Another day, another dysfunctional day on the Workbench of Misfit Toys. Democratic representative Jamie Raskin summed up the differences between the two parties when he said, When I had cancer, the whole party rallied around me. The difference? Steve Scalise is battling blood cancer, and after he won the secret ballot, internal GOP enemies nagged the sh*t out of him about his health until he dropped out of the Speaker’s race.
And so, another day, another secret ballot, and another sacrificial lamb. This time the two main combatants in the ring of futility, hoping to win the participation trophy, were Gym Bag Jordan, and a Georgia congressman named Austin Scott, whom nobody has ever even heard of. When he walked in the room, I think the other GOP members thought he was with the catering company.
Expectations were sky high for Jordan. After losing to Scalise 113-99 two days earlier, and now with Scalise’s support, hopes were that Jordan could ride a vote of at least 150 votes to give him momentum while trying to gather the rest. He beat um, what’s-his-name 122-80. The ultimate goal was to go directly from the secret ballot to a floor nomination vote, but they got the same kind of help from Jordan as one of his wrestlers.
Nobody was pleased, especially Jordan and Gaetz. This total political impotence is making them look like morons. Which is like falling out of bed for these two, since all they have to do to look like morons is to open their fat mouths. But this time they think they have a plan to break the logjam.
You remember how I wrote a bit ago that the House essentially dumped Traitor Tot by voting for someone else, Scalise, instead of Trump’s hand picked putz, Jordan. Given a second chance, Jordan netted a whopping 23 votes, still leaving him some 88 votes short of the brass ring, with little hopes of actually grabbing the ring. But they think they’ve figured out the problem, and the solution.
The problem is in the voting itself. His Lowness has always ruled the House by fear, fear of retribution either by being called out by Emperor Numbus Nuttus, or his issuing a fatwa in the form of a far right primary. In holding secret ballots, they were allowing the members to vote their consciences, what little they have of them, with no fear of retribution.
The answer was simple. Announce that after the secret ballot, the GOP would be proceeding directly to a floor nomination vote. Try to bully them into submission by making it clear they were going to have to put their name next to a vote today, no matter what.
But already being the ringleaders of this sh*t show, and not wanting to step on their cranks again, they held a little test. After the secret ballot, they announced a 2nd secret ballot. It was pretty much the same, but with a twist. It asked, Who would you vote for as Speaker if this was an open floor ballot? Jordan picked up another 30 votes, but still leaving him some 65 votes short of the magic number.
So much for going immediately to the floor for a nomination vote. Gaetz and Jordan are right back where they started out, even worse since Jordan is farther right radical, and will have more problems picking up the votes. Something is going to have to give soon, even moderate GOP House members were sounding disgusted to the media as they filed out of the room.
First, Trump doesn’t hold the terror factor he used to. He’s distracted by his various legal problems, and can’t be as effective at political terrorism. Second, moderate members in swing districts are dead in the water if this nonsense goes on much longer, so why not at least get something done, and run on it against a Trombie primary challenger. And last, Trump and Gaetz waited too damn long for far right primary threats to be that effective. The earliest primaries start in mid January and pick up steam. In some places, depending on cutoff dates, far right challengers may not have the time required for them to collect their petition signatures and have them accepted.
After 10 long, farce filled days, the House GOP now finds itself at 4th and 98 from their own 2 yard line. And their backup quarterback has a broken arm. There are suddenly some moderate GOP names getting tossed out there, like Tom Cole, almost like they’re peeking over their shoulder to see if the Democrats might nibble. If I’m Hakeem Jeffries, I’m waiting for them to put a moderate name on the floor, and seeing how he does before I commit. The Democrats want the GOP to provide at least half of the necessary votes, about 110 or so, so that the Freedom caucus can’t claim that the Democrats stole the Speakership. This is starting to get interesting.
Nobody wants to play with a Gymbo in a box!!! Especially with baby huey cranking the handle.
Thank you Murf. This is some truly interesting and good to know stuff. I was wondering how Jordan “gained support” in that second ballot and now you’ve pointed it out – threatening people with Trump’s wrath by making them go on record. Funny thing, ole Gym is still way short. And one thing you mentioned yesterday but not this evening is even if the votes of the two declared candidates are added up it still doesn’t reach the magic number of 217! That means there are some assholes out there, probably members of the Gaetz gang willing to stick with him a little while longer to see how it all plays out that are holding back support for anyone.
Your title got me thinking how CUTE is is of GOPers to say they have a plan. They had one before if you recall. After McCarthy was tossed out they allowed a few days for members to decide to run. As we know two did and a third was about to join the fun. That would leave the weekend for everyone to talk to them and each other in preparation for a pow-wow on Monday where candidates could make their pitches. Then another day for everyone to think things over and have a formal closed door vote on Tuesday. And take it to the floor on Wed. and being GOPers it was always destined to fall apart even with Hamas’ terrorist attack starting a war in Israel!
