Here, you’ve all been so patient, have some DougJ.
This guy is good! Maybe we can see if he would like to write for Balloon Juice!?
Are House Democrats too united?
— New York Times Pitchbot (@DougJBalloon) January 5, 2023
One silver lining for McCarthy is that once the number of votes goes over 16, Matt Gaetz will probably lose interest.
— New York Times Pitchbot (@DougJBalloon) January 5, 2023
x
McCarthy Destroys His Speakership In Order to Save It – POLITICO https://t.co/4R2WNwtlGz
— New York Times Pitchbot (@DougJBalloon) January 5, 2023
artem1s
Gaetz has done it. let the shitshow begin.
jackmac
Just watched Matt Gaetz nominate Donald Trump for House Speaker for 11th round of balloting. Ugh. Sounds like one representative applauded. And I’m out of popcorn.
eclare
Wow Gaetz going after McCarthy in nominating TFG.
MisterForkbeard
FUN. Why are we doing this again today? Are they expecting some progress from the ‘deal’ that Sessions was hyping and then not-hyping?
PaulB
For those keeping score, here’s how the not-Kevin caucus voted:
Andy Biggs (Hern)
Dan Bishop (Donalds)
Lauren Boebert (Hern)
Josh Brecheen (Hern)
Mike Cloud (Donalds)
Andrew Clyde (Donalds)
Eli Crane (Hern)
Byron Donalds (Donalds)
Matt Gaetz (Hern)
Bob Good (Donalds)
Paul Gosar (Donalds)
Andy Harris (Hern)
Anna Paulina Luna (Donalds)
Mary Miller (Donalds)
Ralph Norman (Donalds)
Andy Ogles (Donalds)
Scott Perry (Donalds)
Matt Rosendale (Hern)
Chip Roy (Donalds)
Keith Self (Donalds)
Victoria Spartz is still voting Present.
Also, Ken Buck is absent and will not be voting.
PaulB
Two guesses from me: 1) They really do have a deal with one or more of the not-Kevin caucus, and/or 2) they don’t have the votes to adjourn. They barely squeaked that one out last night.
dmsilev
So, wait, Gaetz voted for Trump in rounds 7 and 8 (thank you, Wikipedia), gave that up in rounds 9 and 10 to vote for Kevin NotMcCarthy, and now is back to TFG?
Tinare
French Hill in McCarthy’s nominating speech talked about the last time there were multiple votes in 1923 and how it brought Republicans together and they did such great work in growing the economy. He left out what happened a few years later, of course.
Ruckus
Aw the joy of living in a country with just over half the people in the house of non-representation of our national legislature proving once again that they really are either morons, assholes or idiots. I’ve interviewed numerous people for jobs over the decades and can remember only once ever talking to anyone who gave me this negative a reaction to their continued breathing.
Jinchi
So do they just vote for different people every round?
I guess McCarthy could just keep going til the 221st vote and they’d accidentally throw his name in the ring.
Qrop Non Sequitur
Again, they had two months to work this out. Why the fuck is this an issue now
Eta: Yes, I know they’re incompetent. I’m asking for rhetorical purposes.
dmsilev
@PaulB:
Ahem. Several of them voted for Kevin Hern, so strictly speaking the not-Kevin caucus is somewhat smaller.
realbtl
Here ya go Kevin, maybe Buck can cheer you up.
“Hey, you don’t know me, but you don’t like me
Say you care less how I feel
But how many of you have sit and judged me
Ever walked the streets of Bakersfield?”
PaulB
Doh! Pedantic point acknowledged. :)
Qrop Non Sequitur
@dmsilev: Obligatory.
MisterForkbeard
@Qrop Non Sequitur: The real answer is that Gaetz/Boebert are getting what they want out of the fight: They get national attention, get to humiliate McCarthy, get to be assholes on TV, and are demonstrating that they can fuck up The Republican Plan so they need to have their every whim catered to.
I don’t think McCarthy ever had a chance of making this work. This is what happens when you spent a decade encouraging narcissistic nihilists and bringing them into your home.
