Sorry about the title, I don’t want this immediately shuffled to another room to die. 👀

Anyway, the 12th vote for the U.S. Speaker of the House has just failed. The last time we had repeated failed votes was exactly 100 years ago, and before that was in the lead up to the civil war.

•What does this say about the state of the nation?

•What will the outcome eventually be?

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Since it’s a complicated process, and we have an international group, a little info before we discuss:

Members of congress can nominate anyone, but they must receive the majority (more than half) of votes to win. Usually this is an easy process with the party having the most members receiving the majority of votes.

This year has been… different.

We have a Republican controlled House, and currently Kevin McCarthy the Republican nominee is receiving neither the majority nor the plurality (most) votes.

The Democratic nominee Hakeem Jeffries is receiving the plurality/most votes, but not enough to win the majority.

A small group of far right Members of Congress are actively stalling the process, and it has become deadlocked.

Who cares? Why does it matter?

The Speaker is an extremely important role, second in line for presidency after the VP in the event of unforeseen circumstances. Congress effectively can’t function until this is done. They can’t swear in new members. They can’t pass legislation. Government and public oversight can’t commence. They can’t receive classified briefings.