• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • Comment
  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Be a traveling stable for those who can’t find room at the inn.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Dead end MAGA boomers crying about Talyor Swift being a Dem is my kind of music. Turn it up.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

It’s not hopeless, and we’re not helpless.

There is one struggling party in US right now, and it’s not the Democrats.

The lights are all blinking red.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

The words do not have to be perfect.

If you are in line to indict donald trump, stay in line.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

Mobile Menu

  • Four Directions Montana
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2024 Elections
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / 2024 Elections / More chaos in the House

More chaos in the House

by David Anderson|  March 22, 202411:57 am| 95 Comments

This post is in: 2024 Elections, Republican Crime Syndicate, Republican Politics, Republicans in Disarray!

FacebookTweetEmail

As of thirty minutes ago, the Daily Beast reports:

On Friday, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) filed a motion to formally boot Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) from the office, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The fundamental problem in the House is the GOP is nuts and can’t coordinate its way out of a wet paper bag. More formally, the confidence coalition in the House is extremely different than the supply coalition if we think of the House currently running as a minority government. The confidence coalition is the formal House majority of Republicans while the supply coalition is almost all Democrats and about half of the confidence coalition. This is somewhat expected as anything that passes the House with a chance of becoming law needs to be acceptable to both Senator Schumer and President Biden who are both very attuned to internal Democratic Party dynamics.

The big question is do the Democrats offer to protect Johnson for a price — likely immediate consideration of the Ukraine funding package on Monday morning?  Or do they let him swing as they are not part of the Republican confidence coalition.

 

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: «DOJ and Jack Smith (LIVE) Now 2 Facts are Stubborn Little Bastards Open Thread
Next Post: Joe Biden Isn’t Just a Good President, He’s Good People »

Reader Interactions

  • Commenters
  • Filtered
  • Settings

Commenters

No commenters available.

  • Anoniminous
  • Anonymous At Work
  • ArchTeryx
  • Baud
  • Betty
  • BlueGuitarist
  • Brachiator
  • brantl
  • Brendan In NC
  • BruceFromOhio
  • Butch
  • cain
  • CaseyL
  • catclub
  • Chris
  • Chris Johnson
  • Citizen Alan
  • cmorenc
  • comrade scotts agenda of rage
  • Dangerman
  • danielx
  • David Anderson
  • dmsilev
  • Eolirin
  • Fake Irishman
  • gene108
  • gvg
  • hrprogressive
  • Jackie
  • JML
  • Joy in FL
  • JPL
  • Ken
  • lowtechcyclist
  • Marcopolo
  • MattF
  • Mike in NC
  • MisterForkbeard
  • p.a.
  • RaflW
  • Rusty
  • sab
  • Shalimar
  • SiubhanDuinne
  • Soprano2
  • Subsole
  • Sure Lurkalot
  • TaMara
  • The Kropenhagen Interpretation
  • topclimber
  • Uncle Cosmo
  • unrelatedwaffle
  • Villago Delenda Est
  • WaterGirl
  • West of the Rockies
  • wjca

Filtered Commenters

No filtered commenters available.

    Settings




    Settings are saved immediately; press X to close the box.

    95Comments

    1. 1.

      hrprogressive

      March 22, 2024 at 12:04 pm

      Quite literally;

      “Give us an immediate vote, and enough votes to pass all of the supplemental funding, all of it, every penny, to all allied nations, with zero border security nonsense in it. Pass that vote first, we’ll let you stay. Don’t pass it, and you can say hello to Speaker Jeffries”.

      It’s an offer he can’t refuse.

      Reply
    2. 2.

      Butch

      March 22, 2024 at 12:04 pm

      Apparently the vote has to happen within two legislative days, and since the House has already left for Eastern recess that’s a couple of weeks from now.  FWIW, reprinted from Daily Kos:

      https://x.com/LisaDNews/status/1771203720824381837?s=20

      Reply
    3. 3.

      JPL

      March 22, 2024 at 12:04 pm

      CNN is showing her.   She’s not going to hold the vote today, but there’s a good chance Jeffries could become the next speaker when they hold it.     She is such a nut job.

      Reply
    4. 4.

      Mike in NC

      March 22, 2024 at 12:04 pm

      The GQP wants to install Fat Bastard as dictator for life, House Speaker, Senate Majority Leader, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, ever though he’s a racist, fascist brain-dead imbecile. Oh wait, those are his selling points. “I alone can fuck up the planet” he declared.

      Reply
    5. 5.

      BruceFromOhio

      March 22, 2024 at 12:05 pm

      Damned either way – take the offer of support and hold the Ukraine funding vote, and the fascists will upgrade from knives to guns.

      Or refuse the offer, and get knifed anyway.

      Reply
    6. 6.

      p.a.

      March 22, 2024 at 12:06 pm

      Buckle up.  Here come the Congressional Dysfunction headlines.

      “Can’t stop the signal deflection, Mal”

      Reply
    7. 7.

