Selecting a Speaker and the Impact of Removing the Republican Speaker

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This chapter discusses the uncertainty of securing 218 votes for a Speaker in the House and the urgency of selecting one before passing a budget. It also explores the reasons for Democrats not backing McCarthy and the potential consequences of his removal, as well as the challenges faced by the next speaker in a partisan gridlock.

As House speaker, Kevin McCarthy worked with Democrats to keep the government open. Then Matt Gaetz worked with Democrats to get McCarthy fired. Semafor’s Jordan Weissmann returns to explain an unprecedented moment in American politics.

This episode was produced by Jon Ehrens and Amanda Lewellyn, edited by Matt Collette, fact-checked by Laura Bullard with help from Hady Mawajdeh, engineered by David Herman, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram.

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