Trump Gets Only ONE Vote After Being Nominated for House Speaker

Former President Donald Trump received only one vote on Thursday after he was nominated for speaker by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) ahead of the 11th round of voting.

Trump was one of four people nominated in the round. When the votes were tallied, he trailed Hakeem Jeffries D-NY), Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), and Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK), among others.

The lone Trump vote among the anti-McCarthy holdouts will surely further the notion among Trump’s critics he has lost influence in the party.

Hern, who was not present for the vote, beat the former president by six votes. Trump lost to “others” by 11 while one Republican voted present.

Gaetz was the only member to vote for the 45th president, who is a viable candidate, as the U.S. Constitution does not require the speaker to be a member of the House.

Gaetz derided McCarthy as a mere “squatter” in the speaker’s office as he nominated Trump.

“We also have to restore to the speaker’s office an actual person who ought to be in the speaker’s office,” he said. “Not the squatter that is there.” He added:

I would like to know what the basis is to allow somebody to occupy the speaker’s office who comes in second place 10 straight times. Is there some basis in law or rule or precedent for that? And so I nominate President Trump, because we must make our country great again and he can start by making the House of Representatives great again.

Gaetz was heckled during the speech by Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), who shouted, “He tried to overthrow our government!”

Just before he was nominated, Trump posted a meme on Truth Social of himself as speaker. In the image, the former president was rubbing his stomach with his tongue out.

Watch a portion of Gaetz’s remarks above, via CNN.