Free Republic

This is deep weeds inside baseball, but boy howdy does it tell a story. Representative Matt Gaetz (MAGA, FL) goes through the details of yesterday’s House republican conference assembly as they select a Speaker nominee. What Gaetz reveals in detail is how Kevin McCarthy has been working the conference to undermine any other Speaker candidate so that McCarthy would be renominated as the only possible alternative. The insight and details are really interesting. This is a must watch.

House Republican Vice Chair Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) became the chamber’s Speaker on Wednesday, three weeks after Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted.Johnson became his conference’s fourth Speaker nominee on Tuesday, and he takes over in the midst of multiple international crises, most notably in Israel, Gaza and Ukraine. There has been a split in the House GOP over aid to Ukraine as they face a war against Russia, making the passage of some recent bills a tough hill to climb in the lower chamber. President Biden announced the sending of a budget request to Congress requesting aid for both Israel...

Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana — the fourth Republican to be nominated for House speaker since Rep. Kevin McCarthy was ousted three weeks ago — won the speakership in a party-line vote on Wednesday. The final vote was 220-209. Johnson, who represents a district in western Louisiana, was first elected to the House in 2016. He is a close ally of former President Donald Trump who had led many of the 2020 election challenges. What is Johnson's connection to 2020 election challenges? After the 2020 election, Johnson led an amicus brief signed by more than 100 House Republicans in support...

Final vote tally to come