If McCarthy doesn't make it, I don't see much possibility of Jim Jordan being the alternative. I could see Elise Stefanik coming out of it - she was a fairly sane traditional GOPer and also has become a Trump-crazy, so she could maybe satisfy both sides. No one in the GOP seems to hate her (yet). Or, Trump could pull a power play and say HE's running for speaker and get 10-15 of his crazies to be "only Trumpers" until he wins it.
Republicans have been honing their skills at disrupting, **** blocking and obstructing actual government work for years. So proficient at it they are now even using their skills on one of their own with 3 failed speakership voting process
Dems could find a moderate Republican to throw their votes to and disenfranchise both McCarthy and the crazies.
I don’t think Democrats have any interest in getting involved. I think it’s more likely that some Republicans sit out the vote leading to Hakeem Jeffries being the speakers than Democrats throw their support behind a Republican
McCarthy wants adjourn again until tomorrow to avoid another embarassing vote, but needs a majority for that too and may not have the votes to even stop the voting. https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/house-speaker-leadership-vote-1-4-23/h_4650a96eedbfcbb1e59fa7bc11bc6c44 House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy and his allies are holding active discussions about adjourning the House until Thursday — but they are uncertain to go that route because they may not have the votes to pull it off, according to multiple sources. McCarthy and his team are fearful that if they go to a fourth ballot, they could lose more votes, something that could undercut their claims of regaining momentum. That is why they have discussed adjourning the House until tomorrow — but to do that, they need 218 votes, which they don't have.
add to the list of potential candidates who are not members of Congress, Fred Upton, recently retired GOP lawmaker from Mi Fred Upton: Talk of Speaker candidacy is ‘intriguing’
Mccarthy needs to step up his game and call the voting machine a fraud and have the oath keepers storm the capitol.
The moderate Republican would have to reach out and risk losing in the next primary. It's now up to the Republicans to solve their internal problems and get serious about governance. The chance of that happening is close to nil.
It makes no sense to help them out or even elect a moderate with some Republicans. You can always file a discharge petition to bring a bill to the floor even if you are in the minority. You want the craziness and madness to occur so you can run against it in 2024 and win big. Voters hate this **** that's happening on the floor. They're not paying these peoples salaries to fight and this looks awful for the dems. Biden is in Kentucky with McConnell and Ohio gop governor celebrating the infrastructure law and finally fixing the Spencer Bridge. You want the craziness to continue so you can show the world dems are the only governoring party in America. Let the gop implode
Yep. Once you see white smoke coming from the Capitol Rotunda, they have elected a Speaker. Black smoke, no Speaker, or something.
Sure. I expect the Democrats will observe the wisdom of not getting in the way when they see an opponent making a mistake. Still, it's a permutation that isn't talked about much that would be amusing if it came to pass. This article mentions an Ohio Dem considering supporting McCarthy just to be done with this business; it also mentions talks about Dems supporting another Republican: Democrat Floats Backing McCarthy to Overcome Speakership Impasse | National Review. Probably won't go anywhere though. I don't think people care very much, honestly, and will have completely forgotten by the fall of 2024.
People don't forget disarray and craziness. Voters punished Republicans for January 6 2 years later during the midterms with alot of SOS races. This craziness isn't going stop anytime soon. If a freedom caucus member does become speaker than this is just the tip of the iceberg. Obama won big in 2012 in part because of Republicans being crazy and shutting the government down.
At some point, some of them want to go home and will just go home. That is likely what will break the impasse (you need just a simple majority of those that stay and vote). No, they will easily forget unless something horrible happens like defaulting on the US debt. The DEM should remind the public every week of the dysfunction that will continue over the next two years at least. The REP will of course blame Biden for their dysfunction. REP is much better at this blaming game but we are talking about actual governance and there will always be some crisis over the next two years. The chances of something horrible happening is much higher now.
I think the gameplan from the flame throwers is to keep voting for different alternatives with each vote in the thinking that eventually they'll find someone that peels off more and more McCarthy backers. Then break between votes, and cut a deal to get that person all of the R votes on the next vote. The issue at hand is the freedom/MAGA conference just doesn't like McCarthy... at all. It is personal, and they want his scalp so they can flex their power. This is a big d$ck contest to show the world that MAGA still reigns supreme. And even though Trump is publicly backing McCarthy to live up to his end of the bargain from earlier back scratches, I have no doubt that Trump is loving this. MTG probably is too even though she is publicly lashing out at the MAGA's for not getting on board because MTG had a clear cut deal made to get her committee assignments, and with a new leader she'll have to kiss some a$$ again. So yeah they are going to keep voting, and cycling through alternative candidates until someone shows signs of being able to peel off McCarthy backers. My guess is they are saving Scalise's nomination for their best punchers chance when they feel the tide is right.
