Lauren Boebert

The last time the speaker's contest required more than one ballot was in 1923, when it took lawmakers nine ballots to seat Rep. Frederick Gillett of Massachusetts. As NBC News' Allan Smith pointed out Tuesday, contentious speakership elections aren't unheard of. Even the GOP's meltdown on Tuesday is no match for the most brutal race for speaker, which spanned two months and 122 votes, with House control ultimately landing in the hands of the Know-Nothing Party in 1856.

Members are presumably poised for a fourth vote when the return to the Capitol Wednesday and make another effort to launch the 118th session of Congress. Although there's speculation McCarthy may be forced to withdraw, he vowed Tuesday to continue his fight for the speaker's gavel.

According to Axios, one of the first actions of the new Republican-controlled House of Representatives was to remove metal detectors outside of the House chambers.

The move comes just days before the upcoming second anniversary of the Jan. 6 attacks.

As Republican infighting over Rep. Kevin McCarthy's bid for House Speaker continues, Colorado GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert allegedly declared "bullsh**" in response to McCarthy's reported proclamation that he has "earned this job."

Texas GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw fired back at the opposition to McCarthy from some in his party, saying that a "handful of members" are "very clearly looking for notoriety over principle."

Following what has been reported as a contentious and obscenity-filled House Republican caucus meeting over a vote on the speakership, Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) a leader of the members who are leading a revolt against Rep. Kevin McCarthy trashed the California Republican for not giving into his factions demands.

Speaking to the press after the meeting broke up where McCarthy proclaimed he "earned' the speakership -- only to have Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) reportedly fire back "bullsh*t" -- Perry gave no indication that McCarthy is any closer to gaining their votes than before the meeting and things might have gotten worse.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) blasted members of the House Freedom Caucus and her "friend" Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) for ongoing opposition to Rep. Kevin McCarthy's (R-CA) campaign to become House Speaker.

Greene spoke to members of the press during a break in the Republican caucus meeting on Tuesday.

According to a report from CNN's Manu Raju, current House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy can be overheard yelling and cursing at caucus members in a closed-door meeting before they are supposed to head to the floor to vote on a new speaker.

With doubts growing the embattled Republican leader has the votes to win the gavel on the first ballot, CNN's Raju claimed the California Republican insisted to his colleagues, "I've earned this job!"

On Tuesday, ahead of the swearing in of the new Republican House majority, the Huffington Post laid out how a small group of far-right lawmakers are poised to wield total power in the chamber — making Republican leadership, including Kevin McCarthy even if he manages to be elected Speaker, effectively subservient to their demands.

"With House Republicans holding just a four-vote majority, the influence of the party’s far right will only grow in the new Congress as each GOP vote holds sway. As Norm Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute observed to The New Yorker recently, 'When your margin is small, the problem is you’re held hostage,'" reported Matt Shuham and Christopher Mathias. "The hostage takers, in this case — a far-right coterie that includes Biggs as well as Reps. Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), Lauren Boebert (Colo.) and Paul Gosar (Ariz.) — don’t all necessarily oppose McCarthy’s speakership. Greene has endorsed him and received significant concessions."

Trumpist election deniers were soundly defeated in competitive midterm races this year, for the most part. But there's no shortage of far-right MAGA diehards who are joining Congress this week, mostly elected from safe Republican districts and states.

While the midterm elections served as a sweeping repudiation of fringe Trump-backed candidates in many swing states and purple districts, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's 21-point re-election victory in her rural district in northwestern Georgia makes clear that Trumpism is still alive and well in deep-red areas. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy predicted a "red wave" that never reached shore — and it's still not entirely clear that McCarthy can get himself elected speaker on Tuesday. Even so, there are 48 new Republicans entering Congress, at least half of whom count as election deniers.

On Monday, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), one of the key members of the so-called "Never Kevin" bloc among House Republicans, took to Twitter to taunt Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) for still lacking the votes to be elected Speaker of the House — with just hours to go before that vote is scheduled to take place.

"Even after the McCarthy Machine’s attempts to whip votes and smear my name for several weeks, McCarthy is still well short of the 218 threshold," wrote Biggs. "Our party still requires new leadership and I will continue to oppose McCarthy for House Speaker."

Shooters Grill, the gun-themed restaurant owned by far-right Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), has closed down and will soon be replaced by Tapatios Family Mexican Restaurant.

The situation is especially delicious considering Boebert's past comments against Mexican immigrants.

On MSNBC Wednesday, former George W. Bush strategist Matthew Dowd scorched the Republican Party for refusing to make their scandal-plagued members take responsibility for their actions.

This comes after reporting that House Republican leadership are avoiding any public discussion of the controversy around Rep.-elect George Santos (R-NY) fabricating large parts of his life story for his campaign — even as they privately admit Santos' lies are "problematic."

Although the Republican Party is set to take over the House of Representatives with a narrow majority in a matter of mere days, the party finds itself beset by nonstop infighting and scandal.

As MSNBC columnist Hayes Brown argues, the GOP at the moment seems to be in a state of "pure chaos" and the party isn't even certain if current leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) will have enough votes to achieve his long-held dream of becoming Speaker of the House.

On Monday's edition of MSNBC's "All In," anchor Chris Hayes mocked the GOP by throwing their past predictions of a "red wave" in the 2022 midterm election back at them in a lengthy series of supercuts.

"We begin at the end of this year, and the historic results for the midterm election," said Hayes. "Democrats gained a seat in the Senate, and Republicans managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Historically, midterm elections have been outright disastrous for a first-term president ... Democratic presidents in their first midterms have seen the party lose an average of 40 House seats and five Senate seats. Since Watergate, the results have looked even worse for the party. Democratic presidents in their first midterms have lost an average of 44 House seats and six Senate seats. Many political observers on both sides of the aisle were expecting a political bloodbath on the level of, say, 1994's Republican revolution, for instance, when Democrats lost 52 House seats and eight Senate seats during Bill Clinton's first term, or the 2010 Tea Party wave, when Democrats lost a whopping 63 House seats and six Senate seats during Barack Obama's first term. For right-wing media ... a red wave was the sure thing."