Sunday Four-Play: Mike Johnson is a skilled (as in sociopathic) liar, and the GOP still loves Putin

Posted on October 29, 2023 by Aldous J Pennyfarthing

Remember “The Dating Game”? It was one of those shows that folks of a certain age would watch when we stayed home from school pretending to be bleeding from our eyeballs with hemorrhagic fever. Even as a kid it seemed odd to me that 1) anyone would go on a beach trip vacation alone with a stranger they’d just met, 2) they’d select their date, sight unseen, based on generic softball questions like “What’s your idea of a fun first date?” and 3) the woman would often look utterly stricken when she finally met her chosen suitor face to face, even though only one of the contestants ever turned out to be a serial killer. (That we know of, anyway.)

I couldn’t help but think of that show after Republicans chose Rep. Mike Johnson to lead the House for however long we have left until the rapture, when God finally calls Randy Quaid and his Igloo cooler full of squirrel heads home. The ordeal felt a bit like an episode of “The Dating Game” where Steve Scalise, Jim Jordan, and Johnson were the three eager bachelors and Republicans somehow decided Johnson was their least creepy option.

I can almost picture a beaming Johnson declaring how super hard-core he’s going to love America as soon as he gets it alone: “For our first date, I’d like to fly you to Idaho, force you into a covenant marriage, and stare at you for the rest of your natural life with the baleful mien of a Christmas elf who doesn’t like to make toys but does have an oddly specific penchant for unlicensed taxidermy.”

In other words, Republicans chose this guy with precious little forethought or vetting, and it sorta feels like it could backfire. Maybe a little, maybe a lot. But we already know he’s all-in on forced birth, The Big Lie, criminalizing gay sex, and handing Ukraine over to Vladimir Putin, so naturally he’ll be an ideal brand ambassador for the GOP heading into the 2024 election cycle.

This week on the Sunday shows, Johnson’s name came up more than it ever has before. In addition, Maria Bartiromo of “Sunday Morning Futures” scored an exclusive interview with the man himself. I fully expected her to ask about Johnson’s plan for governing and whether it’s easier for a Christian dominionist weirdo and real-life “Handmaid’s Tale” character to keep a show on Fox News or be elected speaker of the House with the unanimous support of his party, but Johnson was too busy lying to get into too much detail on any of that.

He did have some important stuff to say, though. Mostly lies, but what else is new?

So let’s dive in, shall we?

1.

Normally if I were cueing up a Tim Kaine clip I’d warn you well in advance so you had time to order smelling salts and a home defibrillator on Amazon, but in this case he’s exactly what we need. He’s the man for the hour. And the one after that. And the next one, too. Aaaaand … oh, shit, he’s still going. Oh, no, did he just start in on the macroeconomic implications of corporate sorghum subsidies? Again? We could be here a while. Hope you brought a book.

So you didn’t want industrious, conscientious, and serious leaders like Tim Kaine, eh, America? Well, look what you got instead. Kaine may be as exciting as plain oatmeal, but at least he’s good for you. You went with the Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs, and they turned out to be actual bombs.

Kaine joined “The Saturday/Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart” to discuss the yang to his yin, new House Speaker Mike Johnson—who’s also pretty boring, but in that lawful evil way Republicans have always loved.

"You outlined the positions [Rep. Mike Johnson] had, from election denial to climate science denial to anti-LGBTQ and anti-women's reproductive rights. This is who the Republican Party is now." @SenTimKaine discusses with @CapehartJ the extremism of Speaker Johnson #SundayShow pic.twitter.com/YUqiz7swTj
— The Saturday/Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart (@weekendcapehart) October 29, 2023

CAPEHART: “Before we get into the nitty-gritty, just generally your view of Speaker Mike Johnson, what he represents?”

KAINE: “Well, Jonathan, he is the most powerful Republican in America. He is the face of today’s GOP. He’s second in line to the president, and you outlined the positions he had, from election denial to climate science denial to anti-LGBTQ, anti-women’s reproductive rights. This is who the Republican Party is now, and remember, he received the vote of every member of the Republican caucus to be speaker. So that is obviously a very different vision than Virginians have, a very different vision than Senate Democrats or Republicans have, and so it sets up some challenging times ahead. But all that said, it’s better to have a speaker than not have a speaker, because we have important work to do for the American public.”

It is better to have a speaker than not to have a speaker. That is true. And it was better for the Titanic to have a captain, if only to tell the string quartet where to set up. But Kaine makes some great points, and even more importantly, he offers a living, breathing contrast to today’s GOP, which is exciting in the same way that buying Tylenol in October 1982 was exciting.

