After McCarthy’s dismissal: Election in Congress: Ex-President Trump flirts with leadership position.

After the historic dismissal of the chairman of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, the first Republicans, including Donald Trump, have publicly offered to be his successor, according to consistent media reports.

Former US President Donald Trump is fueling rumors online about a possible candidacy in the election for Chairman of the House of Representatives. The Republican published a corresponding photo montage on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday. He can be seen with the chairman’s mallet in his hand. On his head he wears a baseball cap with his campaign motto: “Make America Great Again” written on it.

After the historic ouster of chairman Kevin McCarthy, Republicans are looking for a successor to the post. There could be an election by the middle of next week at the earliest. It is unclear who could move up. McCarthy doesn’t want to run again. When voting, MPs can also nominate people who are not members of the US Congress – like Trump. To do this, a representative would have to nominate Trump as a candidate.

During the voting marathon in January, ardent Trump supporter Matt Gaetz nominated the ex-president and was the only one who voted for him. It was more of a symbolic protest by Gaetz. At that time, McCarthy was only elected to the top job in the 15th ballot – a historic embarrassment. Now it was Gaetz who had submitted the motion to remove McCarthy.

Trump is not given a realistic chance of being elected leader of the House of Representatives because all wings of the Republicans would have to rally behind one candidate. It is also very unlikely that Trump seriously wants to become chairman of the parliamentary chamber in the middle of the campaign for the presidential candidacy in the 2024 election.

Congressional leadership: Jordan and Scalise throw hats in the ring

Trump loyalist and Representative Jim Jordan from the state of Ohio answered “yes” on Wednesday when journalists at the US Congress asked him whether he wanted to run for office, the broadcasters ABC News and Fox News reported, among others. Jordan also heads the Judiciary Committee, which is dealing with the impeachment investigation against US President Joe Biden.

The previous Republican number two in the chamber, Steve Scalise, also announced that he wanted to enter the race. The 57-year-old wrote a letter to his party colleagues in which he announced his ambitions. “Now more than ever, we must heal the deep wounds that exist within our group and focus on our goals so that we can once again work for the millions of people who count on us,” he wrote. It was recently unclear whether Scalise would actually take this step – he was diagnosed with blood cancer and is currently undergoing treatment.

There could be an election by the middle of next week at the earliest. It is unclear who could move up. In any case, McCarthy does not want to run again, he made that clear after his dismissal. The Republican hardliner Matt Gaetz, who had submitted the motion to remove McCarthy, also assured that he had no ambition to run for office himself. In the extremely fragmented faction, it is unclear who could unite enough party colleagues behind them.

The chairman of the House of Representatives comes third in the state ranking after the president and his vice president. The Republican Patrick McHenry takes on formal tasks as interim chairman, but does not fill the role politically.

Former President Donald Trump, who has enormous influence among Republicans, said in New York on the sidelines of a fraud trial against him: “All I can say is that we will do whatever is best for the country and the Republican Party.” He would have received a lot of calls about the issue. The 77-year-old did not respond directly to a query about whether he might be able to take on the job himself, at least in the short term. This was raised by some ultra-conservative politicians.