Mandel Ngan Agence France-Presse Former Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, following his historic impeachment on October 3 at the Capitol in Washington DC
Will the Republicans end their internecine war? A week of high tension opens Monday in Washington, with conservatives desperate to agree on a new choice of “speaker“, after the historic impeachment of Kevin McCarthy.
The ouster of the president of the American House of Representatives, with a Republican majority since January, has exposed the gaping fractures that run through the party, between moderates and Trumpists, one year before the 2024 presidential election.
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The speaker, who presides over the lower house of Congress, is the third political figure in the United States, called upon to succeed the president and vice-president in the event of a vacancy or incapacity.
The Republican general staff wants the party to agree by Wednesday evening on the successor to Kevin McCarthy, whose dismissal on October 3 by the Trumpist fringe provoked trench warfare.
Car the vacancy of the position has suspended the vast majority of parliamentary work, even though Congress must vote without delay on a new budget and decide on a possible new envelope for Ukraine, as well as potentially on additional aid to Israel.
The surprise offensive by Palestinian Hamas on Saturday increased pressure on the Republicans. But tensions within the parliamentary group are so high that it seems likely that these negotiations will last.
Scalise, Jordan…
“Given the attacks today, we should be called back to Washington to elect a speakeras quickly as possible,” New York State elected official Brandon Williams wrote on social media on Saturday, saying that “the country and the world need the American Congress to work.”
“ There is no request from Israel that we cannot respond to because it will take us a few days to choose a new speaker,” his colleague Matt Gaetz, leader, put into perspective on Sunday. of the revolt against Kevin McCarthy, on the NBC channel.
Two Republican elected officials are already in the running: on the one hand, group leader Steve Scalise, a member of the hard right, who suffers from blood cancer. On the other, the pugnacious Jim Jordan, head of the judicial commission and close to former President Donald Trump.
The latter, a candidate for the 2024 election, has already ranked behind Jim Jordan, assuring that his lieutenant had his “full support”.
… Or Trump?
A handful of Republican elected officials, however, suggested that the ex-leader himself be the next president of the House of Representatives.
A surprising proposition, to say the least, but not impossible: the speakerdoes not technically need to be elected to Congress to reach the perch.
The scenario seems highly improbable, however, especially since current Republican rules prohibit those indicted from holding office in the direction of the parliamentary group.
“If Donald Trump becomes speaker, the House will be like one of his electoral meetings every day!! », argued elected official Marjorie Taylor Greene, very close to the former president, on X.
These comments aroused astonishment in the Democratic camp. “We already had a Trump meeting at the Capitol. It’s going to be fine, thank you,” said the leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, in reference to the attack carried out against Congress on January 6, 2021 by supporters of the outgoing president at the time.
During this cold winter day, thousands of demonstrators sowed chaos and violence in the temple of American democracy, just as elected officials were certifying the victory of his rival Joe Biden in the presidential election.
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Donald Trump has already indicated that he would not want to be a speaker, ensuring that he is “focused” on the 2024 presidential election, where he could face Joe Biden again.
The billionaire, however, has not formally ruled out the idea of acting as interim president of the House. Or how Donald Trump could once again mark, with a bang, the history of the country.