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Donald Trump has moved to torpedo Tom Emmer’s bid to become Speaker of the House of Representatives, just hours after Republicans members selected the Minnesotan as their newest candidate in an effort to end nearly a month of congressional paralysis.
Trump, the former US president and current frontrunner for the party’s nomination for the White House in 2024, slammed Emmer in a social media post on Tuesday afternoon, calling him “out-of-touch” and a “globalist RINO”, or Republican in name only.
He added that voting for Emmer would be a “tragic mistake”.
The intervention by Trump marks the latest twist in a weeks-running saga that has exposed sharp divisions in the Republican party and left Congress’s lower chamber rudderless at a critical time.
It also raises serious questions about whether Emmer will be able to unite the party to win a crucial vote on the floor of the House in the coming days.
Earlier on Tuesday, House Republicans met behind closed doors and selected Emmer from a field of eight candidates who entered the race after the party ended its support for Ohio congressman Jim Jordan’s candidacy.
Emmer is the House majority whip, and previously ran the National Republican Congressional Committee, the party’s campaign arm.
Even before Trump’s comments, he faced an uphill battle to be elected as Speaker by a simple majority of the 435-member House.
Republicans control the House by a razor-thin margin, so Emmer can only afford to lose a handful of votes from his own party’s benches to win, given Democrats have shown no willingness to back a Republican candidate. Jordan lost three votes last week, with more than 20 Republicans voting against him.
At least two dozen Republicans were reportedly opposed to Emmer’s candidacy, even before Trump launched his broadside at the Minnesotan.
The House has now been without a Speaker for three weeks, after a rebellion led by rightwing Florida congressman Matt Gaetz removed Kevin McCarthy from the role earlier this month.
A successful successor will somehow need to overcome the party’s sharp divides and appeal to ultra conservatives and more traditional Republicans, including those who reject Trump’s unfounded claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged against him.
Unlike many of his colleagues, Emmer voted to certify Joe Biden’s electoral college victory in the 2020 election.
Some ultra-conservative House members have also said they would not endorse Emmer for Speaker because the congressman has supported same-sex marriage.
Trump initially endorsed Jordan for Speaker. But earlier this week he said he was “trying to stay above” the speakership competition, telling reporters at a campaign stop in New Hampshire on Monday that he had “spoken to just about all the candidates”, saying they were “terrific people”.
The inability to elect a Speaker has significant consequences for US leadership at home and abroad.
The White House last week called on Congress to endorse a national security package that would provide billions of dollars in additional aid to Ukraine and Israel. But the House cannot vote on new legislation until a Speaker is selected.
Congress is also facing the looming threat of a costly shutdown in less than a month, unless lawmakers can agree on a new plan to fund the federal government.
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