The new US Congress took office this Tuesday in Washington and it could already be glimpsed chaos and fierce internal struggle what Republicans live: in the midst of an ultra-conservative rebellion, the opposition party failed in three overnight ballots to elect one of its own to head the House of Representatives, something it hasn’t happened for 100 years.

In the November 8 elections, the Democrats maintained their majority in the Senate, but the Republicans obtained the majority in the lower house and therefore had to choose the “speaker” to replace the legendary Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to lead the deputies.

But The process, which is usually simple, was chaotic and could not be completed. Moderate Republican Kevin McCarthy suffered a defeat in three rounds of voting after a ultras rebellion, supporters of former President Donald Trump, who blocked his nomination, which failed to reach a majority of 218 votes, causing the process to drag out with multiple rounds of voting, something the House hasn’t seen since 1923.

After three votes in which a majority was not reached (20 rebel Republicans voted for Rep. Jim Jordan), lawmakers left the premises to negotiate and vote again on Wednesday.

talks

It is possible that McCarthy will make concessions to the ultras or that they are looking for a consensual candidate who could be Jordan (who made his name defending Trump in Congress during the Capitol storming investigation) or someone else. The regulation provides no other alternative than to keep repeating votes until someone reaches the necessary majority.

The Republican Struggle is a preview of things to come in the next couple of years: the tensions in the party between the ultra-conservatives who endorse Trump’s vision and the more moderates who seek to reduce the tycoon’s power and steer the party towards the traditions that the former president has demolished.

Trumpists seek revenge on Congress. After two years of seeing how their leader defended himself against multiple investigations by criminal, civil and parliamentary commissions, now they want revenge with the Capitol investigations complicating Biden, even with an impeachment.

Parliamentary investigations could be opened for the president’s son, Hunter Biden, who is already facing investigations by the FBI for his international business practices.

They will also try to investigate decisions made by the White House on immigration, the Covid crisis and even the controversial withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. They are also likely to try to cut aid to Ukraine because they don’t want to give that country a “blank check” in the midst of a US recession.

While Republicans will have their insides on some issues, there are still initiatives they will seek to impose beyond their factions: more parental decision-making in raising children, more money for police and border control, among the others. But these plans are unlikely to thrive because the Senate has a Democratic majority, which can stop opponents’ plans.

The act that was supposed to be a feast for Republicans on their return to the lower house was flawed under the infighting.

The chairman of the party’s National Committee, Ronna McDaniel, complained to conservative network Fox News about all the drama surrounding the appointment of the representative leader. “As long as we’re fighting amongst ourselves, we won’t keep our eyes on the prize,” she said, referring to the 2024 presidential election.

“We have to move forward if we are to succeed in 2024 as a united party. Right now, this exemplifies exactly what Democrats want to see from our party.”

Washington correspondent

B. C