It wasn’t long after eight insurrectionary House Republicans joined with the entire Democratic caucus to oust Kevin McCarthy from the speakership that the truth dawned on McCarthy’s fellow members: No one can unite the GOP conference. Indeed — from its rank-and-file voters to its federal officeholders — no one can unite the Republican Party. No one, that is, save Donald Trump.
“I nominate Donald J. Trump for Speaker of the House,” declared House Freedom Caucus member Representative Troy Nehls on X (formerly Twitter), within minutes of McCarthy’s announcement that he would not seek reinstatement to the role from which he’d just been defenestrated. Representative Jim Jordan, who has floated himself as a potential successor to McCarthy, was open to the prospect. “If he wants to be speaker, then that’s fine, too,” Jordan said. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene appeared to back Trump for the speakership as well as for the presidency. In an appearance on one of the media outlets in which the MAGA right silos itself, Green promised that she would “force” the country to acknowledge the degree to which it loves Trump.
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