The former president continues to be the troublemaker of American politics. This Tuesday, January 3, the elected members of the US House of Representatives were unable to elect a president during a session of Congress, plunged into uncertainty due to the strong tensions in the Republican ranks between the moderate camp and Donald Trump’s supporters. A (temporary) absence of “speakers” that hadn’t arrived in the United States for 100 years. In 1856, the elected representatives of Congress agreed after only two months and 133 rounds! Voting is currently suspended until Wednesday.
As his field is torn apart, Donald Trump slammed him late in the day for “unnecessary agitation” within a party he would like to win the nomination for to recapture the White House in 2024.
Great favorite to replace Nancy Pelosi, fifty-year-old Kevin McCarthy had failed after three consecutive votes to appease the revolt emanating from a group of Trumpists who consider him too moderate. Elected officials agreed to suspend their votes while they negotiated behind the scenes.
The election of the “speaker”, the third most important figure in American politics after the president and the vice president, requires a majority of 218 votes. A threshold that Kevin McCarthy could not reach, twenty elected Trumpists having decided to be a spoilsport.
- Who has the majority in the lower house?
The Republicans, who had seized the majority in the lower house in the November elections, had promised to use their new counterpower by opening a series of investigations into US President Joe Biden. But the initiation of such hostilities is paralyzed by these internal conflicts: elected members of the House of Representatives cannot officially take the oath, and therefore open any investigation, until a president has been appointed.
- How did the voting go?
However, Kevin McCarthy’s candidacy was widely supported within his party: the announcement of his nomination in the hemicycle on Tuesday was greeted by a great standing ovation in the Republican ranks. At the beginning of the third round, a certain annoyance was beginning to be felt, with the more moderate Republicans inviting their colleagues to take sides around Kevin McCarthy. “We came here to get things done,” pleaded Republican group leader Steve Scalise, to which Democrats laughed.
Kevin McCarthy seems to want to give commitments to this conservative fringe to avoid stammering history: in 2015 he already narrowly missed becoming Speaker of the House of Representatives in the face of a slingshot from the right wing of the party. But he can’t afford to go overboard and alienate moderate Republicans. Although his leeway is small, he currently does not have a credible competitor. He only circulates the name of Ohio elected official Jim Jordan as a possible alternative, without his chances appearing serious.
- What does the democratic camp say?
Throughout this process, Joe Biden’s party has since united around Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries’ candidacy, regularly applauding the New York elected official to the sounds of “Hakeem, Hakeem, Hakeem!” But in the end even the chosen one doesn’t have enough votes to access the perch.
With the Republicans in the majority in the House, Joe Biden and the Democrats will not be able to advance new big projects. But with a Senate in Democrat hands, neither will their rivals. Will they entrench themselves in systematic opposition? That would require them to convene, while some of their elected officials — such as during the budget vote before Christmas — voted with the Democrats. The election of the “speaker” therefore also serves to measure their ability to cause damage to the president.
Facing a hostile House could prove to be a political boon for Joe Biden if he confirms his intention to run again in 2024, a decision he is due to announce early this year. The president also refrained from commenting on Republican disagreements, his spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre assured that the Democratic leader will not “meddle in this process”. In the event of legislative paralysis, he will no doubt blame the weakened Republicans of the bloc, hoping to turn the situation to his advantage.