But HEY, maybe this vaunted new deal between the terrorists and the extremists will get McCarthy another 3 votes. Maybe.
Sparkedcat
Here we go. Eee-o eleven. https://youtu.be/ZZ1UQIdS50U
MisterForkbeard
@PaulB: Look, the ‘establishment’ reps were calling themselves the “only Kevin” group. This is just working within the rules, man!
artem1s
how many more rounds until we’ve had more votes than Benghazi hearings?
Ruckus
@Tinare:
Growing the economy right into a collapse/depression/recession is a republican specialty. As is cleaning up the resulting disaster is a democratic specialty. It’s almost like republicans do this because they think it’s cute. Or possibly fun. Or even funny. They, in this case as always, are wrong.
Brachiator
@PaulB:
I don’t think the Republicans want this thing to drag on past Friday.
Not that I would mind.
Qrop Non Sequitur
@MisterForkbeard: Three down (maybe), 13 to go (if that’s wrong, sorry, I’m not keeping track that closely)
Their leadership is likewise made up of misbegotten carnival barkers. If McCarthy can’t get there, who is better by their standards?
Winston
Well the token black man bites the dust. The HItler wanna be rises from the mud. Gopee style.
David 📢 Speaker 📢 Koch☑️
This sequel to “Thunderdome” is a let down
Qrop Non Sequitur
A well worn trope in horror stories…
PaulB
Six votes for not-Kevin. We’ll be going on to a 12th round.
MisterForkbeard
@Winston: Byron Donalds should go commiserate with Michael Steele, Walker, and the other flavor-of-the-month black dudes the GOP routinely trots out.
Tinare
@David 📢 Speaker 📢 Koch☑️: We need a like button for this comment.
Tony Jay
Breaking News
“Sources within the Republican Leadership are hinting that one possible compromise on the table might involve a number of Freedom Caucus members agreeing that, while they will not vote for Kevin McCarthy to be Speaker, they would loan him their votes if the title was renamed ‘Singer of the House’ and Mr McCarthy adopted a more bluesy, singsong manner of speech before the next roll call vote. Whether this moves the dial remains to be seen.”
Roger Moore
Try as they might, the Republicans will still have a hard time outdoing Belgium, which has gone for about 18 months between their election and actually forming a government.
Qrop Non Sequitur
@MisterForkbeard: Steele is in a league by himself there. He might have actually done a good job, at least getting Rs elected.
suzanne
@Ruckus:
If there was ever an occasion for a rousing chant of ALL OF THEM KATIE, it would be this one.
PAM Dirac
@jackmac:
Over 100 votes and not one for drumpf. LOSER!
PaulB
Donalds misses the vote again, but CNN is reporting that he’s “huddled in speaker’s ceremonial office” with Emmer, Roy, and McCarthy.
Splitting Image
“On the first vote for Speaker, a Trumper gave to me: A “never” vote for Kevin McCarthy.
On the second vote for Speaker, a Trumper gave to me: Two votes for Jordan, and a “never” vote for Kevin McCarthy.
On the third vote for Speaker, a Trumper gave to me: Three wins for Jefferies, two votes for Jordan, and a “never” vote for Kevin McCarthy.”
OverTwistWillie
Put in a good word for your buddy Kev…the wolves are at Old Kev’s door… oh boy, your whole life you work and you slave and scrimp and you steal just enough to get a sweet, sweet lick of that shiny brass ring. Where’s Kev’s lick, doesn’t Old Kev get a lick?
sab
@dmsilev: anti-McCarthy caucus in disarray!
PaulB
Yay! Trump now has the record for most number of votes for Speaker for ex-Presidents (John Quincy Adams, apparently, had two votes).
hueyplong
TFG can win the Speakership if Pence has the courage.
WaterGirl
@Splitting Image: That’s really good!
Winston
Trump gets a vote from Gaetz. Huzzah!
catclub
I had heard that back in November or earlier. I am not surprised.
I will be pleased if they don’t elect him.
