House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Rep. Jim Jordan both jumped into the race Wednesday to become the next House speaker, setting up a fight to replace Kevin McCarthy after his historic ouster.
House Republicans are even more bitterly divided in the aftermath of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ouster and his decision not to run again. It remains to be seen whether the conference can coalesce around a viable successor to the California Republican.
The stakes are extremely high as Congress faces down a looming shutdown deadline in mid-November. The House is essentially paralyzed while it lacks a speaker.
I wanted McCarthy to run again just as a fuck-you to Gaetz. I suppose I’ll go on record saying this won’t take 15 rounds.=
I mean… members can still nominate him… and he is known to go back on what he’s said in the recent past when it suits him anyway …
On the other hand, him not running again is a big “fuck you” to them, too, because while I think he’s a terrible person, he was the one politician both sides could kind of coalesce around. Now that he’s gone, it’s highlighted the absolute chaos that exists between the Fascism Caucus and the moderate Republicans, since they really can’t agree who should be next.
Either way, I can’t imagine it’s endearing to their moderate supporters, and they need them in the next election; the crazies might be reliable, but they’re too small of a bloc on their own.