      Rusty

      March 22, 2024 at 12:06 pm

      I don’t think Johnson will accept Democratic help, it would poison him for reelection.  It also perpetuates the myth that only Democrats have agency, that Democrats have to fix Republican problems.   Republicans need to own this problem.

      Reply
    8. 8.

      Uncle Cosmo

      March 22, 2024 at 12:08 pm

      Wouldn’t it be a frackin’ laff riot if the actual demonic tool being employed by the Almighty to advance their earthly agenda isn’t Cheetoh “I Am Your Antichrist” Benito but Empty “Poifick Vacuuuuum” Greene – and it’s headed in the diametrically opposite direction from what the fundaNazis prey [sic] for?

      Reply
    9. 9.

      ArchTeryx

      March 22, 2024 at 12:09 pm

      @BruceFromOhio: The one good thing would be that Mike Johnson and the sane part of the Repukes forming a governing coalition with Ds would completely and totally neuter the fascists. They can scream and yell all they want from their gerrymandered districts. They want one of theirs running the House, but they don’t. Have. The. Numbers. And not a one of them can count. Pastor Johnson is gonna be the closest they ever get to that goal. If he’s not fascist enough for them, nobody is going to be.

      The alternate very likely Speaker Jeffries, if not now, in 2025.

      Reply
    10. 10.

      dmsilev

      March 22, 2024 at 12:09 pm

      GOP Thunderdome.

      For the 2nd time in less than a year.

      Assuming that she does succeed in sticking a knife in Johnson’s back, who in the caucus is possibly stupid enough to offer themselves up as the next target? I mean, I have a very low opinion of the average intelligence level of the GOP caucus, but even primitive organisms have some sense of self-preservation.

      Reply
    11. 11.

      JPL

      March 22, 2024 at 12:13 pm

      In other news, NBC/MSNBC hired Ronna McDaniel as a political consultant.

      Reply
    12. 12.

      Anoniminous

      March 22, 2024 at 12:13 pm

      Reposted from previous thread:

      Dems could vote for Jefferies in the Roll Call vote and wait to see if Dickhead gets enough votes from his own party.  If not, and Jefferies wants to save him, have enough switcheroo votes line-up to save his sorry ass.

      Reply
    13. 13.

      JPL

      March 22, 2024 at 12:14 pm

      @p.a.: It might be time to talk about Biden’s age .

      Reply
    14. 14.

      RaflW

      March 22, 2024 at 12:14 pm

      “It was not clear whether Senate Republicans would allow the spending measure to pass in time to avoid a shutdown.”

      It’s fuckups all the way down, over in GOP-land.

      Reply
    15. 15.

      cmorenc

      March 22, 2024 at 12:16 pm

      Ironically, now we have not one, but two things we can actually agree with MTG about:

      1) The current narrow GOP majority is incapable of governing;

      2) Mike Johnson is unworthy to be speaker of the house.

      Of course, our reasons for these two things are not the same as hers, but hey, let’s not quibble with MTG while she’s busy shooting the GOP caucus and Speaker in their feet.

      Reply
    16. 16.

      MattF

      March 22, 2024 at 12:17 pm

      Do you remember when McCarthy was saying publicly how much he loved and trusted Greene? Only to get knifed by Gaetz. I suspect Johnson remembers, vividly. Each of the leading House Republicans has betrayed all the others, repeatedly.

      Reply
    17. 17.

      Villago Delenda Est

      March 22, 2024 at 12:17 pm

      @JPL: Fuck NBC/MSNBC for this move.

      Reply
    18. 18.

      Villago Delenda Est

      March 22, 2024 at 12:18 pm

      @cmorenc: I’m not sure “shooting in the feet” is the right turn of phrase.  How about HIMARSing the shit out of lower torsos?

      Reply
    19. 19.

      Ken

      March 22, 2024 at 12:18 pm

      One downside of Johnson surviving with Democratic votes is that it would give the “no difference between the Democrats and Republicans” faction something more to whine about.

      The upside, as others have said, is that the Republicans will become even more fractured and fractious.

      Reply
    20. 20.

      Baud

      March 22, 2024 at 12:18 pm

      This is worse than when Moses’s brother betrayed him by building a golden calf. #WhatMikeIsThinking

      Reply
    21. 21.

      WaterGirl

      March 22, 2024 at 12:19 pm

      @JPL: I saw that earlier and thought my head might explode.

      Reply
    22. 22.

      RaflW

      March 22, 2024 at 12:21 pm

      Damn. The isolationists rammed thru some bullshit: “cutting funding for the State Department and foreign aid programs by roughly 6 percent.”

      The Ukraine supplemental needs to fix this. Foreign aid is a tiny part of the total trillions, but matters greatly in our efforts to keep global destabilization from getting even worse than it is. Bastards.

      Reply
    23. 23.

      TaMara

      March 22, 2024 at 12:22 pm

      @JPL: Oh, fuck me

      Reply
    24. 24.

