There isn’t enough of a circus atmosphere in Washington, D.C. these days apparently, to suit the hard core extremists of the right wing, so the Freedom Caucus wants to get another sideshow going, specifically a privileged motion brought by Kevin McCarthy, to oust Nancy Pelosi. Righto. Splendid idea.
Refusing to seat Rep Jim Jordan & Rep Jim Banks on the Select Committee to Investigate Jan 6th is intolerable.
House Freedom Caucus is calling on GOP leader to file and bring up a privileged motion to vacate the chair and end Speaker Pelosi’s authoritarian reign.
Full letter: pic.twitter.com/u2AsXN5nfg
— House Freedom Caucus (@freedomcaucus) July 23, 2021
So you get the idea, that they’re mad as hell at Pelosi and they’re not going to take it anymore.
McCarthy has until July 31 to bring his privileged motion and I wouldn’t hold my breath on this one.
Jim Jordan is a material witness to January 6. It makes no sense whatsoever, either legally or on a common sense basis, to put him in the jury box, as it were. Frankly, Pelosi showed restraint in not bopping all of them from the committee, only Banks and Jordan.
McCarthy is way out over his skis on this one. This is going to be entertaining.
I’m less interested in thinking through McCarthy’s fantasy of ejected Speaker Pelosi, and more inclined to consider something I thought of last night during TRMS. (I assume we all know that refers to Rachel, lol).
Obviously we want to win the House in 2022, but let’s say we fall short and have 215 seats. In most midterm fallout cycles, this would mean that the GOP falls in line behind their heir apparent and we get McCarthy. ? The vote would likely be all Republicans for him, and Democrats maybe fracturing into a few camps for various arcane strategy reasons.
However…is there an opening for some sort of alternative outcome? Rep Cheney could theoretically approach Pelosi and suggest that the GOP should get the Speaker position, but that Democrats should work with her to block McCarthy. On the one hand, Rep Cheney just needs to bring herself and two allies over to do so. On the other…she’d probably want to be Speaker, and that means getting Democrats united behind a deal to support her, and that feels maybe impossible.
It’s a wacky scenario with a lot of uncertainty. I vote we avoid the stress of it all, pass the jobs bills, maintain that D+10 generic congressional ballot poll stat, and keep the House in 2022.
Here’s my concern. We all know McCarthy has problems within his own Party and Caucus. They are far greater these days than the differences/problems on our side. However, McCarthy knows there are cracks in our foundation. You have progressives in safe blue districts as willing to throw firebombs as the actually for real batshit crazies in the safe red districts. In the last Congress we had enough of a majority to allow for some of that.
We don’t anymore.
Despite predictions (hopes?) that 2022 will be one of those weird midterms where the Party in power actually holds all its seats, or even gains some. It can happen. However, with all the coordinated effort around the country to suppress votes, which I fear might include downright armed intimidation of voters in Democratic precincts I’m not as confident as some that we will be able to gain seats. Just holding on to the tiny majority we’ve got will be a tough haul.
McCarthy’s ploy might be a politically smart tactical ploy to instigate Democratic infighting. Not the longstanding debates between hard-core progressives, progressives and moderates (and yes those first two are distinct sub-groups) but some true internecine warfare on our side.
If the hard-core progressives from the safe blue districts take the bait.
Think about it. I mean really – think about it. There have been wounds inflicted on our side going back to the aftermath of the blue wave in 2018. Even with a much larger majority there were enough folks on our side to impose some conditions to hand Pelosi the Speaker’s gavel. If not as open a conflict for this Congress that dynamic remained, but all but the most hard-core of progressives ratcheted down the pressure a bit.
However, McCarthy knows damn well those folks are there and if he forces this motion to vacate the chair it could ignite some real conflict in the Democratic Caucus. He also knows how fucking LAZY and ATTENTION GRABBING “mainstream” journalists tend to be. The LAST thing they want to do is put in time and effort learning down-in-the-weeds details of legislation and policy. It’s SO much easier for them to blather on with endless speculation (with their own amplification) about “deep divisions” in the Democratic Party. They can fill hours (every day) with their oh-so-“clever” speculation, taking an off the record comment and leaving out broader context and focusing on inter-Party pie fights!
And if you’ve read this far you know I believe with all my heart that’s what “journalists” will goddamned well do. Hell, they are probably already running around trying to get a partial quip from various Democrats in the House, (or the Senate or the WH for that matter) about the “deep divisions” opening up with a vote on keeping Pelosi in the Speaker’s Chair maybe coming up!
Anyone want to bet me that it will be significant topic of discussion on the weekend shows? And if not the dominant topic in the news next week then seriously competing for the most attention in the “news?” I say it will.
McCarthy needs both a distraction to take away from the Jan. 6 hearings getting underway next week, and his own larger problems. He needs to buy time for himself and the GOP. This motion he might force might be a politically brilliant thing for him to do. And even if Democrats all refuse to take the bait it’s a distraction for a while. If at least a few Democrats DO take the bait, McCarthy gets a “twofer” – both a much needed distraction and having the pouring of the political version of Miracle Grow on mostly dormant seeds of discontent on our side into fully blooming, huge flowering plants.
To be fair (as someone who is a progressive but couldn’t give a crap about the bickering between progressives and moderates) – the passionate and determined progressives in this Congress have been less prone to firebombs than the moderates. They have more or less gotten immediately behind everything that Team Biden gets a majority to agree to.
With the swing into dangerous virus concerns and the fearful situation at the crippled Olympics, the Biden front is busy and tested every day … the stupid Gym Jordan and his vile attacks on Dr. Fauci are still the only crap the main barf group of Republicans have to offer … making a strong move on Pelosi now with Schumer’s progress in the Senate moving along with more Republican sign-ons’ in spite of Dumb-ass McConnell’s obstruction, could prove to be another boost toward unity of the democrat vote and McCarthy could blow what’s left of his perforated feet away …
However, delliott has a possible crimp in the system from free-basing media, that might be a wort on the smoothness of moving forward … we should make a big noise about that if it occurs … networks don’t want to rock the boat on sponsors and nearly 90% of broadcast hours it seems …
The Free-Dumb Caucus knows they don’t have (and can’t get) the votes for that.