If you want sober, steady, and policy-focused, you’d do well to elect more Democrats like Kaine. If you want to have a child every 10 months and, seconds after giving birth, be forced to shout, “Thank you, Jesus, may I have another?!” then Mike Johnson is definitely your guy.

Moving on.

2.

As Kaine said, it is important to have a speaker. Who else is going to try to impeach Joe Biden for no reason? New Speaker Mike Johnson, newly hatched from the Republican-pol pod farm miles below Koch Industries, appeared on “Sunday Morning Futures” with Maria Bartiromo to further gaslight a weary nation that’s had just about enough of this nonsense already.

Bartiromo asked the question that’s at the top of every American’s mind: Are you going to keep the Biden impeachment charade going through the 2024 election?

"We're the rule of law team," says one of the congressmen who led the effort to install Trump in power pic.twitter.com/wzwIVcCOhn
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 29, 2023

BARTIROMO: “What about the investigations into the potential Biden family influence peddling, potential bribery? Are you going to allocate the financial resources and human capital needed to do an in-depth investigation? And will an impeachment inquiry turn into an official impeachment?”

JOHNSON: “We’ll see, Maria. I worked on the committees of jurisdiction, and Judiciary is one of those. I think our chairmen have done an exceptional job, you’ve spoken to all of them. Jamie Comer and Jim Jordan and Jason Smith, on Oversight and Judiciary and Ways and Means. They’ve continued those investigations. Even while we were going through the tumult of the speaker’s race, they were still working methodically through that. I’m encouraging that. I think we have a constitutional responsibility to follow this truth where it leads. We’re the rule-of-law team. We don’t use this for political partisan games like the Democrats have done and did against Donald Trump twice. We are going to follow the law and follow the Constitution, and you and I have a suspicion of where that may lead, but we’re going to let the evidence speak for itself, and I look forward to rolling that out over the coming days and weeks and letting the American people see exactly why we’re taking the next steps and where it’s headed.”

Okay, no one has time to fully parse all the lies and barmy nonsense Johnson packed into that short clip. Suffice to say, Republicans have no evidence against Biden. In fact, their one big hearing on the subject was so effing embarrassing, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer recently told reporters, “I don’t know that I wanna hold any more hearings, to be honest with you.” Which is a weird thing to say if, as Johnson claims, they just want to let “the American people see exactly why we’re talking those next steps and where it is headed.”

But flipping reality on its head is kind of the GOP’s brand now. Donald Trump may have extorted a foreign power in order to dig up dirt on Biden, and yes, he tried to illegally overturn the results of a free and fair election and was all-in when his feral mob decided it wanted to hang Mike Pence (he should have known Pence would hang himself eventually), but President Biden loaned some money to his brother. And his brother paid it back!

Rule-of-Law Party to the rescue!

Sadly, just based on the few clips we’ve seen, it’s clear that Johnson is the kind of liar who can lie straight to your face without flinching. And if I never watched anything on Sunday mornings besides Fox News and Alvin Styczynski’s Polka Palooza, I’d be pretty convinced by him, too. But I watch all the polka shows, and sample more than just one Sunday show, too. So I’m not fooled by him for a second, no matter how many outrageous fibs he tells for Jesus.

3.

Top Trump gadfly Chris Christie is back. He appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” with Jake Tapper to help us ascertain the obvious: Murderous autocrat and war criminal Vladimir Putin’s best friend in America is Donald Trump. And if Trump returns to power, Putin will get pretty much everything he wants (including a U.S. withdrawal from NATO, though Christie didn't specifically mention that part), and Ukraine will be left twisting in a very foul wind.

Yes, Christie is still telling the truth about Donald Trump, which is a big reason why he’s stuck at roughly 3% in the polls. You can’t be a truth-teller and expect to win anything as a Republican.

Chris Christie on Trump calling for Israeli aid to be separated from Ukraine aid: "He wants to separate them to continue to coddle Putin." pic.twitter.com/g2qOjNCrbX
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 29, 2023

TAPPER: “Let’s turn to the war in Israel. President Biden has proposed a $105 billion foreign aid package, which includes support to both Israel and Ukraine and some other priorities. Donald Trump said yesterday that Ukraine aid and Israel aid should be separate, it should be decoupled. What do you think?”

CHRISTIE: “Well, this is Donald Trump’s, you know, bad worldview. Look, he wants to do it and separate them because he wants to continue to coddle Putin, as he’s done from the minute he became president of the United States and going forward from there. This aid is connected because these attacks are connected. There’s no doubt that Russia, China and Iran, and North Korea are all working together to try to disrupt the world and create violence. We need to support Israel and support them strongly, and we need to support our friends in Ukraine as well. Remember, Jake, we made a promise to them in 1992 when they removed nuclear missiles and returned them to Russia that we would protect them if Russia attacked. We need to keep our promises.”

