Now that Kevin McCarthy has donned a straitjacket in order to be elected Speaker of the House by his own party, the Congress can now get down to the business of legislating. Well, not so fast. After the drama and backroom dealing that finally won McCarthy the role, after a historically embarrassing 15 rounds of voting on Friday night, the House adjourned till Monday … without passing the Rules package over which McCarthy had finally capitulated. That caught the attention of Democrats and political observers.
Very helpful analysis, Jay. Perhaps "moderate" Republican congresspeople will have the courage to block this nonsense, but that is highly doubtful. Apparently, they were utterly powerless to stop the steal by the MAGA wing. MAGA reps pulled off a brazen in-public smash-and-grab. In fact, these hooligans were celebrated by right-wing media. Gaetz, in particular, thinks he is some kind of hero for stripping the cupboard bare. This frankly ridiculous politicking will torture us for the next 24 months.
Who do you think Republican voters, who voted these people into office, will blame when their S.S. checks don't arrive? You just know they will find a way to put the blame on Democrats. smh
I don't normally quibble over wording, but I feel like as a movement we need to stop calling the extremist far-right faction "rebels." My reasoning is it's too cool and they like it too much.
Movement conservatives and now the extremist far right have waged and won a battle of messaging and propaganda over the past decades (with every breath calling Democrats and bygone moderate Republicans "soft on crime," "socialist" and on and on). I think we should unify around words like "obstructionists" or "radical extremists" that are not only accurate but express the real scale of the harm they're doing and already carry negative cultural weight, and stick to those words.
I noticed you called out your own use of "moderate Republicans" and I'm glad you did - I want to ask every single news outlet who uses it to do the same. There are no more moderate Republicans. They have been actively purged from the party by far-right radical extremists. There is no one left but a) hard-line, far right corporatist Republicans, b) obstructionist would-be personality cult leaders, and c) fully anti-government, Christofascist zealots.
They are the ones who are soft on crime, specifically the crime they and their friends commit. They are the ones who are extremists. They are the ones who are Republicans in name only. We need to win the messaging battles in the future as obsessively as they have, but we need to do it hamstringed by the constraints of fact.
Oh, no! CNN just reported that less than a dozen classified documents marked "SCI" were found in President Biden's home office. The documents were from Biden's time as Vice-President. The extremists are licking their chops to open the first House investigation. CNN also played a clip of a 60 Minutes interview that Joe Biden gave after the DOJ opened the Mar a Lago investigation, in which he said that he can't understand how the classified documents could've ended up at Mar a Lago. No doubt, Fox will be playing that clip in an endless loop.
One editorial note: I really think the freedom caucus (lower case intentional there) should always be referred to as the "Freedom" Caucus. Just because extremists and fascists think and say they're for freedom, doesn't make it so. Especially with that group.
Not sure where the rules are all at, at the moment, but I fully expect the folks pushing back to cave completely. There's really no moderates left, and the ones who may be considered close to that are fearful of the Q-, fasicst- and MAGA-loving crazies that will get sicced on them.
Thank you for your thoughtful breakdown. I do have one question.
If it only takes one vote for a “motion to vacate,“ wouldn’t the Democrats be able to do that going forward anytime some of this ridiculous legislation was proposed? Doesn’t that permit the Democrats to throw any Republican speaker under the bus for any reason at all?
is there actually a new proposed rules package including the concessions Mc. made? The only one I can find is dated 1/6, and what it says about the "motion to vacate" involves 5 members.
"Resolution Declaring the Office of Speaker Vacant. Subsection (c) modifies the privileged status of a resolution offered by a Member of a majority party causing a vacancy in the Office of Speaker to require that it must have accumulated 4 cosponsors from the majority party in order to receive privilege.''
Any idea when a revised rules package will be coming out?
There is little doubt that the term "congress-critters" is now exceedingly appropriate, at least with respect to the Freedom Caucus.
By the way, I have never understood that name. Who is it that is given freedom by that particular gathering, anyway? They aren't free, since they are constantly on watch for someone, in the group or outside it, who might undermine the new social order. And with the new cops being the biggest crooks, nobody else is particularly safe either!
Interesting to note that even a Democrat could file a motion to vacate. I realize there is some risk, but what could actually be worse than someone who has already sold his soul and control to the MAGAt caucus? I think a Dem should file a motion to vacate on a monthly, if not weekly, basis.