      Sure Lurkalot

      March 22, 2024 at 12:23 pm

      @JPL: Oh FFS. Ronna in between Katy Tur and Andrea Mitchell should make some barf inducing teevee.

      How many fired and/or disgruntled and/or bullshit “never Trumper” Republicans is MSNBC going to hire? All of them, Katie?

      Reply
    25. 25.

      JPL

      March 22, 2024 at 12:25 pm

      @WaterGirl:  She certainly doesn’t need a bigger microphone to spew her shit.   She’s doing fine already.

      Reply
    26. 26.

      Anoniminous

      March 22, 2024 at 12:26 pm

      Today it’s 219 GOP and 213 Dem. If all the Dems vote Jefferies and the Freedom Caucus does their usual bullshit Jefferies could be elected Speaker.

      Reply
    27. 27.

      CaseyL

      March 22, 2024 at 12:27 pm

      @JPL:

      @Villago Delenda Est:

      This might be a good opportunity for me to plug two things:

      1. Stop watching TV news altogether (including online); and
      2. Check out GroundNews.

      GroundNews is a website/app that aggregates news from every source it can get its hands on, and sorts them all by bias, reliability, and other criteria.

      You can see news stories about one event from many different sources, all at once.  You’ll see news stories that major carriers don’t cover at all, because GroundNews brings in news stories from all over the world.

      It’s not perfect by any means, but a definite step in the right direction.

      I don’t yet subscribe, myself, but only because I already check such a wide variety of sources on my own.  But I am seriously considering subscribing.  (H/T Dr. Becky, the UK astrophysicist who is promoting them on her YT channel.  If you go to her channel and use her link, you can get a discount on GroundNews’ premier subscription rate.)

      Reply
    28. 28.

      Chris

      March 22, 2024 at 12:28 pm

      The big question is do the Democrats offer to protect Johnson for a price — likely immediate consideration of the Ukraine funding package on Monday morning?  Or do they let him swing as they are not part of the Republican confidence coalition.

      The problem is that Johnson owing his survival to Democrats simply makes him even more radioactive among Republicans than he already is, and guarantees him even more problems very shortly down the line.  He’s going to find a lot more doors slammed in his face once he becomes known as Johnson the Democrat.  So from his point of view the first isn’t a win.  Better to gracefully, obsequiously, take your humiliation from the tribe than to be cast out of the tribe entirely.

      Reply
    29. 29.

      RaflW

      March 22, 2024 at 12:28 pm

      @JPL: She’s an out and out liar and election-denier. MSNBC is smearing faeces on itself here.

      Reply
    30. 30.

      WaterGirl

      March 22, 2024 at 12:28 pm

      @TaMara: @JPL:

      Yeah, that hire will certainly up the level of political discourse.

      sigh.

      Reply
    31. 31.

      WaterGirl

      March 22, 2024 at 12:29 pm

      @RaflW: You’re right.  Even if they want to hire a republican, that should be disqualifying.

      Reply
    32. 32.

      wjca

      March 22, 2024 at 12:30 pm

      What Greene’s motion says to me is: the Discharge Petition is getting close to the required number of signatures, and likely will be there soon.

      Think about it.  If the motion to vacate the chair passes, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that the House can do until a new Speaker is elected.  And, as we have seen, House Republicans can drag that out for weeks.

      Reply
    33. 33.

      Anoniminous

      March 22, 2024 at 12:32 pm

      OK,

      The Speaker is required to put the resolution on the legislative schedule within two legislative days – meaning it won’t be until April 10th – forcing a floor vote on the motion to vacate. Then, it just needs a simple majority to pass.

      So nothing is going to happen immediately. Well, unless Johnson is a total idiot.

      Reply
    34. 34.

      Soprano2

      March 22, 2024 at 12:35 pm

      Ugh, off topic but I just got this notification on my phone. I know there’s at least one person on this board that lives in or close to Nashville. I knew it would probably end like this. It’s a good lesson in not getting separated from your group. It’s been a big story here in Springfield because Riley Strain is from here. So sad, I wonder what happened. He must have been really drunk already if the bar kicked him out after only one drink. Sad…..

      Body of missing University of Missouri student Riley Strain found in river in West Nashville
      A body found in a river in West Nashville on Friday morning has been confirmed to be missing University of Missouri student Riley Strain, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department said.

      Strain’s body was recovered from the Cumberland River in West Nashville, about eight miles from downtown, police said on social media.

      Metropolitan Nashville Police Department Chief John Drake said in a news conference that “there is no other evidence that suggests anything other than” Strain falling into the river, noting that he still had his clothes, watch and other identifying items on him.

      Police added that no “foul play-related trauma was observed” and an autopsy is pending. Strain’s family has been informed, Drake said.

      Reply
    35. 35.

      Joy in FL

      March 22, 2024 at 12:35 pm

      @CaseyL: I have a subscription to GroundNews (link in comment #27). I like it. I don’t check it very often because I don’t want to know more than I read on BJ.

