After 5 rounds of voting, Tom Emmer won the majority of House Republicans for Speaker, but his bid is virtually over before it began. Leave it to Republicans to abort for the third time before the end of the first day, much less the first trimester.

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer is not by any means a moderate, but he is certainly more moderate than the hard-right wingers in gerrymandered districts who can afford to be purity ponies and gum up the works.

This morning, Republicans set about the business of voting for a Speaker-designate. There were 8 candidates, and what amounted to 5 jungle primaries, with the candidate garnering the fewest votes dropping out after each round. Finally, at the end of round 5, Emmer got the majority needed for Speaker-designate. He then called for a roll call vote to see how many votes he would have on the House floor. He fell short by 26 votes.

According to CNN's Manu Raju's report above, Emmer's vote for codifying same sex marriage, his vote to keep the government open and his vote to increase the debt ceiling sealed his fate. All votes, by the way, that were for the best interests of the country.

And then there's Trump, the elephant in every Republican room. Yesterday he called on his allies to "hammer" Emmer, while choosing to stay out of it. Today, he interjected during a break in his New York trial.

"I have many wonderful friends wanting to be Speaker of the House, and some are truly great Warriors," he wrote on his vanity Truth Social platform. "RINO Tom Emmer, who I do not know well, is not one of them."

"He never respected the Power of a Trump Endorsement, or the breadth and scope of MAGA -- MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! He fought me all the way, and actually spent more time defending Ilhan Omar, than he did me -- He is totally out of touch with Republican Voters," he continued. "I believe he has now learned his lesson, because he is saying he's Pro-Trump all the way, but who can ever be sure? The Republican Party cannot take that chance, because that's not where the America First voters are. Voting for a Globalist RINO like Tom Emmer would be a tragic mistake!"

As I was discussing with Tengrain earlier today in a chat, Trump is a spoiler, not a winner.