Newt Gingrich is also (always) pale and rested.
suzanne
Kevin McCarthy must be so sick of all of the winning. Boo dee hoo.
HeleninEire
Jesus F. Christ. I have a Master’s Degree from Columbia University in Government and Government Policy and I have never seen or read anything like this.
Shalimar
@dmsilev: Hern’s mom just died, so the strictly speaking non-Kevin caucus is about to get larger again while he is away at the funeral.
PAM Dirac
@hueyplong:
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Like a blobfish.
David 📢 Speaker 📢 Koch☑️
the
warelection situation has developed not necessarily toJapan’sMcCarthy’s advantagedifferent-church-lady
Don’t you just hate it when the CD player gets stuck on repeat?
Baud
@HeleninEire:
Most how-to books on government frown on this method.
catclub
@Qrop Non Sequitur:
 
Steele did a fabulous job. The GOP had huge wins in 2010…
and they turfed him out for Reince Preibus after the 2010 elections. But the GOP did not do quiiiiite so well in 2012. Still, they did not fire Reince after the loss. Mediocre white guys, who knew?
Winston
I have to go get more alcohol. Still have plenty of popcorn. :)
Frankensteinbeck
@HeleninEire:
I’m pretty sure the previous examples of multiple votes had, you know, actual policy differences and not just “We’re pissing inside the tent to prove we’re the biggest shithead trolls around”?
JPL
@different-church-lady: CNN is saying they are close to a deal. hahhahahhahhaahha
Ken
“We’ll definitely win over six, maybe five. Or maybe two. But surely one. Though we may lose Greene and Scalise, and a couple of others, when they found out what Kevin promised to get the others.”
catclub
@Tinare:
Josh Brown ( of all people) has pointed out that whenever the GOP has controlled House, Senate and presidency for more than 2 years, the economy crashes, bigly. 1929 and 2008
MisterForkbeard
@PaulB: The question (I guess) is “Did McCarthy make any progress”? So we’ll wait and see.
Baud
@catclub:
Oh wow. I made the point a few weeks ago. I feel smart.
RSA
Wow. DougJ just won the Internet, as the kids [used to] say.
JPL
@Tinare: That’s probably not the best example to use, but I’m just saying. Maybe he meant to say why trickle-down economics doesn’t work.
MisterForkbeard
@Qrop Non Sequitur: Steele is ALSO the only one that turned his back on the party when he was tossed aside. Because he’s semi-competent and has a brain, I guess. And pride.
catclub
It would be amusing if the Democrats voted for one of the crazy GOP alternates. But only just enough to make things more chaotic.
Alison Rose
Oy gevalt.
SpaceUnit
We’re witnessing the political equivalent of shooting out electric power substations for the lulz.
TriassicSands
If, as always, most everyone votes, then McCarthy has, in a shocking development, lost round 11 before they called the first name beginning with “D.”
Betty Cracker: Hey, Betty, your 23 is looking better and better. On the other hand, it may yet appear in the rear view mirror.
I don’t see any way for McCarthy to win. If only five of the never-Kevins hold out, he’s toast. Listening to Boebert, I don’t see any possibility of her voting for McCarthy. Roy said he will NEVER vote for McCarthy. It’s hard to imagine Perry or Gaetz voting for McCarthy. One more and it’s over. Eventually, a group of senior Republicans will have to have a serious talk with Little Kevvie and tell him he has to withdraw his name from consideration. Then, the question may be, if Scalise is the logical fall back candidate for McCarthy supporters, is he too closely tied to McCarthy. A second NEVER candidate would be pretty amazing.
PaulB
I suspect we won’t see in this round, as they’re still frantically talking, by all accounts.
Unrelated: I think the C-Span “Others” count is wrong. They’re saying that votes for “Others” (Donalds) is 7; my tally is 6. CNN agrees with me.
I think the difference is that Donalds himself hasn’t voted yet, so maybe they’re assuming that he will vote for himself when he does do so.
Michael Bersin
This. Exactly this. All 222 of them built this.
