The Cuckoo's Nest 🌻 🌻 🌻

Republicans in Disarray:  Two days and six rounds of voting and GOP Leader for now Kevin McCarthy still doesn’t have the votes he needs to become Speaker even though Donald Trump took time away from further sliming and endangering Georgia poll worker Ruby Freeman to finally weigh in on his behalf with an endorsement, albeit a lukewarm one, after the first day of voting.  Sure, McCarthy has only got the slimmest of majorities but Nancy Pelosi’s 2020 majority was no larger and yet she managed to win her speakership on the first vote, pass several groundbreaking pieces of legislation, fund the government, pass a budget and raise the debt limit while corralling her “socialist” Squad members on the left and her centrists, all while wearing heels. Oh, and the octogenarian wonder woman also dealt with the January 6^th attack on the Capitol fueled only by beef jerky sticks without missing a beat.  Kevin who is so hated by several of the election denying insurrectionists in his caucus, a few of whom with never vote for him and others who will but only after extracting more of those commitments that will turn the next two years into Benghazi on steroids while making his Speakership that much more impossible to manage, has been having a truly horrible, terrible, no good, very bad couple of days.  So far, he hasn’t been able to come up with the 218 majority, or a slightly lower number if a few members either don’t vote or vote present, that he needs to become Speaker.  Worth mentioning, the Democratic caucus despite its diversity of views and interests has held together with all 212, short one due to the post-election day death of Virginia Congressman Donald McEachin, voting in lockstep for Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries during all six rounds.  As a result of that solidarity, which Republicans cite an “evidence” of Democratic group think even though they wish they were so lucky, Jeffries has consistently garnered more votes than McCarthy whose totals have ranged from 203 during the first round of voting to 201 during the sixth round where 20 votes went to Florida Congressman Byron Donalds with one by Republican Congresswoman Victoria Spartz being a “present,” her way of telling Kevin to get his act in order before holding more of these stupid votes.   Don’t feel bad if you’ve never heard of Donalds, few have.  He’s just a place holder, thrown into the mix to torture McCarthy, chosen because he’s both Black and an admirer of Roger Stone, an irresistible thumbing of the nose from the white supremacist leaning insurrectionist crowd, with leaning doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence.  It should surprise no one that Donalds has a history that rivals Herschel Walker and that other liar George Santos who has got to be appreciative of all the distraction from his crimes and lies.  Donalds once plead guilty to a felony charge as part of a bribery scheme to defraud a bank and his wife is on record saying that “gay people can avoid burning in hell by choosing to be straight.”  Nor should it surprise anyone that among the items that McCarthy has already put into his proposed rules package is one that waters down the power of the Office of Congressional Ethics, something that will make it more difficult to kick grifter Santos to the curb. 

What’s Next: With McCarthy’s Speakership holding on by a thread, the Republicans managed to avoid a seventh embarrassing vote last night by forcing an adjournment with a vote that skirted the rules after the harried Clerk allowed the inclusion of a few Republican votes that came in after the timeclock ran out.  The adjournment gave McCarthy and his team more time to negotiate with any possibly persuadable members of the “never” Kevin crowd. Early reports are that McCarthy has agreed to lower the “motion to vacate” threshold down to one vote meaning that just one member can call for him to step down, something that will make his Speakership or any other Republican’s Speakership untenable.  In addition, he has also promised key committee positions to some, if not all, of his problem children, positions that should irk the rest of the Republican caucus because those plums will be given out at their expense but so far at least they appear to be lemmings, going along for the ride.  It’s still not clear if McCarthy’s made enough headway to become Speaker, or maybe more appropriately Speaker for a minute.  It’s reported that his super PAC has cut a deal with the very rightwing Club for Growth, promising not to oppose their extreme candidates in primaries in exchange for them withdrawing their opposition to his Speakership, something that will likely lead to more crazies in the House but who cares about long term when the Speakership is so tantalizing close, it’s not like McCarthy has any principals.  What’s next if Kevin can’t pull it off on the next vote?  Probably one or more votes with Kevin still in the mix even though Republican gadfly/powerbroker Lauren Boebert insists that he step down ASAP and then someone new, perhaps Steve Scalise, the Louisiana Congressman who once described himself as “David Duke without the baggage.” He seems nice, no?  If Scalise doesn’t pass muster, and despite his white supremacist leanings he might not because he too is considered part of the Republican establishment, who knows? We’re in unchartered territory.  This is real life, not an episode of West Wing so the possibility of a “moderate” Republican from outside becoming Speaker with the help of the Democrats or a group of those oft cited but who are we kidding rarer than a hen’s tooth “moderate” Republicans voting for Hakeem Jeffries is probably a pipedream though we all can dream.

Life Goes On: While the House remaining frozen with nothing getting done because absent a Speaker no one can be sworn into office, back in the real-world life goes on. President Biden went to Kentucky yesterday where with Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, Ohio’s Republican Governor Mike DeWine and Ohio’s up for reelection in 2024 Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown by his side he celebrated the desperately needed $2 billion that was just awarded from the funds made available by the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill to the upgrading of the heavily trafficked and in much need of repair Brent Spence Bridge that connects Cincinnati, Ohio to Covington, Kentucky.  That’s the legislation that the clowns in the Republican House insurrection caucus voted against and that their hero Donald Trump never managed to pull off despite his countless infrastructure weeks.  Everywhere else, COVID continues to do its thing.  The newest dominant strain is called XBB.1.5, it’s more contagious and more immune invasive. Ashish Jha the White House’s current virus guru recommends that anyone who hasn’t had a recent infection or bivalent vaccine get the bivalent vaccine now.