Donald Trump’s influence still hangs over the US Congress

Republicans are in a highly-embarrassing fight to elect the speaker of the House of Representatives, writes Sean O’Grady

The only hope is that the US system remains robust enough to survive the continual stress testing caused by Trump (AP)

If you want to find a microcosm for the way politics in America has degenerated into a bitter slug fest between two sides in an evenly divided nation, you need look no further than the election for a new speaker of the House of Representatives.

No surprise, of course, seeing as the House is the closest representation of the balance of opinion among the American people – and it is a visually fractured nation. Indeed, the contest for the speakership – an important role constitutionally and third in the line of succession for the presidency – also illustrates just how much the Trumpite “Make America Great Again” (Maga) movement has split the Republican party. It is difficult to see how the lower house of the US Congress getting much positive done before the general (including presidential) elections next year, or even after if these trends persist.

After November’s midterm elections the Republicans gained control of the House, but not by as much as to neuter what has morphed into the Maga group, the so-called Freedom Caucus. Around 20 to 30 Republican rebels are blocking the election of any of the main candidates, and show no sign of being ready to compromise. The normal course of events would be for the leader of the largest party in the House, in this case Republican congressman Kevin McCarthy to become speaker as a relative formality, and then swiftly move to the business of legislation.