Winston
This is a good introduction to the congress. The names are starting to get familiar. Magaziner for Jefferies.
This is 11th day of ground hogs day.
Almost Retired
Give up, Kev and just go home. I’m sure there will be a hundred yellow ribbons around the old oak tree greeting you when you return to Bakersfield. Take a load off. Have some Basque food. Come home.
Winston
For six votes Jefferies could offer McCarthy official shoeshiner in the Speakers office.
PaulB
CNN is reporting that Ralph Norman, a not-Kevin voter, has reviewed the deal:
Supposedly, it’s stiflingly hot in the chamber. Why on earth wouldn’t they want to adjourn?
David 📢 Speaker 📢 Koch☑️
what a rousing endorsement
Jeffro
As I mentioned in an earlier thread, my Gen Z daughter is absolutely agog that the House GQP is doing this.
I’m like, “you were awake during the J6 insurrection, right?”
She’s like, “yeah, but at least that – for them – made sense!”
LOLOL
PAM Dirac
Still 20 anti-McCarthy votes. Nothing changed.
Jeffro
countdown to actual frustrated House GOP member saying, “We’re all just standing here in a puddle of Republican piss, before the world!” in 3, 2, 1…
PaulB
Nobody in the not-McCarthy caucus has changed their mind. We’re still where we began the day.
eclare
@PAM Dirac: Yep.
Jeffro
@TriassicSands: it’ll end once Scalise or Stefanik summons up the courage…”not in anger, not in sorrow, but out of duty”, LOL…to allow his/her name to be put forth.
WaterGirl
@Almost Retired: I think Kevin can’t possibly back down now because of pride – I suspect he couldn’t bear to have to move his things back out of the Speaker’s office.
He might have to fake a medical emergency to get out of this, unless he somehow wins over one of the never-never Kevins.
Gravenstone
@jackmac: You fool! The seal! You’ve broken the Seventh Seal!
billcinsd
@eclare: Isn’t this like the 4th or 5th time he has done so?
Winston
@Jeffro: Tell her this is the second quarter of the inserection.
Frankensteinbeck
@WaterGirl:
I truly, honestly, do not know how this ends. No guess is better than any other. It’s as plausible that it drags on for months as it is that McCarthy pulls out a win, or enough R’s get tired that they leave and Jeffries wins, or… anything. Trump winning is the least likely option I can think of, and I can’t totally rule it out. Even if he did win, he wouldn’t do the job, so that would just start a new fail parade.
David 📢 Speaker 📢 Koch☑️
The rumors of a deal have been greatly exaggerated
Almost Retired
@WaterGirl: I don’t know. If Kevin weren’t so stupid and unlikeable, he could re-invent himself as the champion of traditional business-friendly Republicans who tried to head off the barbarians and make a fortune on the lobbying/paid speech/corporate board circuit. But he’s courting serious loser-stink. If I were him I’d go full on martyr at this point.
Sure Lurkalot
Heard that Axelrod said on CNN that the Dems should step in to save the country, knew there were reasons I don’t listen to David Axelrod or CNN.
CaseyL
@Jeffro: Stefanik. She gets the Speakership, she will immediately try to ride it into the White House, via impeachment or…
GrannyMC
Of the nutty 20, 4 are members-elect and therefore haven’t yet voted on legislation. Of the remaining 16, 12 (75%( have consistently voted against aid to Ukraine. In comparison, of the 212 GOP members of Congress as of Nov 2022, 57 (27%) have consistently voted “no”. Putin is loving this, and the press seems entirely oblivious to it.
Alison Rose
@billcinsd: I don’t think he had actually nominated him before, just voted for him a couple of times.
gene108
@catclub:
Steele was also Lt. Governor of Maryland, IIRC, prior to the RNC job.
He seems to have done some work to rise in the Republican Party, before being given the cold shoulder.
Joseph Patrick Lurker
billcinsd
@MisterForkbeard: J C Watts has a sad
Wyatt Salamanca
In honor of vote 11,
The Eleven – The Grateful Dead
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEYgD98IyCQ
PaulB
TPM reminds us that we’ve been at this for seven hours non-stop. And it’s not clear that they have the votes to adjourn.
