And the beat goes on and on,, and on..

So this is the 118th Congress of the USA.

Anyone can nominate a person to serve as Speaker of the house. and no the speaker does not have to be a member of the House of Representatives 

The Republicans are in the Majority - I believe that they have a 4 vote margin. 

In this case the Majority party can and usually does elect the Speaker from their party,, 

Once - way back in the 34th Congress the speaker was not from the Majority party. 

Took Kevin McCarthy 15 votes to get to the 217 votes needed to win,, in that process he 

made lots of deals to get votes from his own party. One of the concessions is that any one member could call for the Chair (Speaker) to be vacated (removed) and a floor vote would follow - the so called Freedom caucus wanted this so IF McCarthy worked with the Democrats on something they the freedom caucus did not like they could vote to remove him . That is exactly what happened when Matt Gates made the motion to remove him on September 12th - a floor vote followed - where all the Democrats voted for removal ( what the hell did the GOP think they were going to do  ?? vote for a Republican ?? )  and 9 Republicans voted for removal also - so that the Seat was Vacated - McCarthy Fired. and now we are in the midst of electing a new Speaker ... there have been 2 votes so far - with no one getting the required 217 - Hakem Jefferies the Democrat has received 212 - Jim Jordan in vote one had 20 Republicans vote against him  and that grew by 2 on the 2nd ballot . 

Jim Jordan- man accused of not taking actions when he knew athletes were being Sexually assaulted at Ohio State University, Jim Jordan who is an election denier, Jordan who openly disregarded a Subpoena from the House Committee on January 6th investigation, in 16 years he has never had a bill voted into law - he has never even been a sponsor of a Bill voted into law - 16 years of Nothing. 

Now the narrative from the GOP is that this is the Democrats fault ! What Jerks - they (the GOP) hold the Majority in the HOUSE.  If Gates asked for removal and GOP all voted to keep Mc Carthy - then today would NOT be happening. IF they could get 4 more to vote for ANY member of their own party - Today would not be happening. This is typical rhetoric for the GOP - EVERYTHING , everything - is someone else's fault. This started with the BIG LIE from the Urine Soaked Cheeto man and continues today.  

yesterday - Jim Jordan's name was removed from contention to be the Speaker - and IMHO - could not have happened to a nicer guy.....  maybe we have pulled back from the edge of the abyss....  So,  now - what ?? As we sit here on Friday - there is nothing that is happening over the weekend - even though we do not have a functioning Legislative part of the Government. They - the Republicans -  are scheduled to hold a Speaker Forum Monday evening.... 3 days from now !!