Former President Donald Trump was nominated for House speaker on Thursday but lost badly, failing to secure the hundreds of votes needed to take the gavel.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) nominated Trump on the seventh and eighth ballots of voting, in a protest against Rep. Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), the top House Republican who is facing a conservative revolt over his bid for speaker. Gaetz was the only lawmaker who cast his vote for Trump.

This ends one of two ways: Either Kevin McCarthy withdraws from the race, or we construct a straitjacket that he is unable to evade, Gaetz told reporters afterward.

Nothing in the U.S. Constitution says the speaker has to be a sitting member of the House. But a non-member becoming speaker is considered extremely unlikely, and Gaetzs vote was viewed as little more than a stunt.