After 11 votes fail to make Republican majority leader Kevin McCarthy the speaker, the House has adjourned until Friday.
The chairman of of the chamber's Freedom Caucus, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, appeared receptive, tweeting the adage from Ronald Reagan, “Trust but verify.”
One McCarthy critic, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, cast votes for Donald Trump — a symbolic but pointed sign of the broad divisions over the Republican Party's future. Then he went further, moving the day from protest toward the absurd in formally nominating the former president to be House speaker on the 11th ballot. Trump got one vote, from Gaetz, drawing laughter.
What started as a political novelty, the first time since 1923 a nominee had not won the gavel on the first vote, has devolved into a bitter Republican Party feud and deepening potential crisis. But McCarthy's right-flank detractors led by the Freedom Caucus and aligned with Trump, appeared emboldened — even though the former president publicly backed McCarthy.
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