It should be an interesting weekend and with Truth Social’s funding entity returning all the money to the investors and it now being officially BROKE one would think between that and his legal woes Trump might be a wee bit too distracted to make more than a pro forma “vote for Jordan” pitch. Digging into going after dozens, maybe 75-100 GOPers in the House to bully them into voting for Jordan is something he might not have time for.
“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Mike Tyson, the great philosopher.
Also known as “No plan survives first contact with the enemy.”
speaker should be a parliamentarian. know all of the rules, how to introduce bills how to count votes and how to twist arms. Jordan doesn’t seem to have that attention to detail. I think the conference knows that.
He has never been more than a seat-warmer. I would wonder how he ever got elected, but in adjacent CD NY-03 they voted Santos in to replace Tom Soizzi…..🤥😒
who is the House Parliamentarian, anyway? what a thought, run them for Speaker!
“After losing to Scalise 113-99 two days earlier, and now with Scalise’s support, hopes were that Jordan could ride a vote of at least 150 votes to give him momentum while trying to gather the rest. He beat um, what’s-his-name 122-80.”
^This and
“Given a second chance, Jordan netted a whopping 23 votes, still leaving him some 88 votes short of the brass ring, . . . .”
Bear in mind that in the Scalise-Jordan match, you had a total of 212 votes cast but, in the Jordan-Scott match, there were only 202 votes cast. Where (and who) were the other 10 votes? I know it’s just a fantasy but, could these 10 folks unwilling to back either Jordan or Scott be willing to support Hakeem Jeffries in a floor vote? I know that’s not going to happen but it’s wild that there were 10 people who wouldn’t cast a SECRET ballot for either man. (Then again, when there are allegedly 222 actual GOP House votes at stake and the GOP Speaker nomination first ballot supposedly included votes by the three GOP-aligned non-voting delegates, you have to wonder where all the other GOPers have been? Are they all out sick or just unable to vote for some reason?)
“And last, Trump and Gaetz waited too damn long for far right primary threats to be that effective. The earliest primaries start in mid January and pick up steam. In some places, depending on cutoff dates, far right challengers may not have the time required for them to collect their petition signatures and have them accepted.”
Uh, not quite so fast. While many states do hold a single primary day contest, a lot of them also separate their presidential primary from the state/local primary contests. For instance, in 2016, New York held its presidential primary race on April 19 but the primary date for the US House and Senate races wasn’t until June 28 (and the State Senate and Assembly primaries didn’t happen until September 13). The US House and Senate races had a filing deadline of April 14 (just a few days ahead of the Presidential primary).
In Alabama, on the other hand, we only had a single primary date for 2016 (March 1) with a run-off scheduled for April 12.
According to a list at ncsl.org (the website for the National Conference of State Legislatures), the following states have different dates for the Presidential race and other elective offices (month for non-Presidental primaries first/month for Presidential primary or caucus second) : Alaska (August/TBD); Arizona (August/March); Colorado (June/March); Connecticut (August/April); Delaware (September/April); Florida (August/March); Georgia (May/March); Hawai’i (August/TBD); Idaho (May/March); Iowa (June/January*); Kansas (August/March); Maine (June/March); Maryland (April/May–a bit of a flip, no?); Massachusetts (September/March); Michigan (August/February); Minnesota (August/March); Missouri (August/TBD); Nevada (June/February); New Hampshire (September/March); New York (June/April); North Dakota (June/May or TBD); Oklahoma (June/March); Rhode Island (September/April); South Carolina (June/February); Tennessee (August/March); Utah (June/March); Vermont (August/March); Virginia (June/March); Washington (August/March); Wisconsin (August/April); and Wyoming (August/TBD).
That’s 30 states which have presidential primary dates occurring before the primary race for US House and Senate seats (all the presidential TBDs have to happen before the other races simply because the convention delegates have to be determined well before the convention dates, typically in July or August). And with a number of them being in states with heavy GOP representation in both the House and Senate, there’s a very good chance that a Donald Trump who’s unhappy or disgruntled with the current GOPer (for whatever reasons cross that syphilitic “mind” of his on any given day) will throw his support to a challenger. Granted, there’s a very good chance that most of the House and Senate race challengers will have to have made their plans quite a bit ahead of the House/Senate primary race, it doesn’t mean that a person preferred by Trump can’t push for a write-in campaign (or have Trump suggest his supporters sit out either the primary race or the general election).
*According to the website, the January caucus date is only for the Republican race at this point with the Democratic contest not having been set.
I wish you were on MSM Murf. Then the rest of the public could see the issues with a little more clarity and reason. Keep up the good work!