Roger Moore
@PaulB:
The urge to kick Kevin McCarthy in the balls is just too much to pass up.
PaulB
I’m guessing that the media isn’t covering that aspect of events because, I think, it’s not really part of the objections of the crazy caucus. McCarthy isn’t exactly Ukraine-friendly.
PaulB
Jake Sherman now saying:
HOUSE REPUBLICANS pushing to elect a speaker tonight, per sources involved in the talks
DEAL IS CUT — either it moves people, or McCarthy is in serious trouble
LAWMAKERS reviewing. House could recess to allow discussion
Roger Moore
@WaterGirl:
A big enough
bribejob offer doing nothing might be enough to get him to resign his seat.Qrop Non Sequitur
@GrannyMC: How close is the media to Russia? It would be irresponsible not to speculate.
eclare
@PaulB: So either a deal is cut or a deal is not cut?
Thanks for the “news” Jake!
JPL
@PaulB: omg Are they planning on putting sleeping pills in the drinks of the twenty somethings
Maybe just give them some magic brownies.
PaulB
The way I read it is that they actually have something on paper, so a deal really has been offered. What they don’t know is whether, and how many, of the never-Kevin caucus will buy into it.
So the deal is there but they don’t have the signatures on the dotted line. Which, I guess, means that, technically, they don’t have a deal. :)
WaterGirl
@Roger Moore: That’s a smart take.
Wyatt Salamanca
@David 📢 Speaker 📢 Koch☑️:
This is classic Trump:
h/t https://www.mediaite.com/politics/trump-has-been-bashing-mccarthy-over-jan-6-in-his-calls-trying-to-corral-votes-for-him-haberman-reports/
David 📢 Speaker 📢 Koch☑️
They say we’re young and we don’t know
We won’t find out until we grow
Well I don’t know if all that’s true
‘Cause you got me, and baby, I got you
Babe
I got you babe, I got you babe
NotMax
Wow, go away for a few hours and this place fairly explodes with commentary.
Rs should commandeer the spotlight to stomp on their own wang more often.
:)
lowtechcyclist
So Kevin cranked it up to 11, and it didn’t sound any different than 10, I gather.
PaulB
CNN now reporting that GOP Rep. Patrick McHenry is saying that the House is “probably not” going to adjourn now and that “each meeting is more positive than the last.”
I think the skepticism that others have communicated here is warranted. Until one or more of those 20 holdouts actually changes their vote, McCarthy doesn’t have a deal.
Another reporter is noting that there will be a motion to adjourn upcoming, but that Democrats are whipping “no.”
Manu Raju of CNN adds, “The fact that the House is going to an 11th ballot vote is a sign that not enough McCarthy foes are sold on this emerging deal and will give them the votes to adjourn. Many members reviewing it now.”
OverTwistWillie
Matin Longman gets down to the brass tacks:
https://progresspond.com/2023/01/05/an-explainer-for-the-republican-voter
NotMax
Dyed-in-the-wool nutjobs demanding control , overlordship if one cares to blunt about it, of the steering committee. Which would be beyond a disaster.
TriassicSands
@Jeffro:
I think they have to get McCarthy to agree to give up. Or at least make a very concerted effort to get him to quit. That will probably require a conversation with several influential GOPsters telling him he has to withdraw his name. Otherwise, they could have two members of the leadership running against each other. It would be best to avoid that, since that could lead to considerable infighting among the current McCarthy supporters.
We’ll see.
Unless, of course, Kevin M. is so delusional that he thinks there is some way he can win this. Then, he’ll never agree to withdraw and when the whole party sees that, there should be overwhelming withdrawal of support.
The Moar You Know
@David 📢 Speaker 📢 Koch☑️: and somehow, here we are
Scout211
Fun facts from the CNN live update: Link
Ruckus
@suzanne:
I was trying to be magnanimous. And give people a choice.
