Former President Donald Trump posted a meme Wednesday afternoon of him holding the Speaker of the House gavel on Truth Social, as speculation heated up over who Republicans will choose to nominate for the position after former speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was voted out of office by a small group of far-right Republican members angry with what they characterized as his collaboration with Democrats on the budget and government shutdown.
The meme shows Trump in a Make America Great Again baseball cap holding the gavel up in front of a black and white background of the American flag.
The race for the speaker position, which is third in line to the presidency, is dominated by influential Republican members of the House. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who is chair of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, is one of the leading members.
Steve Scalise (R-La.) is the second-highest-ranking Republican in the House, and announced his candidacy earlier in the day. Scalise reportedly called himself “David Duke without the baggage,” while running for the Louisiana Legislature in the 1990s. David Duke was a high-ranking KKK member before trading in his robes for a suit in the 90s to run for office on the Republican ticket.
A couple of other leading Republicans, including Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), the House Republican Whip, and Rep. Kevin Hemm (R-Okla.), chairman of the influential Republican Study Group, are also reportedly in the mix.
The rules of the House of Representatives don’t require the speaker to be a member of the House—though every speaker has been one.
Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) tweeted yesterday that he’d nominate Trump for the position.
“We can make him Speaker and then elect him President!” wrote Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) yesterday.
“It’s not something I would be interested in,” Trump said about people’s interest in him being elected speaker last March before McCarthy won the position.
Outside the courthouse today at his fraud trial though, Trump said he’d do “whatever’s best for the country and for the Republican Party.”
