US House members chortle as Donald Trump will get one vote in speaker race | Watch

Donald Trump acquired one vote within the ongoing battle for the speaker’s chair within the US House of Representatives, prompting a spherical of laughter from the members.

New Delhi,UPDATED: Jan 6, 2023 14:53 IST

Former US president Donald Trump (AFP file picture)

By India Today Web Desk: Former president Donald Trump was figuratively laughed out of the room when he garnered a single vote amid a heated battle for the coveted publish of speaker within the US House of Representatives.

For context, the speaker’s chair has been mendacity vacant for 3 days straight after Republican chief Kevin McCarthy did not win sufficient votes from his get together to grab the chamber’s gavel after a number of rounds of voting.

The House can elect whoever it needs to function speaker, even when it is somebody who is not a member of Congress. Trump, on his half, is bidding to return to the White House and doesn’t harbor speakership ambitions.

But in what’s being seen as a stunt by a faction of anti-McCarthy GOP leaders, Donald Trump’s identify was fielded. When he secured one vote – out of greater than 430 – to be the following speaker, members of the House erupted into laughter. WATCH THE MOMENT HERE:

The lone vote for the previous president was solid by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, a critic of McCarthy. Gaetz had formally nominated Trump to be House speaker within the eleventh spherical of voting.

Gaetz’ vote, although, is being seen extra as a symbolic gesture to thwart McCarthy than a real want to put Trump within the House speaker’s chair.

Surprisingly, Trump appeared to take the snub in stride, and actually, posted an irreverent picture mocked as much as present him sticking his tongue out at President Joe Biden from the speaker’s chair.

The speakership disaster is being seen as an additional marker of Trump’s diminishing affect over the GOP, as his endorsement of McCarthy on Wednesday did not transfer the dial in any respect.

A handful of hardline Republican leaders are stonewalling McCarthy’s bid to turn into speaker as they press for concessions that will diminish the speaker’s clout and permit them push their ultra-conservative agenda.

The conservative cabal of 20 or so representatives – most of them election-denying Trump loyalists – have continued to withhold their votes for McCarthy over repeated rounds of voting.

The voting deadlock propelled the House to a stage of dysfunction not seen within the final 164 years, for the reason that turbulent period simply earlier than the Civil War, even after McCarthy provided to curb his personal powers.

After the eleventh poll, the House adjourned for the third time this week with out electing a speaker. Lawmakers will reconvene at midday (native time) on Friday.

Edited By:

Devika Bhattacharya

Published On:

Jan 6, 2023