PaulB
Motion to adjourn. The chair believed that the Nos had it, but a request for an official count has been made and accepted. We now have a 15 minute voting period.
Philbert
The NO’s have it: no adjournment. Entertaining NO cheer! Roll call now.
Suck it GOP!, we’lll keep you here till you do your damn job and decide!
Tinare
I’m beginning to think the negotiations are just to get folks to vote to adjourn.
Alison Rose
I don’t think they should call a candidate who isn’t a Rep “honorable” – especially not TFG.
PaulB
For a minute or two, there was a single Democratic vote to adjourn. Similarly, for a few seconds, there was a Republican vote to remain. Both have now been dropped, so the vote is on a strict party-line basis, with Republicans voting to adjourn and Democrats voting to remain.
gene108
@Jeffro:
The 20 holdouts will just become Never-Elise’s or Never-Stevens.
They’re on power trip, just because they can.
There’s no real difference between Scalise, Stefanik, or McCarthy. They are all people who’ll say and do anything to get power.
PaulB
Rep. Ralph Norman, one of the holdouts, has said that the current proposal is “round one.”
Unrelated: John Bresnahan, of Punchbowl News, is reporting: “A memo sent to House cmtes said NO cmte staff will get their next paycheck if a House rules package isn’t in place by Jan. 13.”
lowtechcyclist
@PaulB:
When would they be adjourning until? Tomorrow noon, I presume?
PaulB
@lowtechcyclist: That’s correct. The proposal was to adjourn until noon tomorrow.
With 22 votes remaining, it’s tied at 206 apiece.
—————
With 12 votes remaining, there are 213 votes to adjourn; 209 votes to remain. Still on strict party lines.
————-
Unless a Republican voter changes their mind, the motion to adjourn will pass. The vote is currently 216 to 213, with one Republican joining the Democrats and voting no. There are five outstanding Republican votes.
PsiFighter37
I wouldn’t be surprised if Boebert & Co. wait til the very last second and spike the GOP’s chances of adjourning. Honestly, I don’t think it makes a difference one way or another. The trolls are going to keep trolling until Kevin’s head is on a spike.
Ruckus
@Roger Moore:
They have been kicking and are doing no damage. Maybe too small to damage without an extremely well placed kick. Or maybe they would have had to actually see them once upon a time, to know where to aim.
Tom Levenson
@Scout211: The old definition of an honest politician: one who stays bought.
There are no honest pols in the GOP.
moonbat
@gene108:
To quote The Big Lebowski: They are nihilists. They believe in nothing.
You can’t bargain with someone who has no idea what they want. It’s a fool’s game.
PaulB
219 to 213 to adjourn, with 2 outstanding (Republican) votes. Only one vote crossed party lines, a single Republican vote to remain.
TS
@David 📢 Speaker 📢 Koch☑️:
The media believing that the GOP want to govern – they cannot accept otherwise.
lowtechcyclist
218-213, with only 3 yet to vote, so adjournment it is.
ETA: PaulB, ya beat me to it. :-)
Alison Rose
@PaulB: wonder who it was
PaulB
The House is adjourned until noon tomorrow.
Jeffro
@gene108: there’s no real difference to us…but to the wingnuts in the House, there’s a huge difference.
Scalise and Stefanik are solid pro-trumpers. McCarthy nearly sold trump out after Jan 6th, before trump reminded him of all the dirt he had on him.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Poor Bill
TriassicSands
@Scout211:
No wonder Boebert hates McCarthy. He didn’t give her anything?
Not that Lauren Boebert — $1.25 would help.
Roger Moore
@PaulB:
This is the way Republicans negotiate. You each start with a position, you bargain until you think you’ve reached an agreement, and then they add more demands. You’d think McCarthy has been in on enough of these negotiations he would know how they work by now. I guess he’s just so used to being the one making the extra demands he doesn’t know what to do when he’s on the receiving ends. He never thought the leopards would eat his face.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Heh.
gene108
@OverTwistWillie:
Republican Speakers, since 2011, have always had to rely on Democrats support to pass budgets and raise the debt ceiling. That is nothing new.