      An annual Pro subscription is $9.99, so it is a very modest investment. And I’m pretty sure there is a free version.

      I recommend it, and if I wanted to know more, it would be a resource I would use more.

      Reply
    36. 36.

      Dangerman

      March 22, 2024 at 12:36 pm

      Pure attention move by Greene; since jerking off her BF/Hubby in public is so yesterday, gotta get original.

      Reply
    37. 37.

      comrade scotts agenda of rage

      March 22, 2024 at 12:36 pm

      @Sure Lurkalot:

      Ronna in between Katy Tur and Andrea Mitchell should make some barf inducing teevee.

      It’s only barf-inducing if you watch. ;)

      Any time somebody tells me how “liberal” MSNBC is, I realize they’re blowing smoke up my ass b/c such people saying that are RWNJs.

      Maybe normies view them that way because they have somebody like Maddow in a 1-hour slot, but that’s massively offset by the likes of Morning Blow, Tur, Mrs Greenspan and now one of Rmoney’s brats.

      Reply
    38. 38.

      SiubhanDuinne

      March 22, 2024 at 12:36 pm

      @JPL:

      In other news, NBC/MSNBC hired Ronna McDaniel as a political consultant.

      Once again, MSNBC proves its liberal bias. /s

      Reply
    39. 39.

      lowtechcyclist

      March 22, 2024 at 12:39 pm

      @Rusty:

      I don’t think Johnson will accept Democratic help, it would poison him for reelection.  It also perpetuates the myth that only Democrats have agency, that Democrats have to fix Republican problems.   Republicans need to own this problem.

      What, make the GOP own it when Russia ultimately wears down Ukraine’s defenses?  FUCK THAT SHIT.  What’s important here is UKRAINE.

      The Dems have agency, and should use it if possible to ensure that we can keep Ukraine armed for another year.  That’s a damned sight more important than these “who’s really responsible” games.

      So if Preacher Johnson is open to a deal where we save his ass this once in return for a floor vote on aid to Ukraine (with or without Israel/Taiwan), I say we do it.  I still think we should have made that offer to Qevin six months ago.

      Reply
    40. 40.

      West of the Rockies

      March 22, 2024 at 12:41 pm

      Is Gaetz on MTG’s side on this?

      Reply
    41. 41.

      WaterGirl

      March 22, 2024 at 12:42 pm

      @Dangerman: I think you’re thinking of Boebert,  not Greene.

      Reply
    42. 42.

      lowtechcyclist

      March 22, 2024 at 12:43 pm

      @WaterGirl:

      I saw that earlier and thought my head might explode.

      I wish I were in some alternate timeline where it would have been possible for me to have felt the least iota of surprise when I saw that.

      But in this one, it’s another day ending in ‘y’, and just one more instance of the media being wired for Republicans.  Boring, yet depressing.

      Reply
    43. 43.

      Sure Lurkalot

      March 22, 2024 at 12:44 pm

      @comrade scotts agenda of rage:

      It’s only barf-inducing if you watch. ;)

      Yep. I rarely turn it on and when I do, it’s to turn it off in disgust. Same for NPR except for occasional Terry Gross interviews.

      Reply
    44. 44.

      WaterGirl

      March 22, 2024 at 12:45 pm

      @lowtechcyclist: I agree.  Ukraine continues to be in limbo while the Republicans fuck around.

      Right now, Ukraine > anything.

      Palestinians starving is beyond horrible, and a close second, but Ukraine is the front line for democracy, so to me it’s #1.

      Just get it done.

      Reply
    45. 45.

      Anonymous At Work

      March 22, 2024 at 12:45 pm

      Easy deal: Full Ukraine package, no border security bitter pill, Minority Government Oversight member Gym Jordan and Minority subcommittee member Jimmy “Someday I’ll Find Something Non-Russian” Comer.

      Or, MAGA Mike can watch 6-12 rounds of voting for MTG before Speaker Jefferies squeezes off just enough defectors to be short-term Speaker.

       

      PS: During a government shutdown, what are the limits on House members and House activities?

      Reply
    46. 46.

      Anoniminous

      March 22, 2024 at 12:47 pm

      @Anonymous At Work:

      Funding bill passed so there won’t be a shutdown

      Reply
    47. 47.

      West of the Rockies

      March 22, 2024 at 12:48 pm

      Would a Speaker Jeffries in a 218R/213D House be effective?  Might he not just end up on the losing end of everything and look ineffective, or do we believe he’d have the tiny handful of Republicans supporting him to get stuff done?

      Reply
    48. 48.

      Anonymous At Work

      March 22, 2024 at 12:48 pm

      @Sure Lurkalot: I know of no “Ronna McDaniel”, but I do know of “Ronna Romney McDaniel.”  Always worth including her uncle, whom she shivved to keep the job after being a nepo-baby to get the job.  Same way that there is no “Boris Johnson” but “Alexander Boris dePfeffel Johnson III”.  One is an affable everyman character, the latter is the real and privileged person.

