No more Kevin McCarthy. For now, at least. Eight Republicans voted to toss him out of the speakership, and along with 208 Democrats that produced a vote of 216-210 in favor of "vacating the chair."
Of course, now comes the hard part: finding an alternate Speaker who can command virtually unanimous support within the Republican caucus. That seems all but impossible, but I suppose there has to be someone.
For what it's worth, I continue to think this someone could be Kevin McCarthy, risen from the dead. We'll see.
Will we have a Speaker before the gov't shuts down?
Seriously, this is a good question. Is there a movie with two escaped cons chained together who hate each other's guts but have to cooperate or die? That's the gop caucus, except now it's after one of the guys just killed the other one's mom. Might not be solvable in 40 days.
Midnight Run
One of the greatest movies ever.
The Defiant Ones
Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis
It's like The Scorpion and The Frog (where the scorpion stings the frog carrying him across a river, dooming them both, because it's his nature), with Gaetz playing the scorpion. However, a frog doesn't represent Kevin McCarthy very well, so we'll have to retitle it The Scorpion and the Weasel.
Lord I hope Kevin is well and truly dead. He lied to everyone along the way. That's not going to change. I think a non confrontational person like McHenry will end up as Speaker.
The next Republican Speaker will be just as untrustworthy, because the caucus is completely off the rails. He or she will not have any more ability to deliver on promises than McCarthy.
I can't see McHenry as "nonconfrontational" when his first action upon grabbing the gavel was to kick Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer out of their offices.
As Kevin (not to be confused with "Qevin") said, What a d***".
McCarthy has now stated that he won't contend for the position again, but will he allow himself to be drafted? Wonder if they actually have anyone better who will accept the job.
As in, anybody who wants to be next in line for disembowelment ala Boehner and McCarthy, step right up? Maybe "else" is the question, even more than "better."
We can probably imagine what almost anybody else would say to a draft attempt, but McCarthy really, really wanted to be speaker more than anything else in the world. Maybe that'll return to him once he's had a few days to cool down.
A few months of the reality might have cooled his ardor.
Well, actually, I realized that there might be others who would not mind accepting the speaker position, but none of the ones I can imagine aspiring to that would likely be better... despite the low bar.
Heaven help the Republicans if in their desperation they settle on any of the radicals -- surely Gaetz & the others of his ilk won't get any traction for the leadership position after this debacle?
Gaetz, definitely not. If the House was the Roman Senate, he'd have been stabbed by 200 of his own caucus by now. The other 7 apostates would have gotten their share of knife-points too.
Way back when (9 months ago) Gaetz proposed that the GOP make Donald Trump Speaker of the House, since there seems to be no requirement that the Speaker be a member of Congress. Maybe this is all part of his genius long-term plan. I for one would love to see Trump have to sit through 15 rounds of voting as the Republicans try to convince half a dozen holdouts to vote for him, or even see him try to corral all those disparate GOP reps if he was voted in!
Dang. Poe's Law strikes again!
"GOP Lawmakers Float Trump for House Speaker..."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gop-lawmakers-float-trump-house-speaker-mccarthy-ousting
McCarthy says he won't run for Speaker again. Of course, he's a liar, so who knows.
Unanimous support among the GOP? I think Kevin, you need to check some dosages.
That said, I suspect I could command unanimous non-support, so I’ll volunteer to be the first non-member House Speaker 🙂
I don't know what to expect.
But I'd place a small wager on about 40 days of Republican drama queens continuing to smear feces all over each other, followed by Speaker Jeffries taking the gavel.
Both because I'd totally love to win that bet, but also because Republicans are incompetent. I suspect they're simply not capable of doing their jobs in their current state.
It's pretty clear that the fringe is running the show now. Where this goes over the next 9 months is anybody's guess. Trump is bound to be convicted of something in that time frame, potentially disqualifying him. I still don't see him as being the R nominee this time next year, but we're in uncharted territory and the Biden admin is doing next to nothing to appease rural anger.
Won't the next speaker have to have the blessing of Trump?
Maybe MAGA is okay with Trump *not demonstrating leadership* on this issue. Perhaps they'll excuse him because the Deep State is currently bringing him down with indictments and trials, and therefore can't spare time on GOP stability. (The base is very good at coming up with excuses for Trump.)
But if someone like Trump, so high in the polls, with a solid base, can't do squat, what does that say about his real power? Remember, he said he'd end the Russian war on Ukraine in 24 hours. Surely he can get the House Republicans back in good order.
Matt Gaetz is the proverbial dog who caught the car. The Republicans look just like the idiots you think they are.
A Sad Story of Stupid Republicans: https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/10/suicide-of-the-house.php
"Democrats may be evil, but they aren't stupid"
Huh.
If I had a betting app, I’d put a dollar on Scalise.
He just started chemo. Not sure he'd be physically up for the job.
And I don't think he wants it.
Elise Stefanik would be my early bet, but I don't know whether the ultra MAGAs trust her.
It would be an absolute blast if the next speaker were Gym Jordan. It would bring renewed focus on his time as an enabler of a sexual predator.
Interesting, I have read a couple of different articles about this. I respected Jim Jordan, but I can't deny that it's Penn State with Jim Jordan standing in for Joe Paterno. And it hurts because I agree with many of the goals of the Freedom Caucus.
And here I thought his fecal impaction was untreatable…
How did they get his head out of the way?
It has been traditional for a Republican who loses the Speaker's gavel to another Republican to immediately resign from Congress. I can't wait to see the back of Qevin McQ.