Guess Who Far-Right Republicans Want to be the Next House Speaker?

Republicans have booted Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House. But don’t worry, they already have a great plan to replace him.

For the first time in U.S. history, the House voted Tuesday night to vacate the speakership. Most Republicans, including the ones who voted to kick McCarthy out, quickly made it clear that they have no idea what actually happens next. But a candidate soon began to emerge: Donald Trump.

Freedom Caucus member Troy Nehls was one of the first to suggest the former president as a candidate for speaker.

His call was soon taken up by other far-right Republicans, such as Greg Steube and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Luckily for them, the quadruply indicted, liable-for-sexual assault, defamation, and business fraud presidential candidate may make some time in his calendar to step up to the plate. Fox News’s Sean Hannity reported late Tuesday that Trump is “open to helping the Republican Party, at least in the short term, if necessary.”

This isn’t the first time that Republicans have tried to put Trump forward as speaker. During the 15 grueling votes for speaker in January, Matt Gaetz nominated Trump as speaker instead of voting for McCarthy.

Gaetz, who filed the motion to vacate McCarthy, has yet to join in the calls for Trump. He has expressed support for both Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan. Gaetz and several other Freedom Caucus members voted several times for Jordan over McCarthy in January, despite the fact that Jordan backed McCarthy and made it clear he had no interest in holding the gavel.

But even Gaetz may come around to the idea of Trump as House speaker: Earlier this week, he pointed out that the next leader of the House does not need to be a member of the chamber.

Unfortunately, Republicans’ own House rules may bar Trump from holding the speakership. As Democratic Representative Sean Casten pointed out, the rules clearly state that a member of Republican leadership must step aside if they have been “indicted for a felony for which a sentence of two or more years imprisonment may be imposed.”

House lawmakers have for the first time ousted their own speaker—and no one has a clue what comes next. In fact, some are literally crying about it.

For now, Representative Patrick McHenry will temporarily lead the House of Representatives, after being handpicked for the role of interim speaker by ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy. But that’s about all anyone knows about what happens now.

Representative Matt Gaetz, who filed the motion to oust McCarthy late Monday evening, made clear from the very beginning that he has no idea who could possibly take over for the House speaker. After the vote to remove McCarthy as speaker, Gaetz again confirmed that he doesn’t have someone in mind for the role.

Representative Scott Perry, one of the 11 Republicans to advance the vote to oust McCarthy, also told CNN he doesn’t have a name for who he wants to see as speaker. “We’re going to see what happens now. I’m going to base my decisions on what happens.” (Perry did not, in the end, vote to oust McCarthy.)

Other lawmakers are simply confused about what to do now.

And they’re quickly turning on each other.

This is the first time in 113 years that House lawmakers have voted to oust their own speaker—and the first time in U.S. history that the vote was actually successful.

All this to say, it’s pure chaos in the Republican Party right now.

Kevin McCarthy lost a bruising vote on Tuesday to remove him as speaker of the House, sending the chamber into turmoil.

The House voted 216–210 to strip McCarthy of the gavel. Republicans Andy Biggs, Ken Buck, Tim Burchett, Eli Crane, Matt Gaetz, Bob Good, Nancy Mace, and Matt Rosendale voted against him.

This is the first time in 113 years that the House voted on whether to eject the speaker—and the first time in U.S. history that the House speaker has lost the vote. A new vote will now be held to replace McCarthy, but it’s unclear who among Republicans will step up or how long it will take to find a new replacement.

Replacing McCarthy now will be terrible timing for the House, which needs to start passing appropriations bills. But Republicans are in such disarray that the chamber has struggled to approve anything. The GOP nearly forced a government shutdown over the weekend because they couldn’t agree on anything.

Representative Matt Gaetz introduced the motion to vacate late Monday, following weeks of trading increasingly heated barbs with McCarthy over spending bills. Gaetz revealed earlier Tuesday that he had no plan for who will replace McCarthy now that he has lost.

The natural successor to McCarthy would be House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who is out getting treatment for multiple myeloma. Majority Whip Tom Emmer and conference chair Elise Stefanik would also be obvious choices, but they both took themselves out of the running.

Ultimately, McCarthy has no one to blame but himself for Gaetz’s motion. McCarthy won the speakership in January only after 15 rounds of votes and ceding most of his power to the farthest-right wing of his party. Gaetz has been threatening to file a motion to vacate for months.

But Gaetz may be in hot water now too. Ousting McCarthy and plunging the House further into shambles is unlikely to boost his standing among fellow Republicans. The House GOP is already planning to expel him, depending on whether the Ethics Committee finds him guilty of sexual misconduct and illegal drug use, among other things.

The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s fraud trial in New York issued a gag order on people involved in the case Tuesday after the former president tried to bully a court clerk.

Trump has leveled attacks against New York Attorney General Letitia James, who has accused him and his associates of fraudulently inflating the value of their real estate assets, and presiding Judge Arthur Engoron. But on Tuesday, he took his vitriol to the next level, attacking court clerk Alison Greenfield and sharing her personal information.

“Schumer’s girlfriend, Alison R. Greenfield, is running this case against me. How disgraceful! This case should be dismissed immediately!!” Trump said in a now-deleted Truth Social post. He also shared a link to Greenfield’s personal instagram, which has her full name and photo.

Trump was sharing a false conspiracy started by a far-right user on X (formerly Twitter) who claimed Senator Chuck Schumer was dating, or at least “palling around” with Greenfield. There is no evidence that Schumer is having an affair with Greenfield. He has been married to his wife for 40 years.

Trump’s post was deleted within a few hours, and Engoron issued a gag order Tuesday afternoon.

“Consider this statement a gag order forbidding all parties from posting, emailing, or speaking publicly about any of my staff,” he said, revealing he had ordered Trump’s post deleted.

“Personal attacks on members of my court staff are unacceptable, inappropriate and I will not tolerate them in any circumstances.”

Representative George Santos made a frustratingly good joke Tuesday about the ongoing drama to kick Kevin McCarthy out as speaker of the House.

The House will vote Tuesday on whether to keep McCarthy in the speakership. Democrats are united in their conviction to vote against McCarthy, but Republicans are divided.

Ahead of the vote, Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin joked to his colleague Jared Moskowitz that things were never this bad when Santos was speaker. Moskowitz then brought Santos in on the joke.

Santos then doubled down on the joke on X (formerly Twitter).

While the joke is excellent, it’s also frustrating to see Santos making light of his past fabricating the bulk of his professional and educational résumé. He has falsely claimed that his grandparents were Holocaust survivors, his mother died in the 9/11 attacks, and four of his employees were killed in the Pulse nightclub shooting. He also lied about founding an animal rescue charity and producing the disastrous Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.

Santos has been federally charged with 13 counts of various types of financial fraud, to which he has pleaded not guilty. He also agreed to a deal with Brazilian authorities investigating him for financial fraud, so that he could avoid prosecution.

Democrats introduced a motion to censure Santos over the summer but have temporarily shelved it, despite bipartisan support. He is under investigation from the House Ethics Committee, but nothing has emerged yet.

So despite the fact that his colleagues, including Republicans, and his constituents are demanding he retire, Santos is able to sit in Congress, vote on laws, and joke about his fraudulent past.