      Reply
    49. 49.

      Chris Johnson

      March 22, 2024 at 12:51 pm

      @CaseyL: Trae Crowder (the liberal redneck) also likes them! I’ve assumed they are just his sponsor, but maybe he is also a fan of GroundNews.

      Reply
    50. 50.

      Anonymous At Work

      March 22, 2024 at 12:51 pm

      @West of the Rockies: Any deal for Speaker Jefferies would have explicit directives on that point.  Not free-ranging powers but closer to Kevin McCarthy.  The defecting Rs would be the ones having laid out their conditions and the conditions might be closer to “Republicans control committees but Democrats control floor schedule”.

      Reply
    51. 51.

      SiubhanDuinne

      March 22, 2024 at 12:51 pm

      @Anonymous At Work:

      Yup. Same with Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

      Reply
    52. 52.

      lowtechcyclist

      March 22, 2024 at 12:53 pm

      @West of the Rockies:

      Would a Speaker Jeffries in a 218R/213D House be effective?  Might he not just end up on the losing end of everything and look ineffective, or do we believe he’d have the tiny handful of Republicans supporting him to get stuff done?

      I gather that the Speaker can bring bills to the floor for a vote.  There are bills that would pass if they came to a vote, but the Preacher hasn’t allowed that to happen.  That would be an improvement over where we are now.

      Reply
    53. 53.

      danielx

      March 22, 2024 at 12:56 pm

      @Chris:

      Better to gracefully, obsequiously, take your humiliation from the tribe than to be cast out of the tribe entirely.

      If indeed that’s Johnson’s view, he might want to check with McCarthy on how that has worked out for him.

      Reply
    54. 54.

      West of the Rockies

      March 22, 2024 at 12:57 pm

      @lowtechcyclist:

      Good to hear.  Thanks.

      Reply
    55. 55.

      RaflW

      March 22, 2024 at 12:59 pm

      Minnesota’s House delegation is weird. Though I suppose Emmer isn’t a full-on bomb thrower/shut-downer.

      Aye 4
      Angie Craig (D)
      Tom Emmer (R)
      Betty McCollum (D)
      Dean Phillips (D)

      Nay 4
      Brad Finstad (R)
      Michelle Fischbach (R)
      Ilhan Omar (D)
      Pete Stauber (R)

      It’d be messy, buy I wish a progressive Dem would primary Omar. Keith Ellison was a better legislator, progressive but with an understanding of coalition politics. Omar is, IMO, the least effective Squad member, and doesn’t even seem to really want to learn from her more successful peers like AOC.

      Reply
    56. 56.

      Ken

      March 22, 2024 at 1:05 pm

      @Anonymous At Work: During a government shutdown, what are the limits on House members and House activities?

      Tragically, not the ones that I want, which is that they’re all chained to their seats in the House chamber until the shutdown ends. Bread and water three times a day, and chamberpots emptied weekly.

      Reply
    57. 57.

      Shalimar

      March 22, 2024 at 1:06 pm

      @Chris Johnson: Some More News (with some ex-Cracked staff) has also been getting sponsored by GroundNews lately.  No idea if it is good, but at least they are sponsoring YouTube shows I like.

      Reply
    58. 58.

      Baud

      March 22, 2024 at 1:09 pm

      @CaseyL:

      Thanks.

      Reply
    59. 59.

      Citizen Alan

      March 22, 2024 at 1:10 pm

      @Uncle Cosmo:  This is why I say most evangelicals worship the Devil but are either too ashamed to say it or to ignorant to realize it. I have told evangelicals of my acquaintance to their faces that God must have a sense of humor, because he sent us an Antichrist who is obviously, blatantly an irreligious, imbecilic rapist-monster who has lived his life in way that’s the exact opposite of “Christ-like” … and evangelicals adore him because he gives them license to act the same way while pretending to be the bestest, most purest Christians of all. The Mark of the Beast came in the form of a red MAGA hat.

      Reply
    60. 60.

      Brachiator

      March 22, 2024 at 1:13 pm

      @CaseyL:

      I don’t yet subscribe, myself, but only because I already check such a wide variety of sources on my own.

      I’m curious. What are, say, 5 sources that you regularly use, not counting Balloon Juice?

      Reply
    61. 61.

      lowtechcyclist

      March 22, 2024 at 1:15 pm

      @Citizen Alan:

      This is why I say most evangelicals worship the Devil but are either too ashamed to say it or to ignorant to realize it. I have told evangelicals of my acquaintance to their faces that God must have a sense of humor, because he sent us an Antichrist who is obviously, blatantly an irreligious, imbecilic rapist-monster who has lived his life in way that’s the exact opposite of “Christ-like” … and evangelicals adore him because he gives them license to act the same way while pretending to be the bestest, most purest Christians of all. The Mark of the Beast came in the form of a red MAGA hat.