Wait, did anyone else notice what I noticed? Christie just admitted that Trump has been coddling Putin from the moment he became president. Is that why Christie risked his life to help Trump prepare for the debates against Biden? So Trump could continue coddling Putin for another four years?

Republicans. I tell ya, man. Even when they’re telling the truth they’re up to their eyeballs in horseshit.

4.

Of course, Donald Trump isn’t the only Republican who wants to coddle Putin. Enabling mass murderers is all the rage in the GOP these days. While they’re eager to send aid to Israel, which was attacked by a terrorist group with a small fraction of Israel’s resources, Ukraine was invaded by the No. 2 military in the world (by beet consumption, anyway), and it’s doing a great job curtailing Putin’s imperial ambitions. In other words, Ukraine is shedding its citizens’ blood for the sake of Europe’s and the world’s democracies, not just for its own interests. If you want to promote democracy and contain brutal autocracy, this is the fight you should be paying attention to.

But as the recent speaker battle proved, these jabronis take their orders from Donald Trump now, and Trump still wants to build a big tower in Moscow. Perhaps to live in, but that remains to be seen.

Sen. J.D. Vance joined host Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation” to throw our brave and loyal ally Ukraine under the busski.

"There's a difference between what should happen, and what can happen" -- JD Vance on his opposition to US aid to Ukraine pic.twitter.com/RZ0ByUFxJv
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 29, 2023

BRENNAN: “We just heard the new House Speaker, you have some similarities with him in terms of separating out Israel aid from Ukraine aid. He did say, though, ‘We can’t allow Putin to prevail in Ukraine because I don’t believe it would stop there. We’re not going to abandon them.’ What part of that statement is objectionable to you?”

VANCE: “Well, nothing is objectionable in the sense that if I could wave a magic wand and throw Putin out of Ukraine, I would, but what we have to accept is there’s a difference between what should happen and what can happen. America has limited capacity. Just in the Israeli conflict, for example, there are 300,000 artillery shells the Israelis would love to have access to. They don’t have access to them. Why? Because we sent them to Ukraine. We have a rising threat of China in East Asia. There are weapons the Taiwanese need that we can’t send because we sent them to Ukraine. We have to focus. That’s all I’m saying.”

Uh-huh. You know, when a guy who still supports Donald Trump claims “we have to focus,” it’s almost too much for a single human brain to process. I may have to hook into the Borg hive mind for a few while I try to make sense of it. We have to focus, so let’s make this googly-eyed Adderall golem president again. That sure would help!

Also, we can’t keep sending money to Ukraine. They might win, and where will we be then? So let’s get the Los Alamos National Laboratory started on that magic wand! We’ve got the bad guys on the run now!

These people. Sheesh.

But wait! There’s more!

That’s all for this week! Have a happy Halloween! It’s a frightening world out there these days, so maybe take some time to unwind with a few of those “Saw” movies and maybe an “Exorcist” or two.

Check out Aldous J. Pennyfarthing’s four-volume Trump-trashing compendium, including the finale, Goodbye, Asshat: 101 Farewell Letters to Donald Trump, at this link. Or, if you prefer a test drive, you can download the epilogue to Goodbye, Asshat for the low, low price of FREE.

Biden-district House Republicans get behind new extremist speaker

Posted on October 25, 2023 by Laura Clawson

Whether out of desperation or sheer exhaustion, House Republicans unanimously voted in a new speaker more than three weeks after Kevin McCarthy was booted. And what a doozy of a speaker he is: Rep. Mike Johnson is an anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ+ bigot who is all in on an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden based on lies. He considers himself and Rep. Jim Jordan to be “like Batman and Robin,” and if he were Robin before, maybe now he gets to be Batman. And all 18 Republicans representing districts President Joe Biden won in 2020 got behind this extremist.

Nine Biden-district Republicans voted for Jordan as speaker all three times. Another three voted for him twice before flipping their votes the third time. But Johnson? The “most important architect of the Electoral College objections” in the House on Jan. 6, 2021, according to The New York Times? He got all 18 of them. And all 18 of them are going to have to answer for it in their 2024 reelection campaigns—Democrats will make sure of that.

Democrats are heckling the vulnerable New York Republicans from across the chamber, crooning "bye bye" as they fall in line behind Johnson
— Kate Riga (@Kate_Riga24) October 25, 2023

The top candidates for speaker of the House

Posted on October 23, 2023 by Joan McCarter

Nine Republican men—of course they are all men—have filed to run for speaker of the House, filling the seat Rep. Kevin McCarthy was booted out of 20 days ago. The chaos will continue for at least part of this week as the deeply divided Republican conference tries to work through its issues. There are many, which have been heightened by the scorched-earth campaign Rep. Jim Jordan and his Freedom Caucus pals waged against holdouts, trying to bully them into submission with the predictable result: death threats against the opposition and their families that Jordan and team blew off.

