By Eugene Daniels, Rachael Bade and Ryan Lizza

With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross

Republicans are now facing a wide-open race to pick their next top leader with a foreign crisis raging and a shutdown deadline looming. | Alex Brandon/AP

THE HOUSE MERRY-GOP-ROUND — After 20 days without a speaker, it’s back to the drawing board for House Republicans.

Before we get into what‘s next, let’s step back for a moment and reflect on where the House GOP finds itself. The party’s civil war has already taken out Speaker KEVIN McCARTHY, the No. 2 House leader (Majority Leader STEVE SCALISE) and now the darling of the MAGA right (Rep. JIM JORDAN of Ohio).

Not only are Republicans now facing a wide-open race to pick their next top leader with a foreign crisis raging and a shutdown deadline looming, but they are dealing with a positively incendiary mix of frustration, grievance and emotion inside their own ranks — one that in being routinely aired in public view.

Just check out the final grafs of NYT’s Kayla Guo and Robert Jimison’s scener from the Capitol yesterday:

“As Representative JEN KIGGANS of Virginia, a Biden-district Republican who opposed Mr. Jordan, told reporters that she looked forward to members coalescing around a new candidate, Representative LAUREN BOEBERT of Colorado, a hard-right firebrand, raged just behind her.

“‘These holdouts,’ Ms. Boebert yelled in Ms. Kiggans’s direction, “are responsible for Congress not working right now.’”

Or you can just take it from McCarthy: “I'm concerned about where we go from here,” he told reporters after members voted to end Jordan’s candidacy. “It's astonishing to me, and we are in a very bad position as a party.”

— Related reads: “‘It’s astonishing’: GOP ditches Jordan as speaker pick,” POLITICO … “GOP Reboots Speaker Search After Jim Jordan Bid Collapses,” WSJ … “Concerns about Jordan’s election denialism flare during failed bid for speaker,” by WaPo’s Jackie Alemany

So here’s what’s next: Any Republican who wants a shot at wrangling this goat rodeo has until noon tomorrow to officially seek the conference nomination as speaker. A member-only candidate forum will follow on Monday evening, with the nomination election happening Tuesday. They’ll vote as many times as it takes until a nominee can win over a majority of the conference.

As for the candidates, we count at least nine GOP members who have declared runs or are reported to be thinking about launching one. You can sort them into three buckets:

The up-and-comers … Rep. JODEY ARRINGTON (R-Texas), the Budget Committee chairman who has a base of support in the Texas delegation. … Rep. BYRON DONALDS (R-Fla.), a second-termer who has big fans on the hard right. … Rep. KEVIN HERN (R-Okla.), the Republican Study Committee chair who has been toying with a run for weeks. … Rep. MIKE JOHNSON (R-La.), the conference vice chair who has won plaudits for his Judiciary Committee work.

The back-benchers … Rep. JACK BERGMAN (R-Mich.), a retired Marine Corps general pitching himself as a caretaker. … Rep. DAN MEUSER (R-Pa.), a businessman promising more “inclusion” in leadership. … Rep. AUSTIN SCOTT (R-Ga.), who previously ran as a stalking horse for the anti-Jordan crowd. … Rep. PETE SESSIONS (R-Texas), the former Rules Committee chair who has been angling for a return to relevance.

The clubhouse favorite … Majority Whip TOM EMMER (R-Minn.), who is next in the leadership pecking order behind Scalise and possesses the relationships, staff and fundraising acumen to give him a clear leg up over the competition.

But there is a DONALD TRUMP-sized asterisk on Emmer’s candidacy.

As our Alex Isenstadt reports, the former president has told his own allies that he does not support a Speaker Emmer, and Trump’s allies are already working publicly to smother his bid for the gavel. Among those knocking Emmer for not supporting Trump enough in the past (or in the current presidential primary) are STEVE BANNON and BORIS EPSHTEYN.

“Trump has complained, [sources] say, that Emmer has not forcefully defended him against the indictments he is facing,” Alex writes. “He has also pointed to Emmer’s criticism of him following the Trump-inspired Jan. 6 Capitol riot, and reports — which Emmer strenuously denied — that as then-chair of the House GOP campaign arm, he advised Republican candidates to avoid mentioning Trump.”

There are reasons to think the Trump world opposition might not matter: Emmer does have credible backers on the MAGA right. Emmer’s staff and allies are working overtime this weekend to squash the beef. And Trump’s endorsement of Jordan certainly did not end up being dispositive.

And there’s the gravitas factor. As NYT’s Carl Hulse notes, it’s unclear if any of the potential candidates have “the level of experience and legislative acumen to go toe-to-toe not only with House Republicans’ own fractious members but with Senate Democrats and the Biden administration.” Emmer, at least, has some time in leadership and national fundraising experience as a recent former NRCC chair.