      They always believed that the ‘Christians’ who fell for the Antichrist would be the old mainstream Christians – Presbyterians and Lutherans and so forth.  They never figured they’d be the suckers who would fall for an Antichrist.  Yet here we are.

      Reply
    62. 62.

      JML

      March 22, 2024 at 1:17 pm

      @RaflW: Emmer’s a pretty awful guy, but he knows the GOP will get crushed for a shut-down.

      Ilhan sucks. She’s a terrible narcissist and incredibly ineffective. But she’s got a fanclub in the party that’s hard to uproot, from the lefties patting themselves on the back for electing a young Somali Muslim woman, to the extremists who care more about looking good than accomplishing anything, along with a collection of personal friends who will go after anyone with high levels of viciousness and real threats anyone who dares questions their pal.

      So far, none of the real candidates that might challenge her (Scott Dibble?) have wanted to deal with the mountain of crap they’ll get for it, so we’re left with washed up folks like Don Samuels.

      Reply
    63. 63.

      Citizen Alan

      March 22, 2024 at 1:19 pm

      @WaterGirl:  That is correct. MTG has not yet been caught giving sexual pleasure to a man not her husband in a public venue.  But I would love to ask the vile hag to her face “Now that you’ve seen those blown up images of Hunter Biden’s penis, how does it compare to your close-up inspection of Matt Gaetz’s?”

      Reply
    64. 64.

      CaseyL

      March 22, 2024 at 1:22 pm

      @Brachiator:

      Guardian UK/US

      Local news (Seattle Times/King5 News)

      ProPublica

      Texas Observer

      Molly White

      Democracy Docket

      Status Kuo

      Daniel Drezner

      Chris Geidner/Law Dork

      Phil Plait’s Bad Astronomy

      A lot of these are either newsletter subscriptions or follows on Mastodon/BlueSky – and many of them I first encountered on Mastodon, where people frequently post links to news sources worth checking.

      I have more news follows on Mastodon and BlueSky – too numerous to list, actually.

      Reply
    65. 65.

      Jackie

      March 22, 2024 at 1:23 pm

      @Villago Delenda Est: Apparently Ronna McDaniel is only going to be providing electoral coverage, per The Hill. This could be interesting, as she could provide an insider’s POV re TIFG’s state of mind. AND TIFG HATES NBC/MSNBC and McDaniel knows this full well. I’ll withhold judgement for now.

      https://thehill.com/homenews/media/4549564-ronna-mcdaniel-nbc-news-contributor/

      Reply
    66. 66.

      The Kropenhagen Interpretation

      March 22, 2024 at 1:23 pm

      @danielx: If indeed that’s Johnson’s view, he might want to check with McCarthy on how that has worked out for him.

      I’m picturing McCarthy and Johnson as a poor man’s Statler and Waldorf.

      Reply
    67. 67.

      gene108

      March 22, 2024 at 1:28 pm

      @ArchTeryx:

      They want one of theirs running the House, but they don’t. Have. The. Numbers. And not a one of them can count. Pastor Johnson is gonna be the closest they ever get to that goal.

      They want their people to have complete control of the government, and they will not tolerate a government they do not control.

      The Republican Speaker, for them, is just a figurehead, who should fall in line with their demands.

      Reply
    68. 68.

      WaterGirl

      March 22, 2024 at 1:30 pm

      @Citizen Alan: Funny.  During the previous Speaker-Showdown of 15 votes, the body language between Gaetz and Boebert left me thinking that they might know one another, in the conjugal sense.

      Reply
    69. 69.

      WaterGirl

      March 22, 2024 at 1:31 pm

      @Jackie: Unless she will be the former MAGA, spiteful Ronna Romney, it’s still not worth it.

      Reply
    70. 70.

      topclimber

      March 22, 2024 at 1:33 pm

      MTG: “Our Republican Majority is a Complete Failure”

      Nominated for rotating tag, even if I am not first.

      Reply
    71. 71.

      Marcopolo

      March 22, 2024 at 1:33 pm

      @RaflW: All 4 squad members voted no including AOC.  Wasn’t just Omar.

      All in all, 22 D members of Congress voted no.  Think most of them, like Jaypal, were members of the progressive caucus.

      Reply
    72. 72.

      David Anderson

      March 22, 2024 at 1:40 pm

      @Anoniminous: Nope, to be speaker, you need half of all voting plus one;  not the most votes if less than half.  The first dozen votes for the first 2 GOP speaker cluster fucks each had Jeffries as the leading vote getter

      Reply
    73. 73.

      Eolirin

      March 22, 2024 at 1:44 pm

      @Marcopolo: Given that there were real compromises in the bill and their votes weren’t needed, that’s the right way for this to get played.

      Reply
    74. 74.

      Uncle Cosmo

      March 22, 2024 at 1:48 pm

      @ArchTeryx: And not a one of them can count.

      Hang on, you tryna tell us they’s a buncha no-counts??

