"An unmitigated, unprecedented disaster...and a dumpster fire," said University of Akron political science professor Dr. David Cohen, characterizing the House Speaker's saga.

After Ohio congressman Jim Jordan's run to be second in line to the presidency came to a screeching halt Friday, Cohen said neither he nor the country has ever seen anything like the situation we're in.

"Yes, Republicans have a small margin (of majority in the House), but so did the Democrats last time and we never saw this ridiculous sideshow," Cohen, a 30-year veteran of the poli-sci arena, said. 

He blames the dysfunction on a 'civil war' in the Republican party that dates back to the rise of the Tea Party in 2010.
With two major overseas crises and less than a month until a government shutdown, Cohen says the responsibility lies squarely on the GOP's shoulders to see its way clear to a speaker.

"It's very unclear whether or not they can pick anybody that's going to be able to get to the 217 votes," Cohen said.

When we asked him what the most likely scenario(s) could be, he said "I think one is the Republicans finally break down and empower their Acting Speaker, (Patrick) McHenry."

That would at least give the House the ability to pass critical funding bills and other measures.
Beyond that...

"If we have another week next week like we had this past week, or really the last couple of weeks, I think there's going to be increased pressure on Republicans to maybe work across the aisle so that they can get one of their more acceptable Republican candidates to be Speaker, and they can do it with a few Democratic party votes."

A gesture of bipartisan compromise most Americans seem to be longing for.