The U.S. Congress Thread - with approval ratings that Matt Gaetz would like to date

[Swykk]

Kevin McCarthy is out as speaker.

It’s kinda fun. He sucks.

However, they’ll choose someone worse so it’s a tiny celebratory moment.

[M1ke]

Kevin McCarthy is out as speaker.

It’s kinda fun. He sucks.

However, they’ll choose someone worse so it’s a tiny celebratory moment.

My only worry is that they'll still be fighting over who'll be the next speaker before they're able to put through the next funding bill.

[GulDukat]

Maybe some more moderate Republicans can form a coalition with a handful of Democrats to elect the new speaker. Since the GOP only have a very small majority, they won't have the votes for some fringe MAGA nominee.

No idea what comes next.

[Wretchedest]

My only worry is that they'll still be fighting over who'll be the next speaker before they're able to put through the next funding bill.

Yeah, I really think we should have offered him at least the vote for a proper and permanent funding bill but he was already saying he wasn't going to play ball.

That said, the freedom caucus sort of gave up the game when it became clear they were planning to oust him during the shutdown, even if he gave them everything they wanted. I think the plan was to shut down and then leave us without the means to start back up.


Also think a lot of the stuff coming out of the right is extremely frightening now. Going to war with Mexico, shooting shoplifters. Like this is stuff that would truly end our way of life in this country

[GulDukat]

McCarthy trashed the Democrats on the Sunday news shows, blaming them for the near shutdown. If he hadn't, he might have been able to pick off a few in order to keep the speakership.

[ickyvicky]

This was all totally personal. This is big mess.

[sweeterthan]

i’m personally enjoying it tho. i love republicans infighting especially when the dems do what i want which isn’t very often.

[ickyvicky]

Now there's talks about Trump taking the seat :( We're doomed.

[sweeterthan]

Now there's talks about Trump taking the seat :( We're doomed.

lmao. that would require him to work. it’s bad choice and i hope it doesn’t happen. he doesn’t want to serve. he wants to be king.


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[allegate]

Now there's talks about Trump taking the seat :( We're doomed.
That was floated last time by Gaetz iirc. Though at the time it was a protest nomination against McCarthy so this one might be serious.

I kind of want to see that, just because he's so bad at everything and this would involve him actually working as @sweeterthan (https://www.echoingthesound.org/community/member.php?u=50) points out. lol

[Swykk]

Oh, JFC, it’s probably going to be Gym Jordan.

Celebration’s over, folks. Back to dread and chronic eye rolling.

[versusreality]

some Republicans are even trying to nominate Trump as Speaker, