The Republican group in the House of Representatives expresses the metaphor of the chaos in which American society is mired after the emergence of Donald Trump into politics. Managing casinos in Atlantic City (New Jersey), bankruptcy included, is not the same as the interests of a country, although they are often confused.
The party of law and order has become chaos, a gibberish divided by the seeds of discord that the former president has been sowing, pitting some against each other. Steve Scalise, 58, threw in the towel Thursday night in his effort to be speaker of the House, barely 24 hours after winning the nomination, in a secret closed-door vote by conservatives, narrowly ahead of Jim Jordan, black-legged 'Trumpist'.
After this decision, there was no solution to the Republican civil war on the immediate horizon, which means that the institution will continue to be paralyzed, without the ability to decide anything, nor military support for Israel or Ukraine, nor pressure on the border and with the threat of the government's financial closure, which has a deadline of November 17.
Scalise, who is one of those who has thoroughly cultivated Trump's ego, saw how his idol shot him in his effort to become the 'speaker'. Despite spending the day trying to overcome obstacles, the representative from Louisiana understood that he could not aspire to the 217 votes necessary in the plenary session and receive the commanding gavel that symbolizes the third power in the ranks of the United States.
Faced with the mass vote of the Democrats for their leader, the minority leader Hakeen Jeffrey, the majority candidate could only lose four colleagues in line and there were many more, at least twenty. Although Jordan indicated that he would vote for his rival, Scalise did not add opposing wills in those negotiations. Many of those who supported Jordan, to whom the former president gave his blessing, refused to break their alliance and facilitate the election. Not only that, but Scalise internally hemorrhaged supporters from various factions.
It didn't help that Trump interfered with his usual bad tricks. “Steve is a man who is in serious trouble, from the point of view of his cancer,” the former president said on Fox radio. He later added: “I don't know how you can do your job when you have such a serious problem.” Rubbing into the wound, despite the fact that Scalise's recovery is on the right track, according to the doctors.
Simmering for months, the crisis erupted last week when eight far-right dissidents knocked Kevin McCarthy off his pedestal, something never seen before in the history of the institution. They were the same ones who made him sweat untold in January to win the position in the fifteenth vote, another record. “I have simply shared with my colleagues that he withdrew my name as a designated presidential candidate,” Scalise said after a day of intense behind-the-scenes meetings.
“If you look at our conference, there is a lot of work to do. We still have to come together and we are not at that point yet. There are people who continue to defend their own agenda,” he lamented.
His resignation leaves the conservative group more fractured than ever, without having someone in perspective to lead it and be able to settle the recriminations that have led them to disorder, if not to throw poisoned darts at each other.
As soon as Scalise's retirement was announced, Jordan's defenders reminded that he was next on the list and that he should have the right to pursue being the speaker of the Lower House, while McCarthy continues playing roulette and does not rule out trying. again apply for 'speaker'.
