US Politics, April 2024: "Are You Better Off Today Than You Were <Checks Notes> Four Years Ago?"

okay, off and running... I would have chosen an American pistol manufacturer

Far-right US Senate candidate tells crowd to ‘strap on a Glock’ before elections

Lake told the crowd: “We need to send people to Washington DC that the swamp does not want there. And I can think of a couple people they don’t want there. First on that list is Donald J Trump; second is Kari Lake.

“He’s willing to sacrifice everything I am. That’s why they’re coming after us with ‘lawfare’,” Lake said, referencing the ex-president’s many legal troubles as he stands trial in New York.

“They’re going to come after us with everything. That’s why the next six months is going to be intense. And we need to strap on our … ”

Lake briefly paused before deciding on the item her supporters should strap on. After suggesting a “seatbelt”, a “helmet” and “the armor of God”, she said: “And maybe strap on a Glock on the side of us just in case.”

"Kari Lake" + "Strap On" getting alot GOP incognito mode action rn

choose your own strap-on

If you strap me on I'll never stop

I'll bet she has only a dim idea of what a Glock actually is, but knows it'll get headlines... I don't really see her as an outdoorswoman

um, Glocks aren’t typically used in outdoor shooting sports or hunting, fwiw.

I know, I just mean she's a TV newscaster, not a firearms enthusiast

oh i see

Cops use Glocks tho.

Don't Strap On Me

Glock around the clock

I think I know her favorite Steely Dan song

What a shock Johnson's also a neocon in addition to every other bad thing he is.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/10/27/mike-johnson-breathes-some-hope-into-ukraine-funding/

I'm sorry but you are impinging upon my bubble

Luna: Furthermore, remember, Ukraine chose to not join NATO.

Berman: It was NATO and the US and others who didn't want Ukraine to enter

Luna: I’m going to have to respectfully push back on that because I disagree pic.twitter.com/AhldwdrnRI

— Acyn (@Acyn) April 18, 2024

Johnson is terrible but I'm getting the sense Dems don't view him as a dishonest backstabber like McCarthy, so they at least seem willing to work with him

He can't stab them in the back -- he needs their backs.

Johnson, has been, well, not better, but something different I guess.

Things got heated on the House floor. DVO called Gaetz “tubby” in fiery scrum

GOP Rep. Derrick Van Orden entered the 20 minute heated floor conversation as it was ongoing and dared his right-wing colleagues to move on the motion to oust Johnson

W/ @AnnieGrayerCNN

— Haley Talbot (@haleytalbotcnn) April 18, 2024

"tubby" in fiery scum = Best Dub Album

irl lol

Rockers Meets King Tubby In A Fiery House Scrum

lol here from me too

I'm just curious -- what happens if we don't get a Farm Bill?

van Orden is an angry drunk

what happens if we don't get a Farm Bill?

something involving pitchforks and torches I think

Anyway, adding to overall totals, a GOP baby is leaving the House (allegedly because of his own kids but come on, this guy's what, 15?)

Separately, oh my fucking god:

Conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus are signing up to take shifts to monitor the chamber floor in order to prevent their own party leaders from making unilateral moves that could curb their power.

The Freedom Caucus’ Floor Action Response Team, shorthanded as “FART,” aims to guard against an unannounced request to pass resolutions that would stealthily limit their leverage against leadership, according to two Republicans with direct knowledge, who were granted anonymity to speak candidly.

The idea stinks.

The last thing you want skulking around a crowded chamber floor is a stealthy FART.

Rotten, unwanted, causes upset unless expelled, gaseous, I'd say it's a good sign of self-awareness.

I mean, is this new or different or something? They object to every fucking thing

not a big surprise, but Kerry Kennedy, RFK Jr.'s sister, is doing a big endorsement for Joe Biden on behalf of the Kennedy family

xpost Per the story, it's pretty clear that a lot of other GOP types are increasingly fed up with them, so I suspect this IS new in a sense of 'we may be getting shanked here.'

Then again -- hilariously -- their majority is so small and everything so down to the wire that, as Gaetz rather correctly was quoted as saying, "Talking about changing the threshold to the motion to vacate [the speakership] is likely to induce the motion to vacate."

Imagine going up to your colleagues and asking “do you want to be on the FART”

Well, I think we all know what the proper response is (either way)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou7c8Sg9YVg

Ice Spice for Speaker

Third in line after President Swift and VP Del Rey.

nah Vice Spice all the way

come on right the FART
and ride it
(pew, pew)

*ride

RIGHT THE FART STOP THE STEAL

Leave the fart, take the cannoli, etc.

Meanwhile via WaPo, more on this whole thing:

A verbal altercation erupted on the House floor Thursday morning when Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) got into a heated argument, aggressively daring members of the Freedom Caucus to introduce their measure to oust Johnson and calling Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) “tubby,” according to a person who witnessed the argument. Gaetz responded by asking Van Orden if he has an I.Q. over 40, a Gaetz spokesperson said.

Van Orden was at the Jan. 6 “Save America “rally and recently reamed out high school interns for laying on the floor of the Capitol rotunda to take in the frescos.

I love the smell of GOP infighting in the morning

incredibly, the second time the acronym FART made an appearance in conservative politics since 2018: https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-draft-bill-to-abandon-wto-rules-dubbed-the-fart-act-2018-7

It ain’t infighting you’re smelling

I seem to recall the Fresno Area Rapid Transit getting pretty far along in the acronym process for the sides of the buses before someone noticed

I feel like when the campaign to name MARTA popped up, my dad was reading through a lot of the public suggestions from the newspaper and one of them was one like From Atlanta Right Through