It’s hard to overstate the anger and resentment brewing in the Republican conference at this point. It’s likely to spill into Monday evening’s conference meeting, which is supposed to be a candidate forum in which all nine candidates will make their pitch. This is who’s running: House Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota, House Republican Vice Conference Chairman Mike Johnson of Louisiana, Republican Study Committee Chairman Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, Republican Policy Committee Chairman Gary Palmer of Alabama, Reps. Byron Donalds of Florida, Jack Bergman of Michigan, Austin Scott of Georgia, Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania, and Pete Sessions of Texas.

TOP TIER

Out of that group, Emmer, Johnson, Hern, and Donalds are the most likely contenders; the first three because they’ve had the most experience in policy and working with their colleagues. Donalds, even though he’s been in Congress for less than three years, is the MAGA/Freedom Caucus/Trump choice—the Jordan successor.

Of that group, Emmer is the only one who did not vote to overturn elections results on Jan. 6, 2021. He’s also supported aid to Ukraine and voted for last month’s continuing resolution (CR), which kept the government open. Emmer’s sanity is going to make him—and his backers—a target of the extremists. Some have told Axios reporter Andrew Solender that they don’t intend to go public with their support because they don’t want to be targeted again.

Johnson voted against Ukraine aid and voted against last month’s CR. He’s a Trump ally and, in fact, served on Trump’s defense team in both of his impeachment trials in the Senate. He would likely be acceptable to the large bunch of extremists but will have a problem being from Louisiana. That’s where Majority Leader Steve Scalise is from, and traditionally, members don’t like to see leadership centered in one state.

Hern has been in Congress since 2018 and became chair of the Republican Study Committee this year. He’s the “policy” guy, as much as such a thing exists in the GOP these days. He also voted against the CR and a functioning government and against aid to Ukraine. He flirted with running for speaker in the last round but deferred to Scalise and Jordan.

Donalds is a dyed-in-the-wool MAGA Freedom Caucus Florida Man, opposed to both the CR and aid to Ukraine. He’s an election denier who has repeatedly insisted that President Joe Biden is not a legitimate president. When the Freedom Caucus and Rep. Matt Gaetz wanted to fight McCarthy in the first speaker election, back in January, Donalds was one of the guys they put forward. He’ll likely be the first choice of most of the extremists.

THE ALSO-RANS

Of the second tier of candidates, Sessions is the most experienced, formerly serving as the House Rules Committee chair. He’s a member of both the conservative Republican Study Committee and what serves as moderate in this group, the Republican Main Street Caucus. He could be a dark-horse candidate here.

Among this group, Scott is the only one who did not vote to reject the election results. He’s the guy who decided to mount a challenge to Jordan’s bid for speaker at the last minute. Getting 81 anti-Jordan votes in that surprise bid seemed to make him think he could actually do this. He and the remainder in the second tier are likely to be weeded out pretty quickly.

The plan for Monday evening is for every candidate to give a two-minute speech, followed by 90 minutes of Q&A for the whole group, with one-minute closing remarks from each candidate. The voting in the conference begins Tuesday.

Here’s a cheat sheet for some of the key votes of all the candidates.

Ladies and gentlemen, your cheat sheet to the 9 Republican candidates for Speaker of the House: https://t.co/Fiyc257NpJ pic.twitter.com/3JGeDWRM2n
— Adam Carlson (@admcrlsn) October 22, 2023

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Jordan is trying to bully his way to becoming speaker

Three Biden-district Republicans changed course, voted against Jordan. Too late

Scalise’s bid for speaker on shaky ground

Posted on October 12, 2023 by Joan McCarter

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise didn’t have much of a chance to celebrate Wednesday after he eked out a win to be the Republican nominee for speaker. The votes had barely been counted before the opposition began making itself loudly heard—and in numbers that could deny him the job. That wasn’t what Scalise counted on, of course. He seemed to assume, like former Speaker Kevin McCarthy before him, that once he got the nod, the conference would fall in behind him and he could bulldoze his way to a floor vote. Also, like McCarthy, he seriously underestimated the absolute love of chaos in his party. But unlike McCarthy, who had weeks to lobby support for his bid, Scalise has had days.

