Republicans still divided: can a miracle save the presidential candidate’s scale-up? These three scams are currently being used to spread fake news about Hamas and Israel

The end of the leadership vacuum in the US House of Representatives is becoming clear, a week after the impeachment of Speaker Kevin McCarthy. On Wednesday, the majority group nominated a new candidate for the top position: Steve Scalise, previously the number two Republican in the large chamber of Congress.

The 58-year-old Scalise defeated his opponent Jim Jordan in a secret ballot by 113 votes to 99. Jordan enjoyed the support of many figureheads of the right-wing populist wing of the Republican Party; Former President Donald Trump also made an election call in favor of the 59-year-old agitator.

Scalise, on the other hand, a representative of the US state of Louisiana since 2008, was supported by numerous old party friends. Internally, he is considered reliable and well-organized because he has been a member of the parliamentary group leadership for almost ten years. The conservative is also a gifted collector of donations, and not just for himself. (Many critics see him as a copy of the expelled speaker, a ‘McCarthy Light’; this criticism, however, is unfair, say his allies, and the relationship between the two is strained.)

However, Scalise has not yet fulfilled his dreams after his victory in the parliamentary group. The speaker – a mix of parliamentary chairman and party leader – is elected by the full House of Representatives by roll call vote.

On Wednesday, the Republicans initially decided not to schedule presidential elections in the plenary meeting. After some hesitation, an already scheduled meeting of the grand chamber was postponed to Thursday. This suggests that Scalise is having trouble winning over Jim Jordan’s die-hard supporters. Deviations, however, could jeopardize his candidacy, as Republicans make up only 221 of the current 433 representatives. (The Democrats will send their group leader, Hakeem Jeffries, into the race.)

At least twelve Republicans have already announced that they will not vote for Scalise. For example, Marjorie Taylor Greene. The representative from Georgia, who had earlier left the Republican caucus meeting without a word, wrote on the text message service that he was defeated rather than sacrifice his health in the most difficult position in Congress.

Scalise announced last summer that he has multiple myeloma, a cancer that affects the plasma cells in the bone marrow. He is on the road to recovery, he said during a recent interview on Fox News. His doctors told him he could return to work; he feels good.

In 2017, Scalise was “just a minute away from death.”

Scalise benefits from being regarded as a stand-up man within the group – after recovering surprisingly quickly from a gunshot wound in early summer 2017. At the time, Scalise was part of a Republican baseball team that came under fire from a left-wing activist near the capital Washington. The man seriously injured six people before being killed by police.

Doctors later said that Scalise had lost so much blood that he was literally “a minute away from death.” But Scalise survived, first a dramatic rescue, then extremely complex operations in the hospital. Scalise then fought his way through a tough rehabilitation. He could count on the support of some prominent names: then-President Trump visited him in the hospital, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke highly of him and Bono, the singer of his favorite band U2, invited him to a concert.

In September 2017, three months after the baseball field massacre, Scalise returned to the House of Representatives. Democrats and Republicans applauded steadily as the representative slowly limped to the lectern. “I am a living example that miracles really exist,” said the Catholic.

Perhaps Scalise now needs another miracle to be elected chairman. An opponent of the designated chairman jokingly said on Wednesday: In January, when McCarthy needed 15 ballots to be elected chairman despite fierce opposition from party colleagues, the House of Representatives experienced “a coronation.” The race for his successor “is a competition.” (aargauerzeitung.ch)