the new republican led house of representatives is now in session. we re expecting a contentious vote. launching a chaotic floor fight. to melanie zanona. as the house republicans are getting ready to duke this out ahead of this vote what are democrats doing? reporter: first, the house is voting as we speak to determine how many members are present. that is going to determine how many votes mccarthy needs to become speaker, because, remember, he needs those present and voting for a candidate. we should not democrats help bail out mccarthy in any way. they could have voted for mccarthy on the first or subsequent ballot or voting present. but katherine clark, the number two democrat tells us that is not going to happen. i also caught up with hakeem jeffries, the incoming house
is going to have in this first round. very interesting. as you watch this with us, how quickly in the voting process will we know, do you think, if mccarthy can win? i think it s very unlikely he will win on the first ballot. that doesn t mean he won t ultimately be speaker but what are you looking for to see if he actually is going to be able to go the distance? when i was in congress i voted pretty early because my last name started with a d. i think we ll know before we get to the ds if kevin mccarthy is going to be able to become victorious in the first round or and/or we ll also know how big the opposition will be. if you look at the as, a wild card. i don t expect him to vote against mccarthy but new member out of missouri, mark alfred, if he comes in against kevin or not voting then you get down to biggs, boebert, and then eric burleson, don t count eric out as being against kevin mccarthy. he hired andy biggs former
they fared particularly badly as well. at the same time, donald trump, now he s making more and more extreme statements that fewer and fewer people are taking seriously, to be honest. that doesn t mean he won t get the presidential nomination. it doesn t even necessarily mean he couldn t win the presidency again. but it does mean he s being edged out of the political mainstream in america. and that is to the relief of many people who found him to be a particularly divisive person. and all that stuff that we were reading in the summer about the possibility of a new civil war and everything. nobody s talking about that sort of thing now, are they? remember, we re not that far away from the january 6th riots in 2021. it s awakened people, i think, to the very real threat that was there, a genuine danger to american democracy, but also in many cases, sober people up a bit. you ve still got people who are angry, people who feel dispossessed, people who feel underrepresented in this country.
talking to french friends. they don t have any doubt, and it s the same in the newspapers right throughout europe, why all this has happened to us it s because of brexit. is it because of brexit? so i think brexit plays in as a contributory factor around uk political turbulence. the curiosity is, isjust at the point that you see perhaps more vociferously some economists and others making an argument - about the economic consequences i of the uk leaving the european union is just the point that in the battle between the two main westminster parties, there s pretty much a shutting down of the conversation. why? because keir starmer has decided that he just - doesn t want to go there. he does not want there i to be a gap between him and the conservatives on brexit. you re the bbc s political editor. it was a job i did decades and decades ago. what pressures are on you? i mean, are you influenced
we have to deal with the central i issue here, which is inflation, i i a significant contributing factori to that are international factors, and we can t be involved in paying i out amounts in the public sectorl that are just unaffordable. i was just in paris talking to french friends. they don t have any doubt, and it s the same in the newspapers right throughout europe, why all this has happened to us it s because of brexit. is it because of brexit? so i think brexit plays in as a contributory factor around uk political turbulence. the curiosity is, isjust at the point that you see perhaps more vociferously some economists and others making an argument - about the economic consequences i of the uk leaving the european union is just the point that in the battle between the two main westminster parties, there s pretty much a shutting down of the conversation. why? because keir starmer has decided that he just - doesn t want to go there. he does not want there i