By Anthony Zurcher North America correspondent
Republicans are back to square one. It’s a game of congressional snakes and ladders, where every space on the board is a serpent.
More than two weeks after a handful of House conservatives ousted Kevin McCarthy from the speaker’s chair, the party is still looking for a someone who can successfully reach the top of the board.
No one yet has even come close.
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This is the best summary I could come up with:
More than two weeks after a handful of House conservatives ousted Kevin McCarthy from the speaker’s chair, the party is still looking for a someone who can successfully reach the top of the board.
His week-long quest to win the top job in the House ended up as futile as his party’s first pick, Steve Scalise, who threw in the towel before any ballots had been cast.
He co-founded the House Freedom Caucus, which has used political brinksmanship - under threat of government shutdowns and even a national default on the debt - to bend centrist and establishment Republicans farther to the right.
He is embraced by a conservative media ecosystem anchored by Fox News evening talk-show hosts like Sean Hannity.
“The most popular Republican in the United States Congress was just knifed by a secret ballot,” Congressman Matt Gaetz, whose objection to Mr McCarthy started this whole crises, told reporters on Friday.
When one candidate ultimately emerges from closed-door Republican meetings as the pick of the party, the slow grind to get to 217 votes - and the speaker’s gavel - begins again.
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