But it will only take a handful of members declaring their opposition on the floor to sink Emmer (or any other candidate). And with the House GOP wary of sparking yet another ruinous intramural meltdown, members will be thinking: Would an Emmer vote just mean another Scalise- or Jordan-style flameout?

Good Saturday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.

A message from Business Roundtable:

America’s status as the global leader in innovation is at risk. Key tax incentives for investment in the U.S. are being phased out while other countries double down on domestic investment. Unless Congress fully reverses these tax increases on U.S. job creators, American businesses and workers will be at a competitive disadvantage. Congress, it’s time to support American jobs and innovation. Restore essential business tax incentives. Learn more.

ISRAEL UPDATE — President JOE BIDEN continued his habit of using his campaign fundraisers to share his candid and off-script thoughts on what’s really going on — this time suggesting that Hamas attacked Israel because of the impending diplomatic normalization deal that the U.S. had been brokering between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

“I think one of the reasons why they acted like they did — why Hamas moved on Israel as they have — is they knew I was about to sit down with the Saudis, who are not my — I wouldn’t call them the greatest democracy in the world,” Biden said.

“But guess what? The Saudis wanted to recognize Israel, and they wanted — I got them to agree to overflights, and they were about to recognize Israel. And that would, in fact, unite the Middle East.”

More top reads … 

— “First emergency convoy rolls into Gaza after overnight Israeli air strikes,” Reuters: “The United Nations said the convoy included life-saving supplies that would be received and distributed by the Palestinian Red Crescent, with Hamas' consent. Israel has warned that no aid should end up in Hamas hands.”

— “American mother and daughter taken hostage by Hamas are released as humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepens,” CNN: “JUDITH TAI RAANAN and her 17-year-old daughter, NATALIE RAANAN … were handed over at the border with Gaza and are now in the care of the Israel Defense Forces, IDF spokesperson DANIEL HAGARI said on Friday.”

— “Biden Wanted to End ‘Forever Wars.’ Now He Looks Like a Wartime President,” by WSJ’s Sabrina Siddiqui and Vivian Salama: “The foreign conflicts threaten to consume administration attention, overshadow a re-election campaign he hoped to center on his economic and domestic records and divert resources away from countering China.”

— “Billionaire-backed philanthropy network vows no future grants to Palestinian terror-tied group,” by the Washington Examiner’s Gabe Kaminsky: “Arnold Ventures, an LLC with an annual giving of $231 million that supports over 3,200 projects in various policy areas, including criminal justice and healthcare, "will not provide grants in the future to Alliance for Global Justice," an Arnold Ventures spokesperson told the Washington Examiner.”

A message from Business Roundtable:

At the White House

Biden and VP KAMALA HARRIS have nothing on their public schedules.

7 THINGS THAT STUCK WITH US

1. BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: Whether in the halls of Congress or on the mat as an athlete, and later a coach on Ohio State University’s wrestling team, Jordan’s “dial is turned to the same setting: relentless aggression,” WaPo’s David Maraniss and Sally Jenkins write in a deep dive look at the Ohio Republican’s athletic career: “On the mat, Jordan was a fury of arms and legs, more will and stamina than brute strength, always on offense, probing weakness, seeking leverage. … In politics, Jordan uses his inquisitor’s voice with the same harrying intent.”

Background check: “The Post interviewed 11 former wrestlers from the Jordan era at Ohio State who said [Dr. RICHARD] STRAUSS used medical exams to perpetrate molestations or worse. Eight said they had clear recollections of team members protesting Strauss’s conduct either directly to Jordan or within Jordan’s range of hearing. All considered it inconceivable that Jordan did not know about Strauss’s disturbing behaviors.”

Related read: “Jim Jordan’s Conspiratorial Quest for Power,” by Jonathan Blitzer in The New Yorker: “

2. TRUST ISSUES: An October AP/NORC poll is just the latest data illustrating how America’s trust in Congress and other institutions is continuing to slide, AP’s Gary Fields and Linley Sanders report this morning: “The lack of faith extends beyond Congress, with recent polling conducted both before and after the leadership meltdown finding a mistrust in everything from the courts to organized religion.”

A look at the numbers: 

• “About half of adults (53%) say they have ‘hardly any confidence at all’ in the people running Congress … That’s in line with 49% who said that in March.
• About 4 in 10 adults (39%) have hardly any confidence in the executive branch of the federal government, compared with 44% in March.
• About a third of adults (36%) say they have hardly any confidence in the conservative-majority Supreme Court.”
• And “one-third of U.S. adults (33%) continue to have low levels of confidence in the Justice Department.”

