Swearing In or Swearing, In -
Today is January 3 which means that the 118th Congress should get sworn in but that can’t happen until the House elects a new Speaker. Right now, the Republicans are holding a meeting behind closed doors and Kevin McCarthy, who feels entitled to this job and has worked towards this moment for 15 years, who sold his soul to the devil in the process, is yelling at his caucus, “I’ve earned this job!” People with their ears pressed against the door heard Lauren Boebert, who barely won re-election for her second term, who hasn’t done anything legislatively or for the people of her district in Colorado in the past two years, who got her GED before running the first time, who played a role in the insurrection before she was even sworn in, who recently lost her business back home, a restaurant called, “Shooters” (Hooters with guns) and is being replaced by a Mexican restaurant, yelled out, “This is bullshit!” Kevin can’t get the far right wackos of his caucus to come over to his side after kissing up to them for two years, so much so that he voted to overturn the presidential election to keep them happy.
Last night, as the press was desperately trying to get information out of Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert (who are always together now and fighting with Marjorie Taylor Greene) about what’s going on with the votes for McCarthy. They told them they don’t like Kevin McCarthy then they got lost trying to get out of the Capitol.
McCarthy can’t afford to lose 5 votes and he’s at 12. Without a Speaker, the 118th Congress can’t function. New members can’t be sworn in so no business can be conducted. They can’t even pass their own rules package, agreeing on how to conduct themselves for the next two years. The last time this happened was 100 years ago. Before that it was during the Civil War.
The crazies are holding the House hostage. The Republicans are being hog tied by their own hogs and are getting beat by their own game — minority rule. Whoever gets elected needs 218 votes. That means if it’s not Kevin McCarthy the next Speaker needs Kevin McCarthy’s vote. They could end up putting anybody up there — even somebody outside of Congress who hasn’t been vetted. That would be a shocking, unthinkable possibility were it not for the fact that that’s exactly how Trump ran his administration for 4 years. Nobody was qualified for the jobs they had and vetting? Find a way around that.
To be elected Speaker, a candidate must receive an absolute majority of the votes cast. A majority of the full membership of the House is not required, meaning the Democrats don’t count.
Dan Crenshaw went on Fox & Friends to call out the Republicans who won’t vote for McCarthy — “Some of the reasons that these people have for not voting for McCarthy are unbelievably petty … it makes us look foolish.”
The man who sold his soul to the devil in order to be second in line to the presidency, is an election denier, a two faced liar with few real allies, a member of Congress who was in contempt of Congress for blowing off a subpoena to appear before the Select Committee so he could answer questions about what he knew about the attack on the Capitol.
It’s in the Constitution that insurrectionists can not be sworn in. Kevin McCarthy was one of 147 Republicans who voted to overturn the presidential election. Most of them are there this morning, ready to be sworn in while McCarthy begs the worst of them for their votes.
Nobody really cares about or likes Kevin McCarthy, and there is no plan to do any real governing for the next 2 years so what’s going on right now behind closed doors and soon to be in public is political theater. A bunch of narcissistic traitors volleying for camera coverage and headlines. It’s a total power play. None of them are loyal to the country or serious about being in Congress. This is a game at America’s expense.
How much humiliation is McCarthy willing to endure to get what he wants? A lot. He prostituted himself to win Trump’s favor in the most disgraceful way, proving that he’ll do absolutely anything for power. He kissed the devil’s ring.
Today should be a pro forma ceremonial vote. It should already have been decided. Republicans have gone from reaching across the aisle to work with Democrats to reaching across the pits of hell to work with idiot confederate MAGAs, QAnon freaks, and Russian assets within their own party.
