Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) is clearly not a fan of the recent infighting that’s been observed in the House from the chamber’s Republicans, some of whom booted the House Speaker — Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — this week.
A small number of Republicans voted with Democrats in favor of McCarthy’s removal. In contrast to Republicans, Democrats have consistently stood largely together in favor of the potential ascent of Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), the current House Democratic Leader, to the role of Speaker. And before the voting this week on whether McCarthy would keep his now former job, he evidently didn’t even try to strike some kind of agreement with Democrats to find common ground and keep things operational — though that didn’t stop him from later complaining about Democrats not saving his Speakership!
“Bringing the MAGA v. Ultra-MAGA intra-party feud to the floor, Jordan, Gaetz, Biggs et al are competing to see who can be the most fanatical and extreme. I wish we had a Motion to Vacate their whole party,” Raskin quipped.
It’s not clear at this point who Republicans might be able to coalesce around to the point of actually seating a new House Speaker. Some talk has focused so far on GOP Reps. Jim Jordan (Ohio) and Steve Scalise (La.) — while a couple of Republicans are again putting forward the idea of Donald Trump becoming House Speaker, which might technically be allowed, though it seems difficult to imagine that the needed level of GOP support to make Trump the House Speaker could actually materialize. One of his supporters is… you guessed it… Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).
“The only candidate for Speaker I am currently supporting is President Donald J. Trump,” she said on X (Twitter). “He will end the war in Ukraine. He will secure the border. He will end the politically weaponized government.” She kept going from there. It’s a faulty assessment to tie what the U.S. is doing to the very continuance of the war in Ukraine. The national support for that eastern European country has not furthered the war, which was the choice of — let’s see if you can follow this, Marjorie! — Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
