While Democrats and much of the media are making political hay out of the raucous process playing out within the Republican Party to elect the next speaker of the House, calling the ongoing battle of wills an “embarrassment” even though it’s well within the framework established by the Founding Fathers, the voting will enter its fourth day on Friday.
Led by the Gang of Five, a group of at least 20 GOP lawmakers are opposing U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., as speaker — there are reports of a possible deal being struck between McCarthy and the holdouts, and it remains to be seen if any of them cave.
As the process played out Thursday on the House floor, there was a moment where U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., nominated Donald Trump to be speaker — the Constitution does not specify that the speaker must be a member of the House — and the former president was not only paying attention but decided to have a little fun with it by posting an image of himself sitting behind President Joe Biden as he gives an apparent State of the Union speech.
Gaetz is a member of the Gang of Five spearheading the opposition to McCarthy, along with U.S. Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona, Matt Rosendale of Montana, Bob Good of Virginia, and Ralph Norman of South Carolina.
After 11 votes over three days and McCarthy unable to acquire the needed 218 votes — the GOP holds just a four-seat majority in the lower chamber — the stalemate continues into Friday.
Adam Kinzinger, the former Republican congressman from Illinois, whose sole claim to fame was being a useful tool for Democrats in opposing Trump, took to Twitter to rub it in that the former president only received one vote for speaker — evidently, Kinzinger, who was just promptly rewarded for his hatred of Trump with a CNN gig, was the only one in DC who thought Trump’s nomination was serious.
Trump got one vote for speaker. ONE VOTE.
— Adam Kinzinger #fella (@AdamKinzinger) January 6, 2023
As for Trump being speaker, U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has already set the bar pretty low when she ripped a State of the Union speech in half for all the world to see as soon as the former president concluded his remarks.
Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story from Twitter:
It would be epic. I’m all for it.
— ana mcnally (@aimcnally1956) January 5, 2023
I looked too! Haha
— Jana Lindstrom (@janaCLindstrom) January 5, 2023
That’s the boss man!
— Erik Loganer (@LoganerErik) January 5, 2023
I could see him mouthing the word, “WRONG!”.
— Eric Smith (@EX_TEXAN_NOW) January 6, 2023
— sabnous (@sabnous3) January 6, 2023
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