Steve Scalise PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIPEDIA

When former Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy finally slammed the gavel at the podium after his 15th attempt to win the speakership was successful, it was understood by all in the room, and the nation, that day, that certain allocations had been decided. McCarthy had to have known that the gavel he held, like the position of being third in line to the presidency, was on a provisional basis only. It would be a transactional relationship with power. If he did what MAGA Republicans instructed him to do, then McCarthy could strut around Capitol Hill like a peacock, a pretender with limited power and authority, gavel and all. But the moment he even considered reneging on the backdoor deals, to gain the votes necessary to become speaker, all that glory would instantaneously evaporate. Perhaps after some months it slipped his mind that the very colleagues he had become beholden to could force him one day to vacate the role. And it only took one vote, not 15, to get rid of McCarthy. He spent 269 days in his dream job as ringmaster of the 118th House of Representatives, a true American circus.

Of course, with any political ousting, names are volleyed to find a viable candidate to fill the position. Already the list, an extremely short and questionable one, proves that the inmates are running the asylum: Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), and former president Donald J. Trump? Jim Jordan and Steve Scalise are both problematic as potential leaders of the House. Scalise, who has dodged and denied connections to the Ku Klux Klan and its onetime grand wizard, David Duke, would be the likely selection to replace McCarthy being that he was the ousted speaker’s number two and righthand person. Scalise has been an elected member of Congress for two different terms; the first from 1996 through 2007, and the second by way of a special election in 2008. But it’s not Scalise’s allegedly questionable ties to white supremacist terrorist organizations that could keep him from securing the gavel. What could stop him is the perception held by MAGA House Republicans that Scalise is too friendly with Democrats and a part of the GOP establishment. Those Republicans, who includes Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), and Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA), were not thrilled with McCarthy when he strolled across the aisle to House Democrats to work out a deal to prevent a government shutdown. Diplomacy and getting things done for the American people is not exactly on the schedule for MAGA House Republicans, whereas Hunter Biden’s laptop, President Biden’s impeachment inquiry, and protecting indicted former president Donald Trump at all costs are. Any Republican who cannot agree with the agenda is labeled a RINO, a Republican in name only, and Scalise, even with his alleged ties to the Ku Klux Klan, may not be the fit for speaker of the House.

When McCarthy was banished last week, in a 216-210 vote that saw eight House Republicans join with House Dems to oust him, Trump decided to test the waters with the announcement that he was willing to hold the gavel of the speakership. This idea had floated around gingerly before the McCarthy vote earlier this year. Could a former president of the United States become the speaker of the House? The Constitution does not forbid it. The potential speaker would have to be nominated, then the entire House would put it to a vote. The candidate would need to win 218 votes. Any American citizen can be nominated, though that has never happened in history.

Maybe Trump knew that even within his own party there are factions that will not vote for him as speaker, or at least that there are not enough votes to be found in the House that could help solidify a win. That could be the reason why days later Trump withdrew his hat and instead suggested that he was willing to be a temporary speaker of the House … if a consensus of a suitable candidate could not be found. Then Trump threw his full endorsement to Jordan. “He is strong on crime, borders, our military vets, and the second amendment,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “He will be a great Speaker of the House.”

Jordan, a MAGA Republican, has demonstrated that he is not a RINO. Jordan, who rejected subpoenas from the House Judiciary Committee regarding his knowledge about the events leading to the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection, has supported Trump from the “no quid pro quo” Ukraine melee that became Trump impeachment number 1 to making false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. It was not enough for Jordan to make false claims regarding the election results. The Ohio legislator went on to put his full weight behind the various frivolous lawsuits filed by former Trump adviser Rudy Giuliani that inferred there was voting machine and ballot tampering, of which across the country, each lawsuit was unceremoniously dismissed. Text messages and phone records reveal that Jordan had a hand in the plot to thwart America’s democracy in 2020, but in 2023, Jordan, too, has been placed in the seat of power on Capitol Hill. Jordan is head of the Republican led House Judiciary Committee to investigate the yet to materialize crimes of President Biden. Jordan, perhaps at the instigation of Trump, formed the Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government that was created to informally investigate the FBI, which indicted Trump over hundreds of classified and top-secret documents that he illegally stored at his Florida home.

Steve Scalise or Jim Jordan? Who will hold the gavel of the speaker of the House? An alleged ally of a white supremacist terrorist organization, or an alleged provocateur of insurrectionists affiliated with white supremacist organizations. The House circus continues.