Conservative Mike Johnson, a fervent supporter of former President Donald Trump, was elected President of the US House of Representatives this Wednesday, October 25, ending three chaotic weeks of gridlock in Congress.
The elected official from Louisiana, unknown to the general public, managed to obtain 220 votes in the ballot. In addition to embarrassing the right, the impasse in the House has so far prevented Congress from responding to President Joe Biden’s request for aid to Ukraine and Israel, at war with Russia and Hamas respectively. .
Fratricidal struggle between republicans
After trying for weeks to find a new president for the lower house, the Republicans initially agreed on Tuesday on the name of Tom Emmer, the party’s number three in the House. The candidacy of this elected representative from Minnesota, voice of the party establishment, however, very quickly seemed doomed to failure. More than twenty Trumpist elected officials had in fact quickly indicated that they would never support him during the vote in plenary session, even though the Republicans only have a very slim majority in the House of Representatives. Nearly three weeks after the impeachment of former Speaker of the Lower House Kevin McCarthy, Republican infighting continued to come to light.
Last week, Judiciary Committee head Jim Jordan, an ally of former President Donald Trump, appeared poised to put an end to this increasingly troublesome quest for the party. He ended up suffering three failures in as many votes. Then the Republicans withdrew their support.