The dust has still not settled after Tuesday's historic vote to oust Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, and things just keep getting more and more interesting. On that day I floated the not-really-serious idea of former President Trump's possible election as Speaker.

Well, it turns out that President Trump has had the same idea. 

Former President Donald Trump is considering a visit to the Capitol next week where he is open to pitching himself as a speaker candidate, according to a Republican familiar with internal discussions. 

If it happens, Trump would come speak to the House GOP sometime before lawmakers' internal speaker election, which is set to happen on Wednesday, that person said. A final decision hasn’t yet been made. The full GOP will meet Tuesday for an internal “candidate forum.”

It’s not clear if Trump — the frontrunner in the 2024 presidential primary — would actually run for speaker. Winning would require near-unanimity from the House GOP, a difficult hurdle for the controversial former president. One of his closest Hill allies, House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, is already in the race.

Granted President Trump is known for being somewhat... mercurial. But this would be a fascinating development in a political situation that is without precedent in the history of the republic. As I noted following the vote on Tuesday, the prospect of seeing both President Biden (assuming he can stay focused long enough to comprehend the event) and Vice President Harris facing the prospect of having Donald Trump ensconced as the second in the line of succession, following immediately after the least popular (and least competent) Vice President in American history? Delicious. As my kids are fond of saying, it would be worth it, just for the lulz.

President Trump, should he do this, would not be entirely without support.

Still, the former president has openly flirted with the idea of becoming GOP speaker in the days since Kevin McCarthy’s fall. And several members, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga), have backed the idea.

“A lot of people have been calling me about speaker. All I can say is we'll do whatever is best for the country and the Republican Party,” Trump told reporters Wednesday.

Note that he qualified his remarks by mentioning his vast lead in GOP primary polling, which sure sounds like he's hedging his bets. 

While the Constitution does not specify that the speaker be elected from among the sitting Representatives, which would allow them to vote President Trump into that office, it seems unlikely that he will pursue this, or that the House would vote him in. Electing Mr. Trump speaker would require a near-unanimous vote from House Republicans, which seems unlikely. Further, even were he to be elected speaker - entertaining as that would be - it would be, I suspect, an unacceptable distraction from dealing with all of the lawfare attacks against him while also running for president. So, while predictions are notoriously hard to make, I'm going to predict that the once and (maybe) future president will wave off on a run for Speaker of the House. Odds are we'll get another staid, reliably political, traditional speaker from the same old list of the usual suspects.

While we're discussing this upcoming contest, I would be remiss if I failed to direct you to my colleague Manic Contrarian's entry into the race.