3. DEMOCRACY DIGEST: “Democrats keep getting new warning signs about Black voter support,” by Steve Shepard: “There’s no one simple answer for why Democrats are losing Black support at the margins. … What’s clear is that Biden can’t safely assume he’ll be able to reassemble the coalition that he rode to victory three years ago. … There are signs Republicans may have continued since 2020 to pull some Black voters away from Democrats. That is bad news for Biden.”

A message from Business Roundtable:

4. TRUMP’S JUDGES: WSJ’s C. Ryan Barber, Sadie Gurman and Aruna Viswanatha are out with a look at how U.S. District Judge TANYA CHUTKAN and U.S. District Judge AILEEN CANNON differ in their tactics and pretrial rulings as they oversee two separate federal trials of former President DONALD TRUMP: “[T]wo recent episodes, in courtrooms nearly 1,000 miles apart, reflected an emerging pattern of how Trump’s lawyers and special counsel JACK SMITH’s team are being received in the former president’s two federal prosecutions. Increasingly, it is a tale of two judges.”

5. BECOMING MITT ROMNEY: Deseret News is out with an excerpt adapted from McKay Coppins’ forthcoming Romney book, zeroing in on the faith that has defined the Utah senator’s personal and political life: “[T]he most meaningful conversion of [Romney’s] mission took place back in Michigan, where Ann had been attending church every Sunday with his parents … Romney had never especially cared about this before — he would have happily married an Episcopalian as long as it was ANN DAVIES. But his Mormon faith no longer felt to him like just a part of his heritage, an interesting heirloom passed down by his fathers. It was expanding, gaining texture, attaching itself to every part of him.”

6. LOOK WHO’S COMING TO DINNER: “Dinner diplomacy: How John Kerry convened VIPs and lawmakers to ease the climate talks,” by Emma Dumain and Sara Schonhardt: “In March, U.S. climate envoy JOHN KERRY co-hosted an exclusive dinner in D.C. for a top figure in the upcoming United Nations climate talks. … [The gathering] underscores the Biden administration’s recognition of the political challenges it will confront at the summit, where [SULTAN AL-JABER] is already facing criticism for reaping fossil fuel profits while leading talks on the urgency of cutting greenhouse gas pollution.”

7. PIVOT IN CARACAS: As U.S. officials strive to reestablish diplomatic relations with Venezuela, including a temporary lifting of restrictions on the country's oil and gas imports, new hopes for the release of American detainees wrongfully detained in the country have emerged. WSJ’s Ryan Dubé and Kejal Vyas report: After the U.S. announced a suspension of sanctions this week, “President NICOLÁS MADURO’S autocratic regime released five Venezuelan political prisoners … U.S. officials have told Maduro’s negotiators that, by the end of November, they expect the release of some of the Venezuelan political prisoners and at least some of eight Americans jailed in the country.”

CLICKER — “The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics,” edited by Matt Wuerker — 15 funnies

Michael Ramirez - Creators

GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Ryan Lizza:

— “Mere Belief,” by Sallie Tisdale for Harper's: “Sliding down the curve of forgetting.”

— “The mass protest decade: why did the street movements of the 2010s fail?“ by The Guardian’s Vincent Bevins: “From Brazil to Egypt, Turkey to Hong Kong, the 2010s saw a series of huge public uprisings. Yet many of them led to the opposite of what they asked for. I spoke to more than 200 participants across 12 countries to find out why.”

— “The Botched Hunt for the Gilgo Beach Killer,” by NYT Mag’s Robert Kolker: “For 13 years, police failed to scrutinize the man now accused of the infamous murders. Why did it take so long?”

— “Brazil Is Embracing the Migrant Crisis That Everyone Else Wants to Avoid,” Andrew Rosati and Denise Lu write for Bloomberg Businessweek: “Across the Americas, governments have deployed troops and erected barriers to try to stem what’s become an exodus of 7.7 million Venezuelans from the once-wealthy petro state. In Brazil, they’re welcoming the newcomers with open arms.”

— “Spy vs. spy: How Israelis tried to stop Russia’s information war in Africa,” by WaPo’s Elizabeth Dwoskin: “This never-before-told tale reveals how covert online battles in the French-speaking Sahel region helped topple governments.”

— “The Bull’s-Eye on Your Thoughts,” Sue Halpern writes for the New York Review: “Today digital privacy exists only at the discretion of the companies that mediate our online engagement. But what happens when those companies, an employer, school administrators, or the government has access to our neural data?”

— “Winging It with the New Backcountry Barnstormers,” Brad Rassler writes for Outside: “Throughout the lower 48, recreational bush pilots are using their nimble planes and social media influence to spread the word about bold frontiers in flight: touching down on remote federal lands, flocking to little-used runways in designated wilderness, and drag racing one another for pure sport.”

