okay, steve scalese okay for you? >> well, there's two -- it depends on if he would accept these rules. we would have to have that discussion. so far he has not indicated he would run. i would prefer jim jordan. if kevin mccarthy pulls out of the race. >> laura:: you don't have the votes. >> i do expect him to campaign. he hadn't running yet. if kevin mccarthy got in the race, jim jordan would get into it and i believe he would win and invigorate our movement. he's broadly trusted in every corner of the republican party. and with a lot of our donors and supporters and activists. that's the type of option if mccarthy bows out. if he doesn't bow out, he'll have to live the entirety of his speakership in a straitjacket constructed by the rules that we're working on now. >> laura:: you prefer a speaker with a straitjacket than one who you believe is just a spend-oh-rama. >> if it's kevin mccarthy. if it's jim jordan, we wouldn't need that. we trust jim jordan. there's zero trust in mccarthy. there's a large body of work t

steve scalese is probably the next backup option.leading moderate, last night and he said he's going to run somebody against steve scalise if steve is the option. he's saying that now. people make decisions very quickly and change decisions quickly on capitol hill, but i can honestly see -- and there's difference of opinion on capitol hill about this -- i can honestly see that this will go throughout the day and could go days. this institution could be paralyzed for the next couple days as they figure this out. mccarthy has given up the store, has given every concession that the right wants within reason, and they're still not for him. they just don't like kevin mccarthy. that's the bottom line. they'll have to rally around somebody because they can't do this twice. the conference is not going to go -- is not going to put with this twice. >> what about tom cole? he seems to be somebody that might have a foot in both worlds, especially since he voted against certifying the election. >> that's a really option. people like tom cole and

there aren't many other options. >> steve scalese has played this carefully.. at the same time, he hasn't exactly ruled it out either. he's waiting to see how this plays out. basically, if they're willing -- if kevin mccarthy ends up dropping out and they're willing to take him, steve scalese is certainly willing to be speaker. but would he give concessions that are on the table. is that on the floor for anybody who takes that job. there are some names out there, patrick mchenry and others coming up, but the problem for the anti-mccarthy wing, the never kevins, is there isn't an obvious candidate who's out there who could win support of this very narrow majority. if they were to put one of their own up, jim jordan, there are folks on the other side of the spectrum in the republican caucus who wouldn't go along with that. he probably couldn't get 218 either. they're in a bind waiting in the wings. >> speaking of not being that into kevin anymore, can the same be said for donald trump? donald trump has made fools of every republican member of the house. laid bar

we don't know what they are beyond steve scalese, although he's not expressed any public interest int certain to happen whether it's behind closed doors rr on the house floor. mccarthy doesn't seem that close. >> mika, the thing, as i said, that would be really dumb if they allow this to happen, there has to be a backup plan. that's why you do these things in the caucus. >> right. >> why you do things behind closed doors. the they just blow this up and they don't have a backup plan, it's going to look extraordinarily bad for the house republicans. >> we'll see what the next 24 hours holds. >>> still ahead on "morning joe," george santos is supposed to take office tomorrow despite admitting that he lied about practically everything and key pieces of his resume for sure. how are the people who voted for him feeling now that they know the truth? we'll hear from them and bring you the response from some gop leaders in congress. also ahead, what we're learning about the man investigators believe killed four college students in idaho nearly two months ago. >>> plus a spy who gave u.s. secr

happens if the dog catches the car and they get mccarthy out there and suddenly you have steve scalise, somebody like scaleseyou know, we've been asking ourselves this for weeks now. i mean, what would be different for them for scalese or patrick mchenry of north carolina or even jim jordan? i mean, would that person be able to deliver on what they want? the difference what we had in 2018 when the moderate democrats were concerned about pelosi coming back, she had to cut deals, is they were moderates, the center part of the party. in this case, this is the conservatives, the fringe element of the party, the hardest faction to theparty, an pulling the party that way, can they even pass what they want? there are a bunch of house republicans sitting in biden districts, these guys on long island and new york, which helped them get to the majority, and we just saw, you know, democrats lose some of their centrists and that cost them their majority. the same thing could happen in veers are here. i do think what scalese -- you know, scalese is very -- you know, he's conservative. i think he's probably -- some of the