Very helpful analysis, Jay. Perhaps "moderate" Republican congresspeople will have the courage to block this nonsense, but that is highly doubtful. Apparently, they were utterly powerless to stop the steal by the MAGA wing. MAGA reps pulled off a brazen in-public smash-and-grab. In fact, these hooligans were celebrated by right-wing media. Gaetz, in particular, thinks he is some kind of hero for stripping the cupboard bare. This frankly ridiculous politicking will torture us for the next 24 months.
Who do you think Republican voters, who voted these people into office, will blame when their S.S. checks don't arrive? You just know they will find a way to put the blame on Democrats. smh
I don't normally quibble over wording, but I feel like as a movement we need to stop calling the extremist far-right faction "rebels." My reasoning is it's too cool and they like it too much.
Movement conservatives and now the extremist far right have waged and won a battle of messaging and propaganda over the past decades (with every breath calling Democrats and bygone moderate Republicans "soft on crime," "socialist" and on and on). I think we should unify around words like "obstructionists" or "radical extremists" that are not only accurate but express the real scale of the harm they're doing and already carry negative cultural weight, and stick to those words.
I noticed you called out your own use of "moderate Republicans" and I'm glad you did - I want to ask every single news outlet who uses it to do the same. There are no more moderate Republicans. They have been actively purged from the party by far-right radical extremists. There is no one left but a) hard-line, far right corporatist Republicans, b) obstructionist would-be personality cult leaders, and c) fully anti-government, Christofascist zealots.
They are the ones who are soft on crime, specifically the crime they and their friends commit. They are the ones who are extremists. They are the ones who are Republicans in name only. We need to win the messaging battles in the future as obsessively as they have, but we need to do it hamstringed by the constraints of fact.
Thank you for helping me to better understand all the chaos.
This gives me very sick feeling about the future of our country and democracy.
Thank you so much for this! While sickening to read, it’s helpful to know that for which we need to be prepared.
Oh, no! CNN just reported that less than a dozen classified documents marked "SCI" were found in President Biden's home office. The documents were from Biden's time as Vice-President. The extremists are licking their chops to open the first House investigation. CNN also played a clip of a 60 Minutes interview that Joe Biden gave after the DOJ opened the Mar a Lago investigation, in which he said that he can't understand how the classified documents could've ended up at Mar a Lago. No doubt, Fox will be playing that clip in an endless loop.
Thanks for explaining this in an easy way to understand! Still think McBarfy is dumb for capitulating to the so-called Freedom caucus.
Thanks for the explanations. I think the next 2 years are going to be a long bumpy ride!
Excellent, if at times scary, analysis.
One editorial note: I really think the freedom caucus (lower case intentional there) should always be referred to as the "Freedom" Caucus. Just because extremists and fascists think and say they're for freedom, doesn't make it so. Especially with that group.
Not sure where the rules are all at, at the moment, but I fully expect the folks pushing back to cave completely. There's really no moderates left, and the ones who may be considered close to that are fearful of the Q-, fasicst- and MAGA-loving crazies that will get sicced on them.
Thank you for your thoughtful breakdown. I do have one question.
If it only takes one vote for a “motion to vacate,“ wouldn’t the Democrats be able to do that going forward anytime some of this ridiculous legislation was proposed? Doesn’t that permit the Democrats to throw any Republican speaker under the bus for any reason at all?
is there actually a new proposed rules package including the concessions Mc. made? The only one I can find is dated 1/6, and what it says about the "motion to vacate" involves 5 members.
"Resolution Declaring the Office of Speaker Vacant. Subsection (c) modifies the privileged status of a resolution offered by a Member of a majority party causing a vacancy in the Office of Speaker to require that it must have accumulated 4 cosponsors from the majority party in order to receive privilege.''
Any idea when a revised rules package will be coming out?
There is little doubt that the term "congress-critters" is now exceedingly appropriate, at least with respect to the Freedom Caucus.
By the way, I have never understood that name. Who is it that is given freedom by that particular gathering, anyway? They aren't free, since they are constantly on watch for someone, in the group or outside it, who might undermine the new social order. And with the new cops being the biggest crooks, nobody else is particularly safe either!
Interesting to note that even a Democrat could file a motion to vacate. I realize there is some risk, but what could actually be worse than someone who has already sold his soul and control to the MAGAt caucus? I think a Dem should file a motion to vacate on a monthly, if not weekly, basis.