Speaker Drama in DC Becomes Issue on Presidential Campaign Trail

IOWA CITY, Iowa — They surely would rather be attacking the Biden administration, talking of their unwavering support for Israel and offering up the policy prescriptions they plan to enact in the White House.

But as this year’s slate of Republican contenders presses on toward the first-in-the-nation caucus on Jan. 15, 2024 — just 84 days from now — they are finding it hard to ignore the one topic they hoped would be a non-issue by now: the bare-knuckled brawl among House Republicans that has left the chamber speakerless and paralyzed for nearly three weeks.

In Iowa on Friday night, hours after the House Republican Conference pulled its support of Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, both Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley plunged into the crisis that could — if unresolved — lead to a partial government shutdown in the middle of next month.

The two candidates, currently running second and third behind former President Donald Trump, were speakers at Iowa Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ annual “Triple MMM” fundraiser in Iowa City. 

In remarks originally reported by the Des Moines Register, DeSantis told the crowd that he’d “Been watching what’s going on in D.C.,” and contrasted it to his administration in Florida.

“In Florida, we don’t do the theater,” the governor said. “We don’t do the drama. We don’t do the palace intrigue. We just deliver results. And that’s ultimately what it’s all about.”

DeSantis’ comments were far from his first on the chaos in the House.

On Oct. 3., following the ouster of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., by a small right-wing cabal in his party, DeSantis rebuked his former ally, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., for allegedly fundraising off the role he played in McCarthy’s demise.

It was Gaetz who introduced the motion to vacate the chair that ultimately ended McCarthy’s reign as speaker.

“Well, look, when I see the Republican congressman pointing out that there’s a lot of fundraising going on around that, you know, that makes me uncomfortable,” DeSantis told Fox News.

“I think when you’re doing things, you need to be doing it because it’s the right thing to do. It shouldn’t be done with an eye towards trying to generate lists or trying to generate fundraising,” he said. “That is not the way I would operate.”

Just five years ago, Gaetz had been a central player in DeSantis’ successful run for governor, helping with debate prep and making campaign appearances with him. Their relation frayed, however, after Gaetz became enmeshed in political and legal troubles.

Gaetz is backing DeSantis’ main nemesis, Trump, in the race for the 2024 nomination.

Days later, as the search for a new speaker got underway in earnest, DeSantis, who himself was a member of the House Freedom Caucus when he was in Congress, tacitly threw his support behind Jordan.

He stressed that he had nothing against House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., the other contender at the time, describing both as “good guys.”

“I think the question for them is, OK, you have such a small majority. Who’s going to be able to get 218, 219, 220 to do things that are going to give us leverage to be able to deliver results? And that’s a skill apart from how conservative or not you are,” DeSantis said on the Howie Carr Show on Oct. 10.

A few days earlier, during an interview with WSPA-TV in Spartanburg, South Carolina, DeSantis also offered up the names of Reps. Chip Roy, of Texas, and Thomas Massie, of Kentucky, as well as Jordan, saying all were “good guys and I think they would do a good job.”

By Oct. 14, when he again was appearing on Fox News, DeSantis was definitely starting to sound concerned about his former colleagues inability to pick a leader.

“They’ve got to get their act together,” DeSantis said on Fox News Saturday morning.

“The more this drags on it just adds to the sense that these guys just can’t shoot straight, they’re running around like chickens with their heads cut off,” he said during an interview with Neil Cavuto. 

Settling into the message he delivered Saturday in Iowa, DeSantis added, “There’s all kinds of drama and palace intrigue, but there’s not really results that are being delivered.”

Get in a Room and Figure It Out

As for Haley, she told attendees at the Miller-Meeks fundraiser that “You don’t fix Democrat chaos with Republican chaos.”

“They need to get in a room and figure it out and get us a speaker and get on with their job,” she said, according to the Des Moines Register.

The newspaper also noted the comment inspired a round of applause.

Haley then went on to recall that when she was governor of South Carolina from 2001 to 2017, Republicans controlled both chambers of the state Legislature “and they butted heads all the time.”

“What I would do is I’d bring them in a room and I’d say, ‘We’re not leaving until you figure this out,’” she said, according to the Register. “And I never let South Carolinians see how the sausage was made. We need to start getting focused.”

‘A Lot of People Bring It Up’

Of course, given his iron grip on the Republican Party despite two impeachments and multiple indictments, Trump has also weighed in on the speaker vacancy, saying early on that Jordan had his “total and complete endorsement.”

At the same time the former president let it be known that he would be willing to step into the role temporarily if the party is unable to coalesce around a candidate, saying he would do so to be a quote “Unifier for the party.”

Currently, 77 members of the House Republican conference have thrown their support behind Trump to be the party’s 2024 nominee for president.

Getting him to be speaker would be a whole other ball of wax — under the House rules the Republicans adopted in January, specifically Rule 26, Trump’s four state and federal criminal indictments — on a total of 91 criminal charges — precludes him from serving any role in House leadership.

