By Anthony Zurcher North America correspondent
Republicans are back to square one. It’s a game of congressional snakes and ladders, where every space on the board is a serpent.
More than two weeks after a handful of House conservatives ousted Kevin McCarthy from the speaker’s chair, the party is still looking for a someone who can successfully reach the top of the board.
No one yet has even come close.
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They should just change the rules that you can not remove a speaker but only replace him (Constructive vote of no confidence).
That gives the new Speaker candidate an unfair advantage, though, because there is no way to express disapproval in the current Speaker without endorsing the other guy. There would have been no leverage for Democrats to endorse Jeffries over whatever schmo Republicans nominate. And throughout this process, Democrats absolutely need to be able to say “We want our guy to be Speaker”!
They would be able to do so in the initial election of the speaker. They could also file a (pointless) motion for Jeffries to replace McCarthy. On Gaetz’s “Jordan should replace McCarthy” motion they would just abstain.