Scalise’s narrow victory of 113 votes to Rep. Jim Jordan’s 99 was made even smaller when it became clear that three of his votes came from the congressional delegates from U.S. territories who won’t be allowed to vote in the floor election. Effectively, he’s starting with 110 votes and needs to turn 107 people to his side. Punchbowl News puts the “real hard-core ‘Never Scalise’ vote” at between 20 and 30, ranging from a core group of moderates who are still pissed that McCarthy was forced out, to the very far-right fringes of the party.

Because they are Republicans, some opposition is petty and personal. Like Rep. George Santos of New York, who was hit with the news of 23 more felony counts in the federal indictment against him while the speaker vote was happening. Scalise hasn’t personally reached out to him, Santos tweeted, and so he said that “ANYONE but Scalise and come hell or high water I won’t change my mind.”

Then there’s Freedom Caucus stalwart Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, who is still mad that his big idea for a new rule failed. He pushed a rule requiring that the nominee had to have 217 votes in the GOP conference to move to the floor. It went to a vote and was rejected 135-88, but he blames Scalise and his allies anyway. Thus he’s a “hard no.”

So is Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, who says she just discovered that Scalise “attended a white supremacist conference and also compared himself to David Duke.” Mace remains unperturbed by the allegations that the guy she’s backing, Jordan, turned a blind eye to the sexual abuse of multiple young men while he was a wrestling coach at Ohio State University. She even went on CNN to tell a dumbfounded Jake Tapper that Jordan was the guy to build bridges to Democrats.

On the other hand, some of the people who brought down McCarthy are backing Scalise, including Reps. Matt Rosendale of Montana, Eli Crane of Arizona, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, and yes, Matt Gaetz of Florida. What, if anything, Scalise has promised them we don’t know yet. We do know he told Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida that he was with her on her top priorities: “1. Defunding Jack Smith 2. Impeachment vote for Biden on floor of House 3. Subpoena for Hunter Biden.”

Of course, that Scalise is relying on those people for support shows just how shaky this venture is for him. He’s also not expected to get any help from Donald Trump, which makes Scalise’s MAGA support even more questionable. The people he needs to rely on to help him herd these rattlesnakes all seem to be preoccupied with the fight for their own climb up the leadership ladder.

What happens next, and when it happens, is unclear at the moment. The House convenes in the early afternoon but will probably immediately go into recess. The Republican conference is meeting privately again at 12:15 PM ET. A vote Thursday seems unlikely.

Sign the petition: No to MAGA impeachment. Focus on what matters.

Speaker race preview: ‘Legislative terrorist’ Jordan vs. ‘David Duke without the baggage’ Scalise

Rep. George Santos faces new charges he stole donor IDs, made unauthorized charges to their credit cards

Republican congresswoman gets a reality check while defending Jim Jordan

Former OSU wrestlers: Jim Jordan ‘has to answer for what happened to us’

Posted on October 11, 2023 by Joan McCarter

“Do you really want a guy in that job who chose not to stand up for his guys?” That’s what Ohio State University wrestler Mike Schyck told NBC News about Rep. Jim Jordan, the former assistant coach who allegedly stood by in silence while his charges were being sexually abused by team doctor Richard Strauss.

A group of the former student-athletes is speaking out about Jordan once again, because he was put forward as a viable candidate to be speaker of the House—second in line to the presidency. They think he should be nowhere near the job. It looks as though a slim majority of House Republicans might agree. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise narrowly got the nod from his fellow GOP members Wednesday, ahead of what could be another drawn-out and bruising fight on the floor. Nevertheless, in today’s MAGA-dominated Republican Party, Jordan was able to rise to these heights and be a contender for the job.

That’s why former student-athletes are speaking out.

Jordan’s “hypocrisy is unbelievable,” said Dunyasha Yetts, another former OSU wrestler. “He doesn’t deserve to be House speaker. He still has to answer for what happened to us.” Yetts recounted an incident in which he went to see Strauss for a thumb injury and the doctor tried to pull his pants down. He said he immediately told Jordan and then-head wrestling coach Russ Hellickson about the incident. They then went to confront the doctor. In the years since, Jordan has claimed he had zero knowledge of any abuse.

Another alleged victim, Rocky Ratliff, is now a lawyer representing some of the plaintiffs suing the school. He said Jordan “abandoned his former wrestlers in the Ohio State sexual abuse scandal and cover-up.”

One of the alleged victims, who thinks Jordan is politically qualified for the speaker job, would not endorse him. “My problem with Jimmy is that he has been playing with words instead of supporting us,” the anonymous man told NBC News. “None of us used the words ‘sexual abuse’ when we talked about what Doc Strauss was doing to us, we just knew it was weird and Jimmy knew about it because we talked about it all the time in the locker room, at practices, everywhere.”

