New Developments III

[Greg]

Scalise just dropped his bid for Speaker, leading the Republicans back to square whatever.

[OscarGuy]

Because at least far left Dems are smart enough to realize getting some of what you want is better than getting none of what you want. Reagan made a deal with the religious wing of the party and that wing enabled all the anti-cultural elements to worm their way into the Party and those people cannot be reasoned with.

[Sabin]

OscarGuy wrote
Pelosi is teaching Jeffries as they go, so he's getting the best tutelage. The site I read for political news suggests that Pelosi may well be one of the most consequential house speakers in history.

Totally. To be clear, I don't mean to diminish Pelosi. I do think she's one of the most consequential Speakers in history.

But I do think that the Republican Speaker of the House is an increasingly impossible job with every new, increasingly more batshit wave of Republicans.

[OscarGuy]

Pelosi is teaching Jeffries as they go, so he's getting the best tutelage. The site I read for political news suggests that Pelosi may well be one of the most consequential house speakers in history.

[Sabin]

taki15 wrote
Nancy Pelosi was really a titan of the House. She made everything look so easy when in fact we see now how difficult it is to bring together a caucus.

I agree, but I think Hakeem Jeffries will do just fine once he's up.

I think it's just their side/caucus.

[taki15]

Nancy Pelosi was really a titan of the House. She made everything look so easy when in fact we see now how difficult it is to bring together a caucus.

[Sabin]

It's really astonishing how shitty the record of Republican Speaker of the House is. Since 1954, the result is:
*ousted
*quit
*pushed out
*prison
*resigned

In that sense, Jim Jordan is probably a perfect fit. He's a lunatic conservative, a Trump loyalist, a terrible communicator, and he has his own scandals/accusations, and yet he might be the only figure both sides of this part can agree on. I don't think anything could help our chances more than Donald Trump, Speaker of the House, but Jim Jordan might come close.

[OscarGuy]

If, and only if, we retain control of the Senate. It's never happened in history that each chamber flipped in opposite directions, so it would be unique, but we're defending WV and MT and I'm not sure we'll keep either or both. We also need to get rid of Kristen Sinema in order to get a functioning majority. If we were to maintain 50 seats, but without Manchin or Sinema, THEN we would be able to accomplish something.

[criddic3]

I don't see them surviving in 2023 anyway, especially with Trump at the top of the ticket.

Which gives Democrats an excellent chance to flip the House back and give Biden a fighting chance of passing more major legislation in a second term.

[OscarGuy]

It would be a revolt the likes of which the country hasn't seen, but anything is possible with the deranged "Freedom caucus." None of the Biden 18 would be insulated from a primary challenge on the right, so they might still fall in line, but a vote for Trump in those districts could be fatal in the general, which might cause many of them to abstain from voting altogether. That won't make them seem less apostate than they already would be if they voted against Trump, but it's a Catch-22 and I don't see them surviving in 2023 anyway, especially with Trump at the top of the ticket.

[Greg]

I wonder if this scenario is actually possible. The Republicans bring up a vote for Trump as Speaker. Most, if not all, of the Biden 18 vote against him. Enough of the Republican Caucus is sufficiently angered to strip the nay voters of their committee and subcommittee positions. This leads the stripped nay voters to jump ship and switch to the Democratic Party, enabling Hakeem Jeffries to become Speaker.

[OscarGuy]

It's doubtful. The Biden 18 (the Republicans serving in Biden-won districts) won't likely go for it. It would likely mean a lost seat.

[Okri]

They're gonna go for Trump, aren't they...

[Big Magilla]

McCarthy has been ousted by a vote of 216-210.

Patrick McHenry is Speaker Pro Tem.

[Greg]

Just one other point, and maybe this is a stretch but I hope not. If you've been following the House Speaker drama going on right now, it's clear that the elected Democrats are very much united and the Republicans are in utter disarray.

Too bad Will Rogers didn't live a century longer to see this.