[guest post by Dana]

Is there a better representation of the mess in which the House Republicans, and GOP in general, currently find themselves:

Rep. Troy Nehls: “If we go to the floor…I’ll be nominating Donald J. Trump…I think Donald Trump is the answer…Donald J. Trump for 100 days…I told the president you may have to adjust your golf schedule…because we’ll be busy. But I think he would be willing to do it.” pic.twitter.com/PTZEtjSamk

— Republican Accountability (@AccountableGOP) October 24, 2023

Imagine thinking Donald Trump is the answer to the current speaker problem. Admittedly, that’s a dumb thing to say, considering that a whole lot of voters want to see him become the next president. Go figure.

I guess it boils down to this:

Hey, look, if the best you can do is to get a quadruply-indicted, national-security-endangering thief, conman, and rapist on a part-time and temporary basis, then so be it. Gotta make do with what you’ve got.

Reminder: The more that the hard-right Republicans turn to Trump for their salvation, the longer the Party will continue to be in disarray.

UPDATE: How it’s going now:

…McCarthy is floating a plan that would reinstall him as speaker and make Jordan, a conservative Trump ally, the assistant speaker, according to three sources familiar with McCarthy’s pitch.

Asked why the idea — which lacks key details, like how it would be enacted and whether it could even gain enough traction to happen — was being floated now, a GOP lawmaker replied: “We’re desperate.”

“Kevin speaker, Jordan assistant speaker,” the source said.

UPDATE 2: Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana has won the gavel, despite have in less than 7 years service in the House:

House Republicans elected Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., to serve as the next speaker of the House, breaking weeks of GOP infighting that left the lower chamber frozen.

NOTE: True to form of the modern GOP, the House has voted in an election denier:

Johnson, who currently serves as the GOP caucus vice chair and is an ally of Trump, led the amicus brief signed by more than 100 House Republicans in support of a Texas lawsuit seeking to invalidate the 2020 election results in four swing states won by Biden: Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Heh:

When asked by NBC News what he thought of Johnson, Sen. Mitt Romney said that he new “very little about him” but thought his past election denialism was “unfortunate.”

Romney continued that it would “be interesting to see how the House runs if they choose a speaker that has no experience in leadership or as a committee chair.”

He added: “Inexperience seems to be a qualification.”

—Dana