Republican Nebraska Congressman Mike Flood tells CNN’s Manu Raju he’s been circulating a loyalty pledge reading “House Republicans need to elect a Speaker as soon as possible in order to return to work on behalf of the American people. It is time to put politics and personalities aside and unite behind the next Republican Conference choice for Speaker. I, [name of member], hereby pledge to support the Speaker Designate duly elected by the House Republican Conference-regardless of who that candidate is-when their election proceeds to the House Floor. Further, I pledge to vote for the Speaker Designate on the House Floor for as long as they remain the Speaker Designate,” and so far has gotten eight of the nine candidates to sign it, expecting the last one to be on board too soon.

The candidates themselves probably aren’t going to be the actual problem so much as the rank-and-file, whom Flood is going to start trying to get them to sign on before Tuesday’s internal nomination votes. The actual problem, what this is meant to address, is that Steve Scalise would be Speaker of the House right now if these assholes had just abided by the rules of every House majority conference, both Republican and Democratic, going back however many goddamned years, that say that you vote on the floor the way your conference voted. That’s it. You don’t fuck around on that and vote for someone else. Or maybe you do to lodge a protest vote like Nancy Pelosi encouraged a few front line Dems to do just to make a show of it, but the rest vote as they’re told.

On top of all that they could just sign it and then not honor it. That’ll probably happen too.