Whelp, the 118th iteration of the U.S. House of Representatives is just about set.

With Democrat Mary Peltola’s defeat of Sarah Palin wrapped up tonight in Alaska, and the recount in BoBo Boebert’s Colorado district unlikely to change the outcome of that race, it’s looking as if the 435 House seats will end up being distributed 214 for the good guys and 221 for the Rethuglicans.

Kevin McCarthy will need 218 vote to forge a majority and realize his ambition to become House Speaker, and, despite trying to persuade the retrograde Republicans of the looney right persuasion by promising to impeach everyone except Joe Biden’s German Shepherds, of the 221 votes available to him, as of this writing five have voiced their firm opposition.

That’s two short of the 218 he would need.

“We don’t yet know the exact size of the next House GOP conference, but we know the party’s margin will be narrow. Every Republican lawmaker who announces his or her opposition to McCarthy pushes the Californian a little further away from the speaker’s gavel he craves.

As this week got underway, four House Republicans — Arizona’s Andy Biggs, Florida’s Matt Gaetz, Montana’s Matthew Rosendale, and Virginia’s Bob Good — expressed firm, public opposition to McCarthy’s leadership bid. One member of the contingent suggested the actual number is even larger.

“I believe we have at least a dozen or so that are strong, courageous, that will do what needs to be done on the House floor to ensure that we get an improvement in the speaker situation,” Good said on a conservative radio program.”

And the good/bad news is, as I stated above, a fifth Republican Ralph Norman of South Carolina, is a definite “No” as McCarthy brushed him off on his plan to balance the budget…

“Hard no: Norman said he agreed he is a “hard” no vote against the California Republican, dismissing that he will either vote present or not attend the speakership vote early next year.

Issue at hand: The South Carolina Republican said he primarily took issue with McCarthy’s plans to fix the national debt. During a conference meeting last week during the nomination of the speaker, Norman said he asked McCarthy if he agreed to the Republican Study Committee’s seven-year plan for addressing the budget. And according to Norman, McCarthy replied “no.” For him, that was it, he said.

Asked if McCarthy could persuade him to change his mind if the Californian approached him in the coming days about plans that Norman would support to address the national debt, the lawmaker replied: “It’s too late right now.”

Funny how Republicans only fetishize about balancing the budget when there is a Democrat in the Whitehouse…

Kevin has made an ally in MAGA Taylor Greene, but her inability to whip even the members of her own crazy caucus into line does not bode well for that alliance.

And we know that, in the background, the Orangeutan lurks, with a fistful of resentments towards beleaguered McCarthy.

So who will mount the elephant and charge in to take control?

Some think it will be drumpf’s favorite New York gal pal Elise Stefanik.

“In recent days, several far-right House members have come forward to say they will not be voting for Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) for Speaker, throwing a monkey wrench into the Republican leader’s longtime ambitions of taking the gavel, and raising the possibility that, just like in 2015, another Republican could leapfrog over him to take the Speakership.

On MSNBC Wednesday, former Republican strategist Tara Setmayer speculated that person could be Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY).

“Kevin McCarthy is a coward,” said Setmayer. “They have been forthcoming how he feels about Donald Trump in public. You heard what he said in private. When he was called out on it, he bowed out and kissed the ring of Donald Trump. He knew he needed the MAGA wing of the Republican Party to vote for him to become Speaker. Having such a thin, small majority that they have right now … it doesn’t bode well for him. Because right now, there’s a five-count margin of Hell No to Kevin McCarthy. He can only lose about four of them, because no Democrats are going to vote for him. So the dynamics here are concerning, if anyone thinks that Kevin McCarthy is going to operate in good faith. He’s elevating Marjorie Taylor Greene, for goodness’s sakes.”

Uh, Tara, I knew McCarthy would not operate in good faith even before he “elevated” Greene, as does everyone in the House.

But you may be right about Stefanik… that is if she can out wrestle Gym Jordan for it.

Here’s the video:

I don’t really care who they elect, you understand, but I would enjoy watching a good fight.

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5 COMMENTS

    • I think any bet at this point is a sucker bet. Holidays or not there is simply too much going on in the Turd Emperor Trump’s situation and it’s still about six weeks before the new Congress will convene. If something breaks in one of Trump’s many legal fights that badly wounds him his clout with the new GOP House will be greatly diminished and some, only some mind you de-escalation in the crazy will take place. Moderates will have even more king maker power than they already have and that wouldn’t bode well for any of the top three in the current leadership structure. It would also rule out someone like “Gym” Jordan too! It’s entirely possible someone outside the current leadership will get the gavel. Whether they can hold on to it is another matter, but there’s a good chance the next couple of years members of the GOP will be like rats in a burlap sack tossed into the river.

      15
  1. Isn’t the house speaker position voted on by all the house members present? I mean, the 214 democratic members will get to vote on someone don’t they? If, McCarthy goes down and the other candidates are the kooky pants portion of the party (haven’t seen any others yet), could the dems put forth a candidate? Who knows, if they can they might even put forth someone so not Nancy Pelosi some of the republicans might go for it.

    I’m not remembering well how this process goes so correct me if I am wrong. I know it is an unlikely scenario but still within the realm of the possible if things go down like I wrote above.

    • Why don’t the Democratic Party and their 214 votes get a Republican like Liz Cheney to appeal to four, or a few more, moderate, centrist Republicans, (There have to be at least four, right?) and give the house a speaker from the majority party with bipartisan support?

      214 plus 4 equals a stable majority, unlike the squabbling R side.

  2. I don’t see anyone making anything out of this clown show. I believe that there will be a small contingent of republicans that peel off and pass at least a few bills with the Democrats. Nothing earth shattering but some basic shit. In the rest I think this congress will spend the next two years farting and arguing and they won’t do a dam thing productive. The only reason I think some will go behind whoever’s back to cut some deals is because they said they would and because at some point after this two years they might actually do something productive in their party. I know the whole thing is a long shot. But I just plain don’t see anything else happening. Apparently MTG will have some power. That’s disastrous. Matt the pervert and L Bobo are already fighting with each other and MTG. So before the impeachment times you already have Saturday night at the boxing arena. If it wasn’t our country at stake it would be awesome to sell tickets. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.

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