House Republicans in Disarray

[Moksha]

Worse yet, his bullying campaign—truly despicable—has backfired royally.

What am I missing here?

Such a putsch worked well in the beer halls of Munich. Trump is counting on such effectiveness again.

Looks like the surest way to govern is for McCarthy to cease bomb-throwing and promise Democrats he will keep the US government open. However, stay with Trump long enough to lead the party into irredeemable ruin (or till Trump wins, and then Congress will be one Reichstag fire away from unemployment).

[Res Ipsa]

Over the weekend, 9 Rs declared their candidacy for Speaker. (No, it would not be nice to refer to them as the Nazgul.)

Before the first round of voting this morning, one of the Nazgul had flown back to Mordor. This time the Rs had a plan: a series of votes, with the lowest vote getter dropping out. With some Nazgul forced out and others flying away, the it didn't take many rounds to get to the finals: Majority Whip Tom Emmers (MN-Not Crazy)) v. Mike Johnson (LA-Freedom Caucus). The final tally was Emmers 117 Johnson 97 Abstaining 6

And, with a speaker nominee finally picked, the Rs proceeded to the House floor where they.... Uh. Whoops.

From his fraud trial, Donald Trump began whipping against Emmer: ""I have many wonderful friends wanting to be Speaker of the House, and some are truly great Warriors. RINO Tom Emmer, who I do not know well, is not one of them. He never respected the Power of a Trump Endorsement, or the breadth and scope of MAGA"

You see, Emmer had voted to certify the results of the election, which makes him a traitor to Trump. Emmer requested an up or down in the caucus meeting and was reportedly 26 votes short of the total he needs on the floor to win with no D votes.

Emmer, thinking he was dealing with reasonable people declared an early Festivus, skipping the feats of strength and going straight to the airing of the grievances. Gaetz, who at first supported Emmer, stuck the knife in deep as he proclaimed that they needed to listen to the [indicted for multiple felonies] leader of the party. Trump ratcheted up the pressure by calling Rs directly (presumably between scowls at Michael Cohen). Emmer finally got up and walked out.

Yet one more R who believed that the party of leopards who eat peoples faces would not eat his face.

So, after another delay for volunteer masochists who are sure their faces won't be eaten, the list of candidates for this round is:

Byron Donalds (Florida)
Chuck Fleischmann (TN)
Mark Green (TN)
Kevin Hern (OK)
Mike Johnson (LA)
Roger Williams (Texas)

The rounds of voting are scheduled to begin at 8:00 PM EDT. Face eating is TBD. Meanwhile, the most bored employee in America, the speaker pro-tem, gaveled the House into session and then into recess until noon tomorrow. Reports are he's making a killing growing pumpkins in Farmville 2.

[Kishkumen]

So depressing.

[Gadianton]

Thanks for the update, Res. Assuming that Trump really did throw a wrench in the spokes and Emmer had a serious chance to win should Trump have remained silent, it looks like a total standoff. Anyone who isn't a loon Trump will destroy. But so for it's looking like the loons won't be supported by moderates.

If Emmers isn't crazy, as you say, why wouldn't Dems take a chance on semi-sanity? What is it that they think they will accomplish by holding out?

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

I think the GOP is seriously considering nominating Trump. Sure, Trump is facing 91 felony indictments with a total of 717.5 potential years of prison time, and sure, under their own rules anyone under investigation for a felony with more than 2 years of possible prison time is ineligible for the post of Speaker of the House, but who gives a flying “F” about rules, laws, or whatever when you’re in the club. Rules are for suckers!

- Doc

[Res Ipsa]

Thanks for the update, Res. Assuming that Trump really did throw a wrench in the spokes and Emmer had a serious chance to win should Trump have remained silent, it looks like a total standoff. Anyone who isn't a loon Trump will destroy. But so for it's looking like the loons won't be supported by moderates.

If Emmers isn't crazy, as you say, why wouldn't Dems take a chance on semi-sanity? What is it that they think they will accomplish by holding out?

The Dems weren’t consulted. This all happened inside the R private caucus.

[Res Ipsa]

And, it’s Johnson. He doesn’t want a conference vote tomorrow — it’s straight to the floor.

We’ll see.

[Moksha]

If Emmers isn't crazy, as you say, why wouldn't Dems take a chance on semi-sanity? What is it that they think they will accomplish by holding out?

If the Democrats had supported Emmers after Trump pushed him off the crazy cliff, would Emmers make the Democrats regret it?

[Res Ipsa]

Good morning, dysfunction watchers. Once correction: Mike Johnson is not a member of the Freedom Caucus. He did vote against certifying the results of the 2020 election. He supported a national "don't say gay" law, patterned on Florida's.

Scuttlebutt is there is little to no opposition, so we might get a functioning House. For now.

We're currently in the middle of the quorum call. This sets the number of votes needed to get a majority.

Johnson sent a letter to Rs Monday with his plan. 1. Pass a resolution condemning Hamas. 1. Pass a continuing CR to fund the government until January. 3. Take up the rest of the single-subject appropriations bills.

Reputation is socially conservative, policy (not politics) oriented.

ETA: Looking good for Mike. He got a standing O from the Rs. Lots of smiles. But remember, Mike is the guy who lost yesterday's vote. The Majority of Rs are again caving to the minority.

[Res Ipsa]

Well, we're into the Ns and no R has voted Other or Present. We're looking at a done deal. I declare the House back in array after 21 days of chaos. Hamas better look out now, because a strongly worded resolution is imminent.