House speaker impasse lays bare failing US democracy

[superadmin]

Two years after the whole world witnessed the failing of US democracy as reflected in the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021, more chaos took the stage in Capitol Hill as Republicans in the House of Representatives failed for a second straight day to elect a leader on Wednesday. 

A faction of hardline conservatives continued to hold back support for Republican Kevin McCarthy and the day of endless voting ended amid shouting and crowding with the House adjourning for the night.

With the eyes of the world seeing the embarrassing scene, which is usually a routine vote at the outset of a legislative session, the polarization and division of US politics and the decline of US democracy are too obvious to hide, and worries have grown as the political radicalization bug may spread to more countries from the US, and the domestic mess may push US politicians into adventurism and bring more uncertainties to the world, analysts said. 

The once-in-a-century political stalemate continued in the House of Representatives as no progress was made through a sixth round of voting for House speaker on Wednesday.  Twenty conservative holdouts still refuse to support McCarthy, leaving him far short of the 218 typically needed to secure the post of Speaker, a powerful job that is second in the line of succession to the presidency, according to US media reports.

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