      In the immortal voice of Gomer Pyle, USMC: Sirprize!Sirprize!Sirprize!

      Reply
    75. 75.

      Anoniminous

      March 22, 2024 at 1:53 pm

      @David Anderson:

      Majority present and voting.  If Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Eli Crane of Arizona, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Bob Good of Virginia and Matt Rosendale of Montana don’t show or vote “Present” it’ll be 211 to 213.

      During the last election Johnson was kept out because neither he nor Jefferies could wrangle a majority due to the Freedom Caucus voting for spoiler candidates.

      Reply
    76. 76.

      MisterForkbeard

      March 22, 2024 at 1:54 pm

      @JPL: Stuff like this drives me nuts. Because former RNC head is a great pickup if she offered any legitimate value or argued in good faith. But she doesn’t, and we know she doesn’t. That was her entire value as RNC president.

      It’s a willful decision to ignore what the Republican Party is, and has openly been for a decade now.

      Reply
    77. 77.

      BlueGuitarist

      March 22, 2024 at 1:56 pm

      @p.a.:
      Appreciate the Serenity reference.

      Reply
    78. 78.

      MisterForkbeard

      March 22, 2024 at 1:57 pm

      @lowtechcyclist:

      There are bills that would pass if they came to a vote, but the Preacher hasn’t allowed that to happen.

      The one caveat I’ve got is that I’m not certain those Rs would actually vote if it meant voting with Democrats. Cooperating with Dems against the express wishes of Trump and the Russian-owned Republican Party is a very tall order for these fuckers.

      Reply
    79. 79.

      Betty

      March 22, 2024 at 1:58 pm

      @RaflW: I am sure a number of the hosts starting with Nicole Wallace and going through the evening are shaking their heads at this travesty.

      Reply
    80. 80.

      Uncle Cosmo

      March 22, 2024 at 2:02 pm

      @West of the Rockies: Would a Speaker Jeffries in a 218R/213D House be effective?

      Make it a pinch-hitting gig (with a double move to push the relief bitcher further down the batting order): SotH Jeffries lets the foreign military assistance bills come to the floor, then bills to avoid a shutdown, gets them to the Senate and PUJOTS’s desk for signature, and resigns – with a Parthian shot of “This is what functioning government can look like – and the American people can have it back next January if they vote in a Democratic majority in the House.”

      Reply
    81. 81.

      catclub

      March 22, 2024 at 2:03 pm

      @JPL: I wish it was more like the catch and kill that the tabloids did for Trump, and just shuts her up.

      Reply
    82. 82.

      catclub

      March 22, 2024 at 2:08 pm

      @Jackie: I would say that Trump fired McDaniel because she was not enough of a trump lickspittle for Trump.  However, she is still far too much of a trump lickspittle for everyone else who is not trump.

      Reply
    83. 83.

      Fake Irishman

      March 22, 2024 at 2:15 pm

      Dave,

      Love the talk about the difference between the formal majority coalition and the actual “supply” coalition that provides the votes to get necessary bills through. I’m sure Ken Shepsle has some sort of really complicated mathematical model explaining it all in a reasonably well known European polisci journal somewhere.

      Reply
    84. 84.

      Fake Irishman

      March 22, 2024 at 2:20 pm

      @Fake Irishman:

      This situation also reminds me a bit of Denmark in the 1980s, where you had a formal center-right governing coalition of four parties, but one of them managed to team up with the opposition social democrats in an alternative majority to run a left-wing foreign policy. It was really strange equilibrium that somehow lasted through two or three election cycles.

      Reply
    85. 85.

      The Kropenhagen Interpretation

      March 22, 2024 at 2:25 pm

      @Fake Irishman: I find the lack of ideological rigidity refreshing.

      Reply
    86. 86.

      Brendan In NC

      March 22, 2024 at 2:38 pm

      Question – This will affect the attempts to keep the government running, will it not???

      Reply
    87. 87.

      WaterGirl

      March 22, 2024 at 2:46 pm

      @Brendan In NC: I believe that passed the House, so if the Senate votes for it as is, and President Biden signs it, crisis averted.

      Reply
    88. 88.

      cain

      March 22, 2024 at 2:55 pm

      @Rusty: I’m all up for supporting Johnson if he delivers aid to Ukraine and whatever else.

      Otherwise, speaker Jeffries it is and we’ll get all of that. The best thing is that MTG will file again and again. She’s going to make herself the most hated member of congress.

      Reply
    89. 89.

      gvg

      March 22, 2024 at 3:10 pm

      My understanding is that the motion to vacate (If she actually did it, it involves her getting up on the floor and calling for it) then the house has to vote on if they have confidence in Johnson as speaker and he needs a majority. The motion does not automatically remove him or go to who will replace him votes.

      1 source said he needs 218 votes but I think it may be out of date because it was referring to McCarty as if he was still speaker. There are only 218 republicans and we can assume MTG is a no. if he needs 218, that means we are doing the new speaker votes. By the way, does anyone know who he listed as interim speaker?

