Skip to content
Search
Human content, AI powered search.

Latest Stories

What We're Watching

The House Republican circus rolls on

​US Rep. Mike Johnson is surrounded by fellow members as he speaks to reporters after securing the nomination for House Speaker from the Republican conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Oct. 24, 2023.

US Rep. Mike Johnson is surrounded by fellow members as he speaks to reporters after securing the nomination for House Speaker from the Republican conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Oct. 24, 2023.

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Willis Sparks
By Willis SparksOctober 24, 2023
Willis Sparks
Willis Sparks is a senior editor for GZERO Daily. He is also a Director in the Global Macro practice at Eurasia Group, where he has worked since 2005. He has made speeches on international politics on every continent except Antarctica. Willis holds degrees from Brown University, the Juilliard School, Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris. He also holds an honorary degree from the Moscow Art Theatre School. A native of Macon, Georgia, Willis has worked as a stuntman at New York's Metropolitan Opera. As a child, he declined an opportunity to spend an afternoon riding the Great American Scream Machine, a rollercoaster, with Ronald McDonald, for money. He has never regretted that decision.
See Full Bio

It took five rounds of voting on Tuesday to make Tom Emmer of Minnesota the Republican nominee for speaker of the US House of Representatives … and about four more hours to persuade him his candidacy was doomed. Though he won a clear majority of House Republicans (117 of 221) in the final round of voting, he knew it wouldn’t be easy to earn the backing of 217 of 221 Republicans needed to win a majority of the full House.

That’s mainly because Emmer has a powerful Republican enemy: Donald Trump. Emmer voted to certify President Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory, and Trump has sought revenge by waging an aggressive campaign to discredit Emmer within the GOP caucus. By late afternoon on Tuesday, Trump had tweeted his opposition, and the game was up. Emmer had bowed out.

Late Tuesday night, House Republicans then voted to make Mike Johnson of Louisiana their fourth nominee for speaker. Can he get the 217 votes needed to win the job?

If he too falls short, House Republicans may finally decide they’ve had enough of closed-door meetings and secret ballots, and decide instead to empower the current temporary speaker, Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, to serve for a specified period up to several weeks. That would allow the House to negotiate with Democrats on the budgetary questions needed to keep the government from shutting down next month and to consider bills granting aid to Israel and Ukraine.

Or, they could go back to square one and start voting all over again, and your GZERO Newsletter team can just keep writing this same story every few days.

speakeremmerwashington dccongresshouse of representatives

Latest Videos

North Korea's nuclear bet paid offplay icon
Ian Explains

North Korea's nuclear bet paid off

Hormuz standoff: Who blinks first?
The Debrief

Hormuz standoff: Who blinks first?

Trump gets a "big, fat" concession from Xi
Puppet Regime

Trump gets a "big, fat" concession from Xi

How AI offsets Trump’s tariffs...for now
GZERO World Clips

How AI offsets Trump’s tariffs...for now

Hungary’s Orbán concedes election defeat
Quick Take

Hungary’s Orbán concedes election defeat

The US economy has avoided the brunt of the Iran war...for now
GZERO World Clips

The US economy has avoided the brunt of the Iran war...for now

More For You

US-Iran ceasefire talks gain steam, Leading leftists meet in Barcelona, The EU may have a new Russia ally

​A crowd celebrates after a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, in Sidon, Lebanon, on April 17, 2026.

A crowd celebrates as displaced people return to their homes after a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, in Sidon, Lebanon, on April 17, 2026.

REUTERS/Aziz Taher
Is an end to the Iran war in sight?The 10-day ceasefire negotiated between Israel and Lebanon took effect last night – one that the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah acknowledged but hasn’t said whether they’d abide by – has added some momentum to the US-Iran ceasefire talks. US President Donald Trump said Thursday that the war “should be ending [...]

Putin makes big gamble, Israel and Lebanon agree to ceasefire, Riyadh reportedly plans to halt funds for golf tour

Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on April 14, 2026.​

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Rosseti CEO and Board Chairman Andrei Ryumin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on April 14, 2026.

Sputnik/Alexander Kazakov/Pool via REUTERS
Putin ups the ante – but should he?Russia continues to bombard Ukraine, killing 17 people in a wave of drone and missile attacks overnight. But the Parliament also signed a law on Tuesday that would allow the military to attack any country that holds Russians captive. Europe fears that Russian President Vladimir Putin will use this as a pretext to [...]

Iran threatens another waterway, Guyana sees economic boom, IMF warns of economic impact from Middle East conflict

Houthi solders gather in front of a digital billboard in Sanaa, Yemen, on July 11, 2025.

Houthi solders gather in front of a digital billboard featuring a Houthi Unmanned surface vehicle in the Red Sea during a protest against the United States and Israel, amidst the ongoing military campaign in the Gaza Strip, in Sanaa, Yemen, on July 11, 2025.

IMAGO/ Sanaa Yemen
There’s another waterway to worry aboutWhile the world’s attention for the last month and a half has been on the Strait of Hormuz, it may soon switch to another vital shipping lane in the Middle East: the Red Sea. Why? On Wednesday, Tehran threatened to halt shipping there if the United States continued its blockade of ships that stopped at [...]

Tehran tests Washington’s naval blockade, Spain’s leader visits China again, Ukrainian robots take back land

Cargo ships in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah, in the United Arab Emirates, on March 11, 2026.​

Cargo ships in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah, near the border with Oman’s Musandam governance, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in the United Arab Emirates, on March 11, 2026.

REUTERS/Stringer
US blockade faces early testOne day after US President Donald Trump announced that he had started a blockade of ships coming in and out of Iranian ports via the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran is already testing those US commitments. A sanctioned tanker called Elpis that took on cargo in an Iranian port has reportedly crossed the Strait of Hormuz. It’s [...]