Rebecca and Sarah touched upon this last night. The needle is moving toward Donald Trump's name being put forward for House speaker. There's enough chatter that the former president is dropping by the Capitol Building next week. For those trying to keep mayhem at a minimum, I'm not sure this will help them.
Also, Trump has already endorsed Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) as House speaker before his visit. Still, that doesn't mean his name won't be offered, and the momentum is reportedly real (via NY Post):
Several Republican members of Congress are backing an effort to elect former President Donald Trump speaker of the House next week, according to a Republican lawmaker.
“I’ve been contacted by multiple Members of Congress willing to support and offer nomination speeches for Donald J. Trump to be Speaker of the House,” Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) tweeted on Thursday.
“Next week is going to be HUGE,” he teased.
Nehls, 55, was one of the first members of the House to publicly voice his support for a Trump speakership, vowing to nominate the 77-year-old former president to the post just hours after Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was ousted from the speaker’s chair in a historic vote Tuesday.
Nehls was not among the eight Republicans who voted to strip McCarthy of his speakership.
During the 2022 cycle, Trump said he wasn't interested in being House speaker. Now, he offered a timetable on how long he'd serve if elected. There are no hard dates, of course, but he'd serve for a short period (via CNN):
Former President Donald Trump said Thursday that, if needed, he would be open to serving as speaker of the House for a “short period of time” until Republican lawmakers settle on a candidate who could garner enough votes to serve as their leader.
However, a source close to Trump told CNN later Thursday that the former president has privately told those around him that he wants to endorse Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio for speaker, and believes he is the best person for the job. Separately, a source who has discussed the speaker’s race with Trump said he is expected to endorse Jordan in the near future.
The former president is not expected to go to Capitol Hill, the source close to Trump said. He had been considering a visit to speak with Republicans in the coming days as they weigh a new speaker, a source familiar with discussions told CNN earlier in the day.
B) Greene: He's a billionaire for a reason because of the company that he built, the amount of energy that he has, the accomplishments that he has.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) October 5, 2023
C) Greene: Right now, he's winning the Republican primary and winning the general while he's fighting all of these political, politically targeted indictments that they're bringing against him. I have no doubt and I have full confidence that he could be Speaker at the same time.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) October 5, 2023
And then what? He leaves, and we have to do this all over again. I think he even knows he won't get 218. No one does, which is why some folks, like our own Kurt Schlichter, think this whole saga is embarrassing. He's running for president and facing a slew of trials, so this is nice media play for him. But when hasn't Congress been embarrassing, though? Let's see what happens, but I hope the House GOP's leadership reorganization gets set in place quickly. I also know that's not going to happen.
This Trump as speaker thing is embarrassing.
— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) October 6, 2023
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