Photo Illustration by Erin O’ Flynn / Getty
Republicans convene again today in their search for a House Speaker, and it doesn’t look promising. They can’t even agree on whether to keep voting behind closed doors or take their internal battles to the House floor for the public to see firsthand their disarray.
Majority Leader Steve Scalise dropped out of the race late Thursday after realizing he couldn’t bulldoze his way to victory by assuming his fellow Republicans would fall into line. Runner up Jim Jordan, who had Donald Trump’s endorsement, quickly assumed the frontrunner’s mantel but by Friday morning, he too faced the same math problem.
In a conference of 221 Republicans, any presumptive Speaker can only lose 4 or 5 votes to command a “majority of the majority” in a chamber where the votes of Democrats are not courted or wanted.