The search for a new speaker of the US House of Representatives entered the next and final round on Wednesday; before that, the old speaker’s door sign had disappeared with some delay. On October 3rd, a group of radicals from his own party, the Republicans, overthrew Kevin McCarthy – three weeks later the board with the inscription “Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy” was unscrewed. This name will be written on this board in the future: Mike Johnson.
Johnson, 51, was the fourth candidate from the Republican majority in this bizarre competition for the seat at the desk. For his predecessor McCarthy, he is “a friend, fighter and principled conservative” and has his full support. Right-winger Matt Gaetz, who instigated the rebellion against McCarthy, even expressed enthusiasm. The Democratic minority leader and opposing candidate Hakeem Jeffries, on the other hand, pointed out that Johnson was “an extreme right-wing ideologue.” However, Donald Trump may have once again led the way, as he “strongly” recommended that his Republicans “go for the leading candidate Mike Johnson”.
Tom Emmer was also a candidate on Tuesday. But only for four hours
The Republicans did, Johnson got 220 of 429 votes. The devout, staunchly right-wing man from Louisiana is an abortion opponent and was one of those Trump admirers who wanted to deny and reverse his election defeat against Joe Biden. The patron liked that. On Tuesday he added a popular technical term to the chaos of his MPs and the drama surrounding McCarthy’s successor.
It sounds like rhinorhinoceros, however, is Rino, such examples only exist in the very own world of the Republicans. A Rino is a Republican in Name Only, a “Republican in name only.” As such, hardliners insult colleagues who do not completely submit to their radical training, and the Republican master tamer Trump particularly likes to distribute the title. Now Tom Emmer had it.
Emmer wanted to inherit McCarthy, but he was only the Republican nominee for four hours on Tuesday. By midday, the 62-year-old politician from Minnesota had prevailed against several rivals in internal votes. Then Trump named him “RINO Tom Emmer” on his network Truth Social and announced that he considered his appointment “a tragic mistake” because this “RINO Emmer” did not support him enough and respect the values of Make America Great Again didn’t understand.
The race has “gotten kind of crazy,” says one Republican
Emmer’s crime was that he did not fully share the story of Trump’s stolen election victory. Although he as Majority Whip is part of the Republican faction leadership and was, for example, against having the attack on Congress on January 6, 2021 investigated. He is still not loyal enough to Trump and his entourage. So in the afternoon it was clear that Emmer himself has too many opponents within his own ranks to collect the total of 217 votes necessary in the plenary session. Someone like that can hardly prevail against the Democrats, because the Republicans only have a five-vote lead. Tom Emmer withdrew his candidacy.
It was another particularly absurd consequence of this search for a cast for the suicide mission with the mallet. And another contribution to the disintegration of the once respectable Grand old party, GOP for short. Only Steve Scalise, the parliamentary group leader, failed in the last few days Majority leader, to the far right, then to the agitator Jim Jordan to the comparatively moderate party members. Then the third man, Tom Emmer, was hit. The next attempt was successful with the fourth man, Mike Johnson. “Today is the day we can do it,” MP Elise Stefanik promised.
Johnson was the right one, said fellow campaigner Kevin Hern. “This race has gotten to the point where it’s kind of gone crazy,” says Hern – a careful way of describing the state of Republicans who are making fools of themselves around the world. Even party members in the Senate, which continues to function, are horrified by the trench warfare. “They have a dysfunctional process there,” said North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, “and they need to fix it.”
The emergency budget is only valid until mid-November
War in Ukraine, war in the Middle East and approaching shutdown in the USA, but the leading party in the American Parliament is tearing itself apart. “Our group is essentially at war with itself,” says Rep. Brandon Williams of New York. It was “disheartening”. The constant repetitions remind him of the film “Groundhog Day”, in German “And the groundhog says hello every day”.
The Biden administration is waiting for the next votes on the budget, because the emergency budget agreed at the end of the McCarthy era is only valid until mid-November. After that, the administration would stand still until further notice. Among other things, it is about the $105 billion that the Democrat Biden has requested in Congress for Ukraine, Israel and humanitarian measures in Gaza as well as to secure the US southern border.
After McCarthy’s fall, Republican Patrick McHenry was installed as acting speaker, but without an elected speaker, the House of Representatives was paralyzed until the end. “I can tell you this,” Republican Rep. Mark Amodei said recently, “there are not 217 votes in there for Jesus, Mary or Joseph on any issue.” For Donald Trump, the savior of extremists, at the beginning of the week there was “only one person who can do it all the way. Do you know who that is? Jesus Christ.” At least no Rino without Trump’s grace. Johnson, a devout evangelical Christian, announced that he had decided to run “after much prayer and consideration.” “It’s all about one thing,” Democrat Pete Aguilar said: “Who can appease Donald Trump.”