New tensions are colliding with old feuds in the Republican race to become House speaker, intensifying the GOP's paralysis and raising serious questions about whether any candidate is capable of governing the conference.

Why it matters: The internal chaos has major implications for government funding, aid to Ukraine, the 2024 election and other issues that extend far beyond the walls of Congress. Old wounds reopened by the removal of Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as speaker will only exacerbate those challenges.

Driving the news: McCarthy confidantes quietly have been making calls to advocate against Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), who is considered the leading contender to become the next speaker, Axios' Juliegrace Brufke reports.

• Scalise and McCarthy have long been viewed as rivals, with tensions spilling over into public eye on multiple occasions in recent years.
• One of McCarthy's closest allies, Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.), took a thinly veiled swipe at Scalise yesterday, telling reporters: "I think this whole narrative about every member of the existing leadership taking one step up is bulls**t."
• "The body wasn't even cold," one House Republican told The Messenger, criticizing Scalise for quietly launching his campaign moments after McCarthy was ousted Tuesday night.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a founding chair of the hard-right Freedom Caucus, has received endorsements from several McCarthy allies.

• But Jordan's close ties to former President Trump and allegations that Jordan knew Ohio State wrestlers he coached were being sexually abused — which he denies — could cost him dozens of moderate votes.
• Jordan also told NBC News today that he would not support expelling Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), which could anger Republicans itching for retribution against the architect of the McCarthy coup.
• In another sign of old feuds turning nasty, Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) — a former House Republican close to McCarthy — accused Gaetz of routinely bragging about his sexual experiences to colleagues on the House floor, which Gaetz has denied.

Down the ballot, influential Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) endorsed Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to be majority leader, snubbing next-in-line Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), who defeated Banks in last fall's whip election.

The intrigue: House Republicans have publicly and privately expressed particular contempt for Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), a moderate on women's issues who joined with seven GOP hardliners to oust McCarthy.

• Mace, who criticized Gaetz for fundraising off of January's 15-ballot speaker election, has been aggressively soliciting donations of her own after shocking the GOP conference with her anti-McCarthy vote.
• The moderate Republican Governance Group is now considering removing Mace from its caucus.

The bottom line: "The only grudge that I know as a fact is going to last is the one we are going to hold against those eight a**holes," one McCarthy ally told Politico.

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Trump told Fox News he is open to accepting a short-term role as speaker and plans to travel to Capitol Hill for the House GOP's candidate forum on Tuesday.

• "I have been asked to speak as a unifier because I have so many friends in Congress," the former president said.
• "If they don't get the vote, they have asked me if I would consider taking the speakership until they get somebody longer-term, because I am running for president."

Why it matters: The notion of Trump actually becoming speaker is extremely far-fetched. The Republican presidential front-runner is likely more interested in generating media attention and solidifying his iron grip on the GOP.

• The House has never elected a speaker from outside of Congress, though there is no constitutional requirement that the position be held by a sitting member.
• However, the GOP's own conference rules require a member of leadership to step aside "if indicted for a felony for which a sentence of two or more years' imprisonment may be imposed."

Between the lines: Trump's flirtation with the speakership is both a nightmare for vulnerable Republicans and a boon to Democrats, who spent much of McCarthy's tenure branding him as a puppet for the former president.

• Even before Trump today confirmed his planned visit to the Hill, the Biden campaign and other Democrats were circulating fundraising emails playing up the possibility of him serving as speaker.
• "Criminals tend to return to the scene of the crime," Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) tweeted today, referring to Trump's role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

As national Democrats pump millions of dollars into Virginia's legislative races, Republicans in the state are growing increasingly frustrated when they ask a simple question: Where is the RNC?

Why it matters: With all 140 seats up in Virginia's General Assembly, both parties are using November's election as a proving ground to test competing messages on abortion, Axios' Hans Nichols reports.

State of play: National Democratic groups have transferred more than $3 million into state races in the last two months to convince voters that Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin will use full control of the legislature to limit access to abortion.

• Youngkin isn't shying away from a debate over abortion, seeking to shift the conversation toward his proposed 15-week abortion ban, which includes exceptions for rape, incest and the health of the mother.
• Big GOP donors — not to mention Republicans smarting from losing statewide votes on abortion in Kansas, Wisconsin and Ohio — are closely watching Youngkin's approach to see if it can offer a safe lane for Republicans trying to appeal to independent and suburban voters.

Driving the news: Republicans responded to Monday's announcement of more Democratic cash — $2 million from the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee — by questioning whether national help was on the way.

• "It's just us. There's nothing coming from the RNC," said a Republican consultant working on races in Virginia. "They haven't invested a dime."

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Nate Jones, the Washington Post's first Freedom of Information Act director, filed a FOIA request last year for all official White House photographs taken the day Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011.

In the first installment of his new periodic column, Jones reveals the National Archives turned over the above photograph of Obama laughing and holding a printed-out meme mocking the "birther" conspiracy theory.

Read the column