However, nothing in the rule appeared to prevent members from nominating him for the role if they want to toss an additional dash of chaos into the mix.

In fact, early in the process, Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, all but vowed to nominate Trump to be the next House speaker.

“President Trump, the greatest president of my lifetime, has a proven record of putting America first and will make the House great again,” Nehls told reporters quite loudly in a Capitol hallway when the Scalise-Jordan faceoff was still in play.

Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., also said he’d support Trump’s nomination for speaker, brushing off concerns about Rule 26 during an interview with NewsMax.

“First of all, Trump wouldn’t be a member of the House. So at the current moment, the rules don’t apply to him,” he said.

If the prospect of a Trump speakership did materialize, Steube said, “we can change the rules at any time.”

“There are things that [the Republican Conference] can do to change the rules and it will not be a problem,” he said.

The idea of Trump being speaker even got a little love from biotech entrepreneur and GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who was touring a Chinese car-battery plant in Flint, Michigan, the day after McCarthy’s ouster.

Asked what he thought of the situation, Ramaswamy said, “I think there was some speculation this morning about Donald Trump potentially being nominated.

“I don’t think he’d be a bad choice. I think right now we need to shake things up. I think that there’s a value in chaos at times,” the candidate said.

But a statement Trump made just before the GOP reclaimed control of the House in the 2022 midterms suggests the former president might be a half-hearted speaker at best.

“I think that it’s not something I wanted. A lot of people bring it up. It’s brought up all the time,” he said then.

“No, it’s not something I want to do. It’s not something I would be interested in,” he said.

An Uncomfortable Moment on Stage

Former Vice President Mike Pence was onstage at a national security and foreign policy forum at Washington’s Georgetown University when the news of McCarthy’s ouster broke.

When told what had happened, Pence sat silently for several seconds before responding. 

“Well let me say that chaos is never America’s friend,” he told attendees of the forum, which was co-presented by The Associated Press. 

“And it’s never a friend of American families that are struggling,” he said. “And I’m deeply disappointed that a handful of Republicans would partner with all the Democrats in the House of Representatives to oust the speaker of the House.”

Pence went on to predict that McCarthy would eventually be reelected to the post.

But he also said what took place underscored the need for change and new leadership in Washington.

“Political performance art in Washington, D.C., does little to address the issues the American people are facing,” he said.

Stay in Conference Until Unity Is Reached

Last week, after Jordan lost the second of three rounds of voting that doomed his chances of being speaker, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said the Republican members of the House should “stay in conference until unity is reached” and a consensus candidate is found.

“Stop having votes on the House floor until we have agreement,” Hutchinson said in a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “There is urgent work to be done from support for Israel to funding the government.”

I Don’t Care, Just Pick Somebody Already

For Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, enough is enough. 

Appearing as he does somewhat regularly on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program early last week, Christie was pressed repeatedly to weigh in on the House mess, by co-host Mika Brzezinski and Jonathan Lemire, host of MSNBC’s morning news show “Way Too Early.”

“I just want them to pick somebody,” he said, noting the paralysis in the chamber and Congress’ inability to address the situation in Gaza without a speaker at the helm.

Lemire wasn’t satisfied with Christie’s answer, and pressed on, pointing out that Jordan is a known 2020 election denier and allegedly played a role in the Jan. 6 riot on the Capitol. 

“C’mon,” Brzezinski said, trying to pin Christie down on Jordan’s candidacy ahead of the second speaker vote last week.

“I’m aware of all that,” replied Christie. “But here’s one of the things I learned when I was governor, the hard way. People who want to be the executive don’t get involved in the legislative leadership races because you always lose.”

With that, Christie tried to shift the focus of the conversation, turning it to the ouster of the former speaker.

“I’ve been clear, I didn’t support the removal of McCarthy in the first place,” he said.

“I think it was a mistake. And this whole crisis starts there,” he said.

“What I’ll tell you is I want to just get it over with,” Christie said after more prodding. “Quite frankly, at this point, after two weeks, I don’t care who it is. Pick somebody and let’s go.”

On Saturday, during a town hall at Tradesman Brewing Company in Charleston, South Carolina, the appearance on MSNBC was still very much on Christie’s mind.

“They asked me, ‘Who do you want to be speaker?’ I said, ‘I don’t care. Just pick someone!'” he said.

“Just pick someone because Israel needs help,” he said. “Ukraine needs help. Our southern border needs to be secured.

“And Taiwan needs to be armed now so we’re not catching up later,” he continued. “We need to send a message to the Chinese now that Taiwan will be ready if they come.”

Christie then suggested House Republicans have been too caught up in “Who’s going to get the big office with the view of the National Mall to make sure their ego is okay.”

“Make a decision! Be done already! That’s what we need to do,” he said.