The second-biggest question in the Capitol right now is who will be the speaker of the House. The biggest question is simply: Why would anybody want to be the speaker of the House at this point?

By Thursday afternoon, there was still seemingly no clear path to Rep. Steve Scalise getting the 217 votes he needs to secure the job—and there didn’t seem to be a way forward for anyone else, either.

Whoever wins will have to deal with a seemingly unmanageable Republican conference, the expiration of government funding in just over a month, multiple geopolitical crises in Israel and Ukraine, and a host of other day-to-day issues—all while trying to hold on to a paper-thin majority, with 18 members in districts won by Joe Biden and another member who has introduced six different bills to impeach Biden.

The job also comes with the constant risk of being deposed at any time and the urgent necessity to spend free time crisscrossing the country to raise money. It comes with a nice gavel, sure, but you can buy one of those online for $20 without any of the aggravation of having to manage the egos of 220 other members of Congress (not to mention one very mercurial resident of Mar-a-Lago).

But, for whatever reason, on Thursday, Scalise still seemed intent on trying for the job even after 36 topsy-turvy hours where he had both earned the title “speaker-designate” and endured repeated failures in his efforts to win a floor vote. [Update, Oct. 12, 8:24 p.m. ET:Scalise told reporters Thursday night that he was dropping out of the speaker’s race.]

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On Wednesday, before the process to elect a new speaker began, members of Congress received a classified intelligence briefing about Hamas’ brutal terrorist attack on Israel over the weekend that left over 1,200 Israelis dead. This nominally would have been a reminder of the perilous state of American governance when the lack of a speaker prevents the House of Representatives from functioning.

From there, Republicans walked to a spacious committee room in a congressional office building to debate the rules of their leadership election and pick a candidate. The scene around was a circus—it wasn’t just that the room was surrounded by the entire Capitol Hill press corps, but that it was taking place in a congressional office building during office hours. Delegations of visiting lobbyists tramped through the halls as Republicans were quizzed by dozens of reporters about their vote and tourists crowded along with the press to see what the buzz was about.

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Members were made to check their cellphones before entering the meeting under the very justifiable assumption that they would leak information in real time about what was happening if given the chance. Their phones were originally placed into numbered Manila envelopes, and staffers dug frantically through bins to find the right phone as members left the room. Eventually, cubbies on wheels were rolled up to hold people’s phones, further constricting the already jammed corridors. The scene after the meeting ended resembled a silent auction if it was held at rush hour in a New York subway station, with members of Congress holding up numbered slips of paper as staffers frantically searched for the matching cubby.

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Inside the room, the first task was to decide the rules. Traditionally, House Republicans would accept the decision of a majority of their conference. However, in light of the rather unusual circumstances at present, there was an attempt to change the rules to try to bind at least the 217 Republicans necessary on the floor of the House duringthe meeting through a rather elaborate multistep process. Scalise’s camp was strongly opposed to this, and it failed. Then the conference voted on the nominee: Scalise versus Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio. The Louisiana Republican eked out a narrow victory of 113–99, with another 11 members either voting “present” or for a candidate not on the ballot.

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There was an immediate hope that, with a majority backing a single candidate, things could quickly proceed to a floor vote. This was not the case. For one thing, now that there is clear precedent for any handful of members to block a speaker or remove him, it has given permission to all Republicans to mount their own personal coups.

Speaking on Tuesday night, Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas noted to reporters that former speaker Kevin McCarthy received the support of 94 percent of House Republicans when the motion to vacate was offered, and he was removed. The Texas Republican said that, after McCarthy’s ouster, he felt no pressure to unite around the conference’s choice. “So now you’re gonna try to convince a guy like me that just says 51 percent?” he said, referring to the percentage of people who voted for Scalise on Wednesday. “You just get behind that guy? I won’t do it.”

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Members were discontent with Scalise for a variety of reasons. Some were unhappy with how aggressively his team whipped against the rules change. Others had more curious objections. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted that she would not vote for Scalise because he was suffering from cancer; Rep. George Santos tweeted that he was for “ANYONE but Scalise” because the Louisiana Republican never called him.

Scalise, for this part, had made progress with some of the skeptics who thwarted McCarthy on ballot after ballot in January. Even Rep. Matt Gaetz was backing him, saying in a Twitter Spaces conversation that Scalise was a major improvement over McCarthy.

But the whip count was ever-shifting. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, who was one of the 20 who thwarted McCarthy in January, told reporters late Wednesday that she would be supporting Scalise because he would allow her to aggressively pursue three key priorities: defunding special counsel Jack Smith, issuing a congressional subpoena to Hunter Biden, and forcing a floor vote on impeaching Joe Biden. But hours later on Twitter, she said would only back Scalise for a single ballot on the floor without mentioning him by name, and after, that there was a need for a “consensus candidate.” By Thursday afternoon, she had flipped again, tweeting “I will no longer be voting for scalise.”

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Speaking to reporters on Wednesday evening, Rep. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota expressed his displeasure with the state of his party. He noted this kind of intra-Republican division hadn’t just defined the speaker’s fight in January, but that “it’s been every week around here.” In his view, “it’s been really, really hard for this Republican House to govern. We have incredibly tight margins. And, frankly, some members who have a hard time getting to yes on almost anything—on almost every week.”

On Thursday, the cycle began again. House Republicans checked their phones into another cubby to debate their leadership in a basement room in the Capitol and enjoy catering from Chik-fil-A while endlessly debating what would happen next. The meeting eventually broke up without anything concrete being achieved except the promise of further meetings in the days to come.

Leaving the room, Rep. Doug LaMalfa of California reflected that the only motivation he could see for anyone wanting to become speaker would be that “they hadn’t had enough root canals over the past two years.” He added that if someone with the desire to be speaker managed to get the 217 votes necessary on the floor, “that means they have the confidence of a broad section of the conference for at least three weeks.” After that, it would just be more root canals.

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• Congress
• House of Representatives
• Republicans
• Kevin McCarthy