brooklyn and has served just one full term in the House after previously working in the financial industry and as a Florida state legislator.

Roy said a “new face” was needed and that he wanted new House rules to empower individual members — after years of most legislation being the product of back-room deals by party leaders who then present the results for approval.

“We should be in here having this kind of a conversation with this many people in the room about Ukraine,” Roy said. “And we should debate the merits. We should debate the ups and downs of being involved. We should debate the $45 billion. We should debate whether it should be more or less. We should debate whether it should be paid for. We should debate the result we demand. The only way you’re going to get that is if you change the rules … to make sure that we can do that.”

But pro-McCarthy legislators raged that some of the back-bench demands already have been satisfied, including a concession to allow just five members to force a confidence vote in the speaker — while others took the drama in stride.

Wisconsin Republican Mike Gallagher nominated McCarthy in the fourth round of voting, saying Wednesday that while it seems like Republicans are “airing our dirty laundry,” division within the party is a byproduct of democracy.

“My friends on the Democrat side don’t understand what’s happening,” he said. “Sure, it looks messy. But that is by design.”

Democrats seized on the impasse as evidence that Republicans are deeply divided, with President Biden telling reporters that it was “embarrassing” and “I hope they get their act together.”

The Republican source involved in anti-McCarthy strategy said the GOP rebels won’t turn back in part because they believe they will win, but also because of potential retribution from McCarthy — pointing to then-Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.) getting booted from the influential House Armed Services Committee in 2019 shortly after opposing McCarthy’s minority leader bid that year.

The source said that “at this point,” McCarthy’s decision to give in to all of their demands — such as staying neutral in party primaries and creating a select committee to investigate the politicization of the FBI and intelligence agencies — would not change the deadlock.

Some of McCarthy’s allies acknowledged as the balloting dragged on that the party leader was in a tough place politically.

Pete Sessions (R-Texas), who supported McCarthy on the first six ballots, told reporters Tuesday afternoon that it seemed “pretty hard” for McCarthy to win because his foes are “dug in,” calling for “an adult” within the Republican Party, such as former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), to broker a grand compromise.

Under House rules, a successful speaker candidate must receive one more than 50% of all votes for a named candidate. With 434 members in the chamber Wednesday and Spartz voting “present” on all three ballots, 217 was the magic number after 218 was needed the day before.

If more members choose instead not to vote or mark themselves “present,” the vote-tally threshold would shrink.