U.S. Politics January 2023: Kevin McCarthy's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Life

As much as I have worried about a slide into some form of authoritarianism — and still do — I have always allowed the caveat that these guys are incredibly dumb and capable of fucking up just about anything.

my proposal: Santos for speaker

the Santos hilarity is played out at this point

Not generally much of a fan of humor-based political stunts on the House floor, but honestly, Democratic MOCs arriving with vats of popcorn is a solid bit.

— mstdn.social/@emilylhauser Emily L Hauser אלה אסתר (@emilylhauser) January 3, 2023

I'm not so much amused as amazed at Santos: just how far does his fraud go, and how much does it matter, legally and politically? Too soon to know, esp. if somebody gets him some really ace legal advice: either cop to a plea and get it over with as quickly as possible, or maybe brazen/ draw it out as long as possible and sink back into the news cycle---either way, while in or out of office---I suspect further revelations will be upstaged by factions of House members, and what they get whichever Speaker to do.

I'm also surprised that nobody checked his claims, incl his basic bio ffs, until he was about to take office. Apparently if McCarthy was already in and doing business, Santos would be too.

not quite true

A tiny paper broke the George Santos scandal, but no one paid attention

popcorn buckets is a played out bit

why check his claims when McCarthy has his vote?

George Santos told his first lie of the New Year, falsely claiming to have been sworn in as a Congressman by the Speaker of the House on January 3rd.

The House has no Speaker, and no Congressman has been sworn in. pic.twitter.com/dGY0iV4osi

— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) January 4, 2023

I'd be fair on this one and say his staff likely set an e-blast to go out days ago. But it's still funny

GOOD MORNING

Where's the tax r...

o never mind

Lol

👀👀 pic.twitter.com/vA7GPu9XSO

— Zack Stanton (@zackstanton) January 4, 2023

Seems unlikely, but so does everything else.

Benoit Blanc for speaker

List of today's nominees released:

https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:best/rockcms/2022-12/221201-gop-kanye-tweet-mn-1415-5d8d24.jpg

Stefanik maneuvering in the background.

Stealthfanik

I didn't know that Fred Upton is Kate Upton's uncle.

rumbles in the rotunda

Democratic leaders are urging the rank-and-file to stay united. Amid rumblings that Republicans will try to adjourn when the House convenes at noon, leaders told Democrats during a closed-door meeting Wednesday morning not to help the GOP. They told caucus members to vote against such a motion, forcing Republicans to solve their problems.

haha, sorry one more thing. i was kind of astonished.

“Republicans are the party of ‘never,’ and it's always ‘never’ when they don't like somebody and that's how we failed the country.”

who said it?

marjorie taylor greene, yesterday

She's starting to taste the possibility of larger office, evidently

She should taste a bullet.

Apologies; that was churlish of me.

List of today's nominees released:

A triumverate! They could rotate days.

I wasn't sure who Upton was and I was going to make a joke about Kate Upton would be a good candidate for speaker of the house

but I just discovered that Fred Upton is actually her uncle

small world!

nepo-uncle smh

Fremme Nepo venuncle

Speaking of Nepo Babies:

Trump belatedly spoke out in favor of McCarthy this morning and urged Republicans to turn their fire on Mitch McConnell pic.twitter.com/tKjFWguaX0

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 4, 2023

Some details from yesterday. What a happy bunch!

https://thetriad.thebulwark.com/p/kevin-mccarthy-the-chaos-speaker

byron donalds is a nominee for this fourth round of voting. chip roy is making the nomination speech. Roy says that republicans judge people by the content of their character, rather than the color of their skin.

jordan is not a nominee, in this round.

What a statement. Comes across as "most of you wouldn't be ok with a Black man for the job, we're kinda maybe alright with it kinda"

He made a comment about how for the first time two black people were nominated for Speaker, got a round of applause, and then had to add that well we don't see color.

Anyway, looks like McCarthy lost again.

So much for Trump's golden touch!

I wonder if Crazy Nancy Pelosi has packed the jar she kept on her desk that contained Donald Trump's balls.

Gaetz and McCarthy slapfight coming

From Ned’s link:

Crenshaw added that Tuesday’s dysfunction was a bad omen for the next two years and that Democrats are poised to out-maneuver Republicans if the Freedom Caucus continues to rebel against leadership.

“Democrats are way smarter at this game than we are,” he said. “They will all vote in lockstep because they’re smarter than these guys.”

Democrats in array!

Republicans have control of the House of Representatives, but no one has control of the Republicans of the House of Representatives.

I dunno, the Clown Prince of Crime might.

“Who’s on first?”

“No one here really knows what baseball is”

This version of the GOP seems like a meme stock version of a political party.

"give it to me"

"No"

"give it to me"

"No"

"give it to me"

"No"

"give it to me"

"No"

“Would you like a slice of cake?”

*accepts plate of cake, throws it across the toom*

it is extremely funny to see trump warn republicans not to embarrass themselves. he has used toilet paper from the 1980s stuck to the bottom of his shoes

i took the Trump thing as a sign that they had worked it out and he could get some easy points on top of it

... haha

I wonder if they'll just nominate a different third guy each time, until they've run through the entire GOP caucus

why don't the democrats throw him a few votes. yknow for the norms.

This time we nominate Rick Lazio