— “A Raging Bull’s Fighting Words,” by Airmail’s Alex Moshakis: “Robert De Niro has a new baby and a celebrated new film—his 10th with Martin Scorsese—but what the acclaimed actor really wants to discuss is the crazy and absurd phenomenon of Donald Trump.”

— “David Grann on Killers of the Flower Moon Getting Swept Up in the Culture Wars: “You Can’t Obliterate History,” by Vanity Fair’s Joe Pompeo: “The best-selling author sits down with Vanity Fair to discuss the hotly anticipated Scorsese film expanding his book’s reach — and the Oklahoma law that could stifle its teaching in schools.”

Justin Amash lost family members in the bombing of a Christian church in Gaza.

Tony P. taught Mark Warner a lesson on being an influencer.

PLAYBOOK REAL ESTATE SECTION — “Matt Drudge Lists Very Beige Miami Compound for $2.9 Million,” by Curbed’s Clio Chang: “The interiors — marble flooring and tan floral couches — look like they were decorated, well, by a man who spends his day writing ellipsis-heavy headlines on the internet. Drudge paid $1.45 million in cash for the house in 2011.”

OUT AND ABOUT — National Geographic hosted a premiere of the upcoming docuseries “JFK: One Day in America” on Thursday night at the National Press Club, where they also honored the White House Correspondents’ Association and the press. Kelly O’Donnell moderated a discussion with series producer Charlotte Rodrigues and Peggy Simpson, who covered JFK’s assassination in 1963 and was an eyewitness to the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald. SPOTTED: Steven Thomma, Christopher Albert and Courtney Diesel O’Donnell.

— National Review Institute honored Amity Shlaes and Paul Singer on Thursday night at the William F. Buckley Jr. Prize Dinner, which raised nearly $1.5 million for the institute’s programs. SPOTTED: Michael Mukasey, Doug Ducey, Peter Travers, Ramesh Ponnuru, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Lindsay Craig, Rich Lowry, Shawn Steele, Katelyn Bledsoe, Lisa Nelson, Steve Forbes, Rabbi Meir Soloveichik and Brian Murdock.

— SPOTTED at the Export-Import Bank’s annual conference at the Washington Hilton, with a theme of “Create Locally, Export Globally”: Ex-Im Chair Reta Jo Lewis, Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markorova, Don Graves, Enoh Ebong, USTR Katherine Tai, Masai Ujiri, Mariano Rivera, Brendan Bechtel, Jose Fernandez and Amos Hochstein.

— Mayer Brown hosted an event Thursday night about the female diplomats of Washington, featuring a discussion with Maureen Cormack, Yuri Kim, Jamie Shufflebarger and moderator Elizabeth Espín Stern. SPOTTED: Grace Shie, Emily Naughton, Nina McLemore, Beverly Allen, Ingrid Olsen, Catherine Lyons, Milica Cosic, Alyssa Senzel and Beth Hill.

NEW NOMINEES — The White House announced Biden will nominate Kamala Shirin Lakhdhir as ambassador to Indonesia and John McIntyre as ambassador to Eswatini.

TRANSITION — Jon Hukill is now director of public relations at FOVNDRY. He previously was VP and head of earned media at kglobal.

WEDDING — Arthur Nelson, deputy director of technology and international affairs program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Claire Felten, policy and advocacy officer at PATH got married on Oct. 7 in Manchester, Vt. The couple are high school sweethearts from Princeton, N.J. who tied the knot after more than a decade together. Pic ... Another pic SPOTTED: Tim Maurer, Allison Fultz, Joel Todoroff, Cassie Vasiloff and Gavin Wilde.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) … WaPo’s Taylor Lorenz … POLITICO’s Ben Lefebvre, Rachel Jongerius, Victoria Blinn, Connie French and Rachel Gartlan … Hope Hicks … U.S. News and World Report’s Dafna Linzer … CNN’s Mikayla Bouchard … Cate Martel of The Hill … Bob Charrow of Greenberg Traurig … AT&T’s Kim Hart … Hannah Edwards … Eric Heighberger of the House Homeland Security GOP … Kaitlyn Dwyer of Rep. Mike Carey’s (R-Ohio) office … Jamari Torrence … Megan Smith of shift7 … NBC’s Anna Schecter Zigler … Alison Baker of Straus/Baker … Matt Ide of Rep. Andy Biggs’ (R-Ariz.) office … Joe Franco … K&L Gates’ Andrew Tabler … FCC’s Jonathan Uriarte … Jon Rawlson … Treasury’s Nimi Uberoi … Edelman’s Alex Abrahamson … former Rep. Pat Tiberi (R-Ohio)

THE SHOWS (Full Sunday show listings here):

FOX “Fox News Sunday”: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell … retired Gen. Jack Keane … Newt Gingrich. Panel: Emily Compagno, Julia Manchester, Karl Rove and Juan Williams.