Jordan didn’t respond to the allegations directly, but his spokesman Russell Dye issued this statement: “Chairman Jordan never saw or heard of any abuse, and if he had, he would have dealt with it.”

That’s a reflection of Jordan’s lack of character, said Schyck. “He put himself in this position,” he said. “If early on he jumped in on our side and validated what we were saying, what everybody knew about what Dr. Strauss was doing to us, then this wouldn’t be happening. But he decided early on, for reasons I still don’t understand, that he was going to deny knowing anything about this. Now he’s got no choice but to stick to this story that he had no idea what Dr. Strauss was doing, even though it’s a lie.”

This same lack of principles and character made Jordan one of Donald Trump’s most stalwart supporters all the way through the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Jordan was at the center of Trump’s attempted coup, advising Trump by phone that morning. He was one of the loudest proponents of Trump’s Big Lie.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that he’s sticking with his OSU lie, considering that he’s sticking with Trump’s Big Lie and using his power within the House to try to bring down Joe Biden’s presidency.

It’s a reflection of what the GOP has become that Jordan is a serious contender to be second in line to the presidency. Not that ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy or Scalise are that much better: Both of them voted to overturn the 2020 election on the night of Jan. 6, after the Trump mob ransacked the Capitol and threatened their lives.

Liz Cheney goes at Jim Jordan for his role in Jan. 6 insurrection

House Republicans swiftly act to obstruct on Trump’s behalf

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Speaker race: Democrats united, Republicans in disarray

Posted on October 11, 2023 by Joan McCarter

House Democrats and Republicans met privately Tuesday afternoon in their respective conferences. The Democrats emerged united, in a unanimous vote that they “wrapped up in seven minutes.”

Tonight House Democrats unanimously voted to renominate Leader Hakeem Jeffries as Speaker of the House. His vision for a bipartisan governing coalition will lead us out of this Republican-manufactured chaos so we can get back to our work of putting People Over Politics.
— House Democrats (@HouseDemocrats) October 11, 2023

Then there’s the Republicans. The Tuesday meeting was a chance for the two candidates—current Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Rep. Jim Jordan—to make their case to their colleagues ahead of the voting, which will start in private sessions Wednesday. Neither candidate came out of the evening’s meeting with a clear majority or even a definite edge. Jordan has more declared supporters, but as one Republican member, North Dakota Rep. Kelly Armstrong, told an Axios reporter, it’s a secret ballot. “One, people don’t have to tell you who they’re voting for and two, they can lie to you about who they’re voting for.”

Scalise and Jordan both said that they would throw their support to whoever emerged victorious in a bid for some kind of unity, though it took Jordan some time to come right out and say it. The rank and file aren’t necessarily ready to unite, however. “I can’t say that I’ll automatically join whoever pulls out the most of them at first vote, but I might,” Rep. Dan Bishop of North Carolina told The Washington Post.

That might be what former and barely Speaker Kevin McCarthy is counting on. There’s still a core group of people who insist they will only vote for McCarthy. He’s been accused of actively undermining Scalise, according to Politico. “They are literally trying every dirty trick to fuck with Steve,” one Scalise supporter said. “It’s sad.”

McCarthy could be counting on being the only option still standing after a drawn out fight between Scalise and Jordan, but it’s hard to see any of the eight who voted to oust him last week changing their minds about him.

That includes Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado, who might not be behind anyone at this point. He had a key question for Jordan and Scalise Tuesday night: Did Donald Trump win the 2020 election?

That’s a big one for Buck, a hardcore Freedom Caucus member who is not a MAGA enthusiast, and who voted to certify the 2020 election and who has had a problem with McCarthy since Jan. 6, 2021. He confronted McCarthy in a conference meeting before the certification votes and warned him that it was wrong to choose the “politically expedient route” of sticking with Trump over “the good of the party” and upholding the Constitution.

Neither Jordan nor Scalise—who both voted against certifying President Joe Biden’s election—would give a direct answer, and “tried to have it both ways,” according to a member who spoke to Politico. Sounds like Buck might have a hard time finding a candidate in the GOP. He told the Post: “I’m not thrilled with either choice…. I think someone else will come forward, and I don’t know who that is. I’m not backing anybody, but I don’t know if it’s just these two.”

Buck might be the only Republican who is worried about things like the Constitution in this fight, but he isn’t the only one who’s having a hard time finding a candidate to get behind. “No one at this point is even remotely close to a majority,” Rep. Kat Cammack of Florida told the Post. “So I think that we’re not just going to be here for a couple extra days. My money says weeks.”

Sign if you agree: Stop the MAGA circus. Hakeem Jeffries for speaker.

