Only Jesus Christ could secure sufficient support from Republican members of the House of Representatives to be elected as the new Speaker, former US president Donald Trump has suggested.
With Republican ranks beset by infighting, the House of Representatives in Washington has entered its third week in effective paralysis. Without a Speaker it cannot pass any legislation.
Republican members of Congress returned to the US Capitol on Monday to try reach a consensus on a candidate who could win enough votes on the floor of the House to become Speaker.
Trump had previously backed hard right candidate Jim Jordan until Republicans in the House rejected him as their candidate last week. This followed a bruising campaign by the right to pressurise more centrist members to support Jordan. Some politicians claimed they had received death threats.
This time around, Trump maintained he would be staying above the fray and not endorsing any of the eight candidates who have thrown their hats in the ring.
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On Monday night, the eight made their pitch to their colleagues at a private meeting.
If Republicans can come up with an agreed candidate on Tuesday, a full vote in the House could take place later in the day.
The Republican Party in the House is, however, mired in splits, feuds and grudges. Its members have been unable to reach agreement on who should replace Kevin McCarthy after he was ousted following a rebellion by a group on the hard right.
The tiny majority which Republicans secured in the midterm election a year ago provided small groups in the party with great leverage. Any Republican candidate for the speakership can only afford to lose about four votes, assuming all opposition Democrats vote for their own side.
Speaking in New Hampshire on Monday, Trump signalled that while he had spoken to most of the contenders, he was on this occasion staying out of the fight.
“That four (vote) threshold is very tough,” he said, perhaps tongue in cheek.
“It’s a very tough thing, no matter who it is. There’s only one person that can do it all the way. Do you know who that is? Jesus Christ.
“If Jesus came down and said, ‘I want to be Speaker,’ he would do it. Other than that, I haven’t seen, I haven’t seen anybody that can guarantee it.”
Before Jordan, the Republican Party had nominated Steve Scalise from Louisiana. But he withdrew before a vote was even held on the House floor as not enough members of his own party were prepared to row in behind him.
Internecine fighting
After two weeks of internecine fighting, emotions remained raw this weekend after the ousting of McCarthy and the later fileting of Scalise and Jordan.
The tensions were typified by a row on social media between two Republican House members.
Nancy Mace from South Carolina, who was among those who voted to remove McCarthy, argued the House should not have adjourned for the weekend after rejecting Jordan but instead remained in session to try again at electing a Speaker.
“We should not go home until we have a Speaker,” she wrote.
North Carolina representative Greg Murphy replied: “How about apologizing for causing this mess?”
Mace hit back, saying: “If you want to vote against the people who elected you that’s on you, but I’m gonna stand with them, not Washington”. She then claimed that Murphy had blocked her.
Most, if not all, of the eight Republicans who now want to be Speaker are relatively unknown outside of their constituencies and Capitol Hill.
Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the number three Republican in the party leadership under McCarthy, was considered to be the favourite going into the contest. He has support from his efforts at raising money and campaigning for Republican candidates across the country. However, although he has considerable conservative credentials, he was facing criticism for allegedly not being sufficiently supportive of Trump.
‘Biggest fan’
Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon, who is a very influential figure in right wing circles, told his audience: “First thing to do is stop Emmer”.
Trump said on Monday that Emmer had phoned him and told him he was “his biggest fan” The former president said he had always gotten along with Emmer as with all of the candidates for Speaker.
When Republicans convene on Tuesday they will go through several rounds of voting until one candidate emerges victorious.
However, it remains to be seen whether the party is now so exhausted with the feuding that they will coalesce around this nominee when it comes to a vote on the floor of the House. Or will the in-fighting continue into a third week, leaving the House still not functioning in the absence of a Speaker.
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