Scalise quits. Now what?

Representative Steve Scalise (R-LA), the House Majority Leader, speaks to media after a House Republican Conference meeting, at the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, October 12, 2023.
Representative Steve Scalise (R-LA), the House Majority Leader, speaks to media after a House Republican Conference meeting, at the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, October 12, 2023.
Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA via Reuters

Though Steve Scalise of Louisiana managed to win enough secret-ballot votes from fellow House Republicans on Wednesday to become the party’s nominee for House speaker, it became clear within hours that he didn’t have enough support to win the job in a vote of the full House. No Democrat would vote for him, and the GOP majority is so thin that no Republican can win if just four fellow Republicans refuse to back him.

Following a Thursday afternoon meeting of Republicans hoping to break the deadlock and unite behind Scalise, Ronny Jackson of Texas, referencing the traditional sign that cardinals have agreed on a new pope, told reporters that “If you see smoke, it’s not a speaker, someone just set the place on fire.”

Then, on Thursday night, Scalise accepted the inevitable and withdrew from the race. There is no alternative candidate who can quickly unify Republican members.

The need to respond to the crisis in Israel and to bargain with Democrats in advance of another threatened government shutdown next month has reignited talk that Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, now acting as temporary speaker, will be given the job for some temporary period (perhaps one to three months) while Republicans try yet again to work out their differences.

Yet, Scalise’s inability to secure GOP unity at this critical moment signals that whoever eventually wins the job on a permanent basis will inherit an authority that remains subject to the whims of those who would rather defy their own party leaders than advance legislation.

Meanwhile, policymakers in other governments, watching this continuing spectacle, will decide for themselves whether the United States remains a reliable ally.

More from GZERO Media

U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 2, 2025.
REUTERS/Carlos Barria

During a speech in White House Rose Garden on Wednesday, Donald Trump announced a 10% across-the-board tariff on US imports, with higher rates for countries that have a larger trade surplus with the United States – to the tune of 20% for the EU, 54% for China, and 46% for Vietnam, to name a few of the hardest-hit. Trump also confirmed that 25% levies on foreign-made cars and parts.

Palestinians travel in vehicles between the northern and southern Gaza Strip along the Rashid Road on April 2, 2025.

Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Reuters

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel was seizing more territory in Gaza to “divide up” the besieged enclave. He spoke as Israeli forces increased the intensity of their assault on Hamas in Gaza, which resumed two weeks ago after phase one of the ceasefire agreed to in January ended.

Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, tour the US military's Pituffik Space Base in Greenland on March 28, 2025.
JIM WATSON/Pool via REUTERS

How much would it cost for the United States to maintain Greenland as its territory? And what are the revenue possibilities from the Arctic island’s natural resources? Those are two questions the White House is reportedly looking into in the surest sign yet that Trump’s interest in Greenland is genuine.

Protesters demanded the ouster of South Korean President Yoon in central Seoul on March 29, 2025.
Lee Jae-Won/AFLO via Reuters

South Korea’s Constitutional Court will tie the legal bow on what has been a tumultuous period for the country as it rules Friday on whether to formally dismiss or reinstate impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol.

After voters elected her to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, liberal candidate Judge Susan Crawford celebrates with Wisconsin Supreme Court Judge Ann Walsh Bradley at her election night headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, on April 1, 2025.

REUTERS/Vincent Alban

Republicans expanded their lean House majority after a pair of special elections in Florida, but a conservative candidate lost badly in a Wisconsin judicial race — despite a huge cash injection from Elon Musk.