GOP's speaker decision delayed as House Republicans regroup

Rep. McHenry relishes his (limited) power as speaker pro tempore

What exactly did McCarthy promise to become speaker?

Posted on September 12, 2023 by Joan McCarter

Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, the epitome of Florida Man, put Speaker Kevin McCarthy on notice Tuesday. In a floor speech, Gaetz alleged that McCarthy is “out of compliance” with the “agreement” McCarthy made with hardliners during his bid for the top House position. Over four long days and 15 votes in early January, McCarthy made concession after concession to the extortionists before finally getting the speaker’s gavel.

Now Gaetz says McCarthy must “dust off our written January agreement” and “begin to comply” with it, or face being ousted. Or, rather, McCarthy must face Gaetz attempting and failing to oust him when Gaetz can’t muster enough votes against McCarthy, and/or he fails to find another sap willing to take the speaker’s chair. What’s striking about Gaetz’s statement isn’t the threat—that’s par for the course with him. What stands out are the things he says McCarthy agreed to back in January.

There are the concessions Gaetz mentions that were public during the process: votes on term limits, a balanced budget, and as Gaetz says, “No continuing resolutions, individual spending bills or bust.”

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Then Gaetz lists a bunch of things that were not included in any reporting about the agreement: the full release of the Jan. 6 tapes, accountability for the “Biden crime family,” subpoenas for Hunter Biden, and finally, “the impeachment for Joe Biden that he so richly deserves.”

Curious, huh? It’s enough to again call into question whether there was really a “secret addendum” to the agreement that McCarthy swore doesn’t exist, but that a number of other Republicans said they saw. Both Axios and Punchbowl News reported that “multiple GOP aides and members” confirmed that the addendum with “the most controversial concessions” made by McCarthy exists. At the time, people assumed it was about promising various plum committee spots to the hardliners. But was that all?

Gaetz is an experienced and well-known liar, so anything he says has to be taken with at least a grain of salt, if not a bucketful. Gaetz says it’s “written” and McCarthy has a copy, so unless and until it’s made public, we have no way of knowing for sure.

But time and again, McCarthy has made all sorts of conflicting promises, telling people what they want to hear in order to get their votes. During the debt ceiling negotiations, McCarthy was promising the rank-and-file one thing and the Freedom Caucus holdouts another. Freedom Caucus member Rep. Ken Buck just explained how McCarthy “has made promises” on spending levels, on the continuing resolution, and on impeachment “to different groups.” And for McCarthy right now, “it is all coming due at the same time.”

This is something the rest of the Republican conference—especially the 18 members elected in Biden-supporting districts—should be demanding to know more about. Exactly what did McCarthy promise in order to get his speakership, and who did he make these promises to? That would be a good thing for them to know before they follow him down this ridiculous impeachment rabbit hole—and put their own reelection in jeopardy.

Kevin McCarthy finally finds enough concessions to drag himself across the finish line

Now, about those secret documents, Kevin ...

C-SPAN’s cameras have been enjoying free rein and the American people are better off for it

Posted on January 7, 2023 (Updated January 8, 2023) by Walter Einenkel

This past week Americans experienced something that has not happened for 100 years: The House of Representatives took more than a couple of days—and no fewer than 14 votes—to agree upon a speaker. It has been something of a fiasco for the Republican Party because there is no ideological division here. It is simply a power play by the most outspoken oligarchs in the party to force its establishment dinosaurs to concede an extraordinary amount of control to a very small group of fascists.

Something else historic has also happened this week: Americans have had a chance to watch and see so much more of the in-chamber processes that go on when voting gets messy in the modern American legislative branch. The old Saturday Night Live joke in the 1980s was that whenever you had to watch something political on C-SPAN the coverage came through the single camera the network owned. Not this week. This week, C-SPAN has been freed up to give new angles throughout the proceedings of the House voting process.

This has made the entire process so much more interesting to watch and follow than it might normally be.

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Of course, the only reason this has been happening is that there is no official majority party making rules for Congress this session. Usually, the party in control creates specific views of what C-SPAN cameras can cover and broadcast and what they cannot. C-SPAN is operating under the rules established by Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the opening day of the 118th Congress in 2022. Of course, back then, Speaker Pelosi was able to get the confidence vote of her political party without days of theatrics. It has been a game changer in loosening up some of the stodginess of the political process.

Showing the entire chamber and the many interactions that go on or do not go on is an evolution of what the media gets to see. As CNN reports, when cameras were first allowed onto legislative branch floors, in the 1980s and 1990s, folks like Republican Rep. Newt Gingrich of Georgia used the limited visibility they offered to pretend to be big men when, in fact, they were simply pretenders.