What is new is the 20 Never-McCarthy’s seem to not even allow a vote on the budget or debt ceiling, if all of the Republican policy goals are not met, and entire Republican caucus pretty much agrees on their policy goals.
The negotiation is does the Speaker allow the budget and debt payments to be taken hostage to force the Senate and White House to capitulate to Republican demands or not.
Boehner couldn’t get the debt ceiling raised or pass budgets, which is how and why we started discussing $1 Trillion dollar coins and finding out what sequestration is. So hostage taking has happened in the recent past, but the Freedom Caucus had its hostages (the budget and debt ceiling) freed by an eventual deal with House Democrats.
I think these 20 want to prevent the “hostages” from ever being freed until their demands are met.
eclare
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: That’s good, I figured it was some riff on Schoolhouse Rock.
Roger Moore
@gene108:
They want the hostages killed, not freed. They want to shut down the government and crash into the debt ceiling. They don’t just want the government shrunk until it’s small enough to drown in a bathtub; they want to drown it.
PsiFighter37
@Roger Moore: I would argue that the current 20 may actually keep this up and figure that they don’t bother taking the hostage and just nuke everybody from the start.
Part of me wonders, if this drags out interminably, if it becomes a multiple hostage situation (fascists refuse to vote for McCarthy, and then McCarthy tells Dems to vote for him or there will be a default). Who knows. This is just crazy shit at this point that is wholly embarrassing. I wonder if there is something that would allow for state governments to call special elections because there are no seated representatives, and re-run the races. Would be a real easy way to clip those seats in Arizona that we barely lost, as well as grab some in New York. Fanciful thinking, but we’re well through the looking glass at this point.
moonbat
How many suspect that the ultimate prize they are looking for is freedom from prosecution? Gaetz is a sex trafficker. And plenty of the 20 were involved in the insurrection. Is this freak show just a symptom of the terror they feel that there is no big daddy Trump to pardon them with the special prosecutor come calling?
Roger Moore
@PsiFighter37:
I wonder about this, too. Their problem is there are limits on what they can do in practice. They get their power only from the remainder of the House Republican caucus being more willing to keep dealing with them than with the Democrats. If they try to keep this up until there’s a serious risk of default, the same kind of Republicans who compromised with the Democrats before will start thinking about coming up with a compromise Speaker. As soon as that happens, their power evaporates.
billcinsd
@catclub: This ignores many years of sole Republican control between the onset of the Civil War and WW1
Baud
@billcinsd:
Republicans were the good guys during that period.
billcinsd
@Baud: At the start, but Arthur, McKinley and Teddy Roosevelt, at least were not good guys. In any case, there was no clause limiting it to “good guy” Republicans
Roger Moore
@billcinsd:
Have you looked at the history of the US economy during that period? It was constant boom and bust. The Federal Reserve lists 8 bank panics in the 1863-1913 era, and the country was in recession for almost as much time as it was out of one.
Seriously, look at Wikipedia’s list of Recessions in the United States. It lists 13 recessions in the roughly 50 years between the end of the Civil War and WWI. That period is no advertisement for Republican economic governance.
different-church-lady
Whoo, here’s something to add to the reading list:
That’s Amanda Marcotte at Salon describing Umbero Eco’s essay about Fascism. (With a hat tip to a commenter at LGM)
StringOnAStick
@moonbat: According to the Jack Smith Twitter parody account there is a grand jury currently that is empaneled until March, and if indictments are coming soon, it will be connected to that grand jury. Maybe another grand jury could happen, who knows but that seems like as good a guess as any. Maybe the 20 never Kevin’s have that deadline in sight too.
billcinsd
@Roger Moore: Sure, I didn’t feel like going through the economics, just noting that there are more than 2 times the Republicans controlled both legislative Houses and the Presidency. Realistically, the gold standard was a huge problem for relatively stable finance
Paul in KY
@billcinsd: For a Republican, TR was a pretty good guy.