      If it’s just a majority that’s 218+213 democrats=431 and 216 is a majority. That means that at least 2 other republicans have to vote no confidence without any democrats. Does she have others who are ready to vote against Johnson?  Its not just a matter of hating him, it’s also about is there someone else that can get the votes? (I am confident that answer is no, so does she want chaos only?) Do the other republicans that hate Johnson now, not care that they don’t have a replacement?

      Democrats supported McCarthy a few times I think until he didn’t keep his deals with them. What has Johnson done? What are the downsides of a few democrats voting for him? They are all up for re election in the House. Johnson would only be able to request a certain number of democratic votes. The republicans are bad at counting and that caucus likes double crosses anyway so this may be hard anyway.

      Reply
    90. 90.

      The Kropenhagen Interpretation

      March 22, 2024 at 3:15 pm

      @gvg: Its not just a matter of hating him, it’s also about is there someone else that can get the votes?

      It’s a lot to ask that a Republican, particularly MTG, consider the consequences before taking action.

      Reply
    91. 91.

      sab

      March 22, 2024 at 3:15 pm

      @comrade scotts agenda of rage: I only watch MSNBC at night and on weekends. Their weekday fare is pretty much like every other MSM groupthink oitfit primed by Republican operatives.

      Reply
    92. 92.

      Subsole

      March 22, 2024 at 3:23 pm

      @RaflW:

      I would say she is better than Tlaib. At least Omar doesn’t seem to actively hate the rest of the party.

      Reply
    93. 93.

      brantl

      March 22, 2024 at 5:49 pm

      @JPL: WTF, would they have done THAT? JJCOAC.

      Reply
    94. 94.

      brantl

      March 22, 2024 at 5:53 pm

      @Sure Lurkalot: When was she a “Never Trumper” ? She fellated him from a trapeze!

      Reply
    95. 95.

      unrelatedwaffle

      March 22, 2024 at 6:08 pm

      Is power really so great that it’s worth possibly getting knifed in the back constantly? I feel like it doesn’t take very much to be a pretty happy human being: good eats, good friends, a little enrichment in the enclosure…you don’t need to be a god king/queen to have these things, and yet the deeply maladjusted just keep fucking it all up for everyone else with their sickness. There’s just a shitload of broken humans running around out there and I really wish they would just get therapy instead of destroying everything around them.

      Reply

    Leave a Comment

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    If you don't see both the Visual and the Text tab on the editor, click here to refresh.

    Clear Comment

    To reply to more than one person, click the X to save & close the box.

    Primary Sidebar

    Recent Comments

    • Ramalama on COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: April 17, 2024 (Apr 17, 2024 @ 7:18am)
    • Dorothy A. Winsor on On The Road – BillinGlendaleCA – The Milky Way Reimagined. (Apr 17, 2024 @ 7:16am)
    • Geminid on Cold Grey Pre-Dawn Open Thread: Fading Neom Dreams (Apr 17, 2024 @ 7:16am)
    • 🐾BillinGlendaleCA on On The Road – BillinGlendaleCA – The Milky Way Reimagined. (Apr 17, 2024 @ 7:13am)
    • eclare on COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: April 17, 2024 (Apr 17, 2024 @ 7:10am)

    🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

    Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
    Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

    Balloon Juice Posts

    View by Topic
    View by Author
    View by Month & Year
    View by Past Author

    Balloon Juice Meetups!

    All Meetups
    Talk of Meetups – Meetup Planning
    Proposed BJ meetups list from frosty

    Fundraising 2023-24

    Wis*Dems Supreme Court + SD-8
    Virginia House Races
    Four Directions – Montana
    Worker Power AZ
    Four Directions – Arizona
    Four Directions – Nevada

    Featuring

    Medium Cool
    Artists in Our Midst
    Authors in Our Midst
    Positive Climate News
    War in Ukraine
    Cole’s “Stories from the Road”
    Classified Documents Primer

    Calling All Jackals

    Site Feedback
    Nominate a Rotating Tag
    Submit Photos to On the Road
    Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup
    Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
    Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)

    Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

    Balloon Juice for Ukraine

    Donate

    Twitter / Spoutible

    Balloon Juice (Spoutible)
    WaterGirl (Spoutible)
    TaMara (Spoutible)
    John Cole
    DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
    Betty Cracker
    Tom Levenson
    David Anderson
    Major Major Major Major
    ActualCitizensUnited

    Political Action 2024

    Postcard Writing Information

    Balloon Juice for Four Directions AZ

    Donate

    Balloon Juice for Four Directions NV

    Donate

    Site Footer

    Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

    • Facebook
    • RSS
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Comment Policy
    • Our Authors
    • Blogroll
    • Our Artists
    • Privacy Policy

    Copyright © 2024 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

    Insert/edit link

    Enter the destination URL

    Or link to existing content

      No search term specified. Showing recent items. Search or use up and down arrow keys to select an item.
        Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

        Email sent!