When cameras were first allowed, they became a potent political weapon. In the 1980s and early 1990s, congressmen such as Republican Rep. Newt Gingrich of Georgia – later the House speaker – would give speeches criticizing Democrats meant only for the TV cameras. There would be few people in the chamber, and since lawmakers could speak on any subject, it seemed as if there were no answers from the other side.

There have been all kinds of moments showing the various group-ups different sets of representatives had during the many failed votes. Many of those meet-ups included political theater major Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida.

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There was this moment between Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Paul Gosar where AOC showed her patience with a man very few people can stand to be around for more than a minute or two. Reportedly the two discussed the possibilities of a deal where Democratic representatives might throw enough votes McCarthy’s way to give him the Speaker position.

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Now we get to see things like Florida man Matt Gaetz having half of his political party walk out on him while he was speaking.

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Then there was the tragically comedic moment where the incompetent and lying Republican from New York, George Santos, wasn’t even able to do the single job he had.

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All good things must come to an end and at some point, I’m sure the Republican Party will make sure that the cameras in the House stick tightly to a very narrow view. It isn’t that the conservatives in the party do not want Americans to see how they actually act on the floor of the House; it is that they don’t want the American people to become at all interested in what they actually do on the floor of the House.

Undeniably backed by the Democratic Caucus, Hakeem Jeffries calls out Republican ‘craziness’

Posted on January 4, 2023 by Aysha Qamar

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries is on his way to once again making history with the full backing of Congressional Democrats. In all three roll call votes on Tuesday, Jeffries got 212 votes, at least 9 more than Republican Kevin McCarthy. Jeffries won't cross the vote threshold to grab the Speaker's gavel because Republicans still have an edge overall, but Democrats made it crystal clear that Hakeem Jeffries is the unquestionable leader of the Democratic Caucus. At a press conference on Tuesday, Jeffries showed exactly why Democrats are supporting him in force.

According to NBC News, by securing 212 votes, Hakeem made history as the first Democratic leader to win support from every single member of their caucus since 2007. Rep. Nancy Pelosi had won unanimous support from her caucus after helping lead the party back into the majority in 2007.

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"We are gonna stay here to get this done. We are unified, and we're all gonna support Hakeem Jeffries for speaker, the lead vote-getter in the last ballot," Rep. Pete Aguilar, the new House Democratic Caucus chair, said of Jeffries’s nomination during the second round of voting.

But while Democrats were unified in voting for Jeffries, Republicans disagreed on who their next leader would be. The House adjourned Tuesday without picking a new speaker since McCarthy failed to win a majority on three ballots. According to CBS News, Tuesday's vote was the first time in 100 years that the House speaker seat remained unfilled after the convening of a new Congress. Additionally, it is also the first time in a century that the Speaker election has needed multiple rounds of voting.

During a speech Tuesday, Jeffries told reporters he is not willing to help Republicans elect a speaker.

“We are looking for a willing partner to solve problems for the American people, not save the Republicans from their dysfunction,” Jeffries said.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said it was a "sad day for democracy" after Republicans failed to choose a House speaker, preventing Congress from beginning its work. Follow @AP's coverage. https://t.co/RJYG9NzmdS pic.twitter.com/I6mCZyMbEx
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 4, 2023

He also nailed his introduction press conference by calling out the lack of organization Republicans have. He noted that while Democrats are “united, present, ready, willing, and able to get things done on behalf of the American people,” Republicans are dysfunctional.

JEFFRIES: The Republican dysfunction is what it is: Chaos, crisis and confusion, along with craziness. That's sad for the American people. They're going to have to figure out a way out of it. pic.twitter.com/jbwqa62SCR
— JM Rieger (@RiegerReport) January 4, 2023

Of course, while Republicans like McCarthy insisted to reporters that the party is "unified," the reality of the situation is clear.

"This isn't about me," McCarthy said, according to CBS News. "This is about the conference now because the members who are holding out … they want something for their personal selves."

Nevertheless, whatever reason it may be, Republicans seem to be confused now more than ever while Democrats are ready to make moves.

Jeffries comes with substantial leadership experience. He is not only considered the youngest member to serve as chairman of the Democratic Caucus, but was also part of a select group of lawmakers who were impeachment managers during the Senate trial of Donald Trump.

According to CNN, Jeffries is set to become one of the highest-ranking Black politicians in America, as the country makes history with a record number of Black members of Congress.

Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA) on GOP gridlock in the House Speaker race: "This is who they are: crisis, confusion, disarray. It's unfortunate that that's what the modern-day House Republican Conference looks like." pic.twitter.com/vmNTzLejFT
— The Recount (@therecount) January 4, 2023

Democrats continue to show the country that they are united and able to get things done, and kudos to House Democrats for making that divide very clear.