I don’t know why Matt Gaetz and Kevin McCarthy just don’t do pistols at dawn and get it over with. But I guess a slow, undignified blood letting is the way we’re going to go here.
In a show of confidence, which some called hubris, McCarthy moved his personal belongings into the Speaker’s suite.
Now Matt Gaetz wants him to move them out. And he’s making a big deal out of it, because that’s what these people do. This is the performance theater crowd, folks.
The Speaker of the House Office in the Capitol is currently being occupied by Kevin McCarthy.
Kevin McCarthy is not the Speaker of the House. He lost 3 consecutive votes today.
I’m demanding answers from the Architect of the Capitol. pic.twitter.com/AIZ8bFks6W
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) January 4, 2023
As you are aware, McCarthy doesn’t have a whole lot of options right now.
He can either rally the troops, somehow, and actually get elected Speaker tomorrow, but that’s not being seen as likely, considering three ballots went up and down today.
Or, he can resign from the competition and defer to somebody else, Steve Scalise, Elise Stefanik, somebody. Don’t ask me what happened to Bob Good’s second ballot savior. I’ve been looking high and low for information about that and haven’t found it.
And if he resigns, then what? As you know, Jim Clyburn is suggesting that the Democrats and a small number of Republicans could get an acceptable Speaker elected. Mebbe. Mebbe not.
Durrati put up  a piece you need to read, about Eric Swalwell predicting that the big money GOP donors will put a halt to this and call off the crazies, particularly Gaetz and Boebert. It does sound plausible. Money talks and bullshit walks, as the old expression goes.
Oh, for the love of God, are we REALLY doing this again? And by “this”, I mean “pretending that these people are going to wake up.” Big Money is likely going to find out tomorrow that’s not on those idiots’ agenda. At which point, don’t be surprised when the money boys push enough of their more obedient pet Republicans to cut a deal with the Dems.
The big money people need a stable government that is compliant to their wishes making sure that we continue on the path of them getting richer and at the same time allowing a few crumbs now and then for the rest of us to appease the masses.
Upset that apple cart too much and we start to see a few of the GOP renegades mysteriously falling out of hotel windows like they do in Putin’s Russia.
Small problem with your last sentence: this ain’t Putin’s Russia. There are more subtle ways to destroy politicians here AND a functional political party they can turn to as a way out. Hence why I’m thinking the donors will push the moderates to cut a deal with the Dems if this stays ugly too long. They’ll hate that but, as you said, they hate a nonfunctional government even worse.
Big money got behind these idiots for a reason: they do not want government interfering with their ability to make a lot of money without paying living wages, taxes, following any regulations all while destroying anything getting in their way of doing just that (public health, environment,…). Electing idiots is an extremely effective way of doing this. Big money is looking at this shit-show and saying “mission accomplished” because while this is going on, no legislating is going on and big money really really likes that.
Big money is in it for themselves and ONLY for themselves.
If so, Spike, then they’re dumber than I already think they are (Exhibit A: Elon Musk). Trump should have taught ALL of us something important: power and competence are two separate concepts. Kamil Galeev described those big business types you’re talking about as “hothouse flowers”, able to thrive only under this country’s particular conditions. Put them anywhere else in the world and they’re instant roadkill. China proved that by letting them stay long enough to steal from them then kick them to the margins.
There is no master plan at work, just reflexes, prejudices and an inability to think things through. We’re dealing with fairly marginal human beings rather than the malevolent aliens of pop culture myth.
As I write this, we’re 9 (heeheehee) unsuccessful votes along. I wonder what the megabucks supporters are waiting for…
Gaetz comes from money, and while Bobblehead seems to be vulnerable backing down would ensure she loses in two years. Hell, as I said elsewhere a little while ago it was assumed she would lose this past November, and sticking to her guns might bring out more MAGA goobers next time. But the point is that she, like Gaetz and the others can make out like bandits with book deals and in other ways. They don’t need the money from the GOP donor class. And are self-absorbed enough that they don’t care that others in their Party might.
Think back in your life to every time the GOP has gotten its ass kicked in a general election. A couple of times there have been real, honest post-mortems telling them to ease up on the hard core stuff and become more open, especially to non-Cuban folks of Hispanic heritage. And what to they do every single fucking time? Decide the problem was they weren’t conservative enough! And then double-down and get even more bat-shit crazy conservative. That’s what’s led to where we are now. If the GOP donor class doesn’t like what’s going on they should look in the fucking mirror. Because they created the monster, fed and nurtured it even. But being tightwads they didn’t invest nearly enough in training it and it grew beyond their control. It was inevitable parts of it would mutate and fall off and be even more uncontrollable. That’s how we got January 6, and the combination shit-show cluster-fuck we saw today.
I’ll say it again. No one can predict what might happen or how all this will play out. And though it eventually will the unintended consequences of it all will be even more unkowable.
There’s another dimension to their lack of investment, Denis. The way they’ve operated, it runs on the implicit assumption that a) the GOP voter base was immortal (see COVID casualty counts for proof to the contrary) and/or b) some great catastrophe would take them all out before they ever had to worry about the future. Now, I could go over the Cold War mindset that seems to drive a lot of this but the important point: it’s why they never cultivated true successors in Gen Z. W wanted to cultivate such with non-Cubano Hispanics but that got shot down early on.
This whole circus of GOP shit bags, shows the along-the-way giant merry-go-round, that began to turn slowly a few years ago, various new-comers to Congress, all dressed up in college paper work describing them as graduates with a brain, looking like probable people-oriented Congress critters to their States’ delight …
Then the old farts shook hands with them, welcoming them into the den of thieves with gentile hints of the desire to fuck up everything Democratic … Showing them that polished brass ring just out of reach without a genuine effort to grab on to it …
The little things people do can add up to full-on disasters, the scenes poured out from the battered Capitol, during Trump’s big show, was a warning, even to those despicable old farts, that things were a lot darker then most of them knew it would be … Their continued excuses, Trump savior stance in order to cloud their own guilty participation, a holler fest of GOP rats in a deep bucket, clawing away at the slick walls … The time is very near, the worms WILL turn on each other, the biggest checkbooks, full of very dark money, will hand-deliver special instructions to these chronic losers … With offers that cannot be ignored and the tide may change the lay of the land in Congress, these stupid people, like rusty gates, cannot maintain ANY threats without some buffering from other high-rollers, the circus continues because to leap off the fast moving merry-go-round would be fatal to their dreams.
The big money donors spend millions and millions to put and keep these morons in place so they will keep, and get more, tax cuts and loopholes, and insure little to no oversight of their tax returns. Imagine what could be done to improve the lives of everyday Americans if those uber wealthy grinches actually paid their fair share of taxes with the money they’re spending on politicians.
With a Dem Senate firmly in place, they’re getting of that in the meantime anyway. So for now, it’s a moot point.
Better still, imagine how the lives of everyday americans would improve if all the uber wealthy were given a last cigarette, a blindfold, and a well-placed bullet? Even the uber wealthy would have difficulty performing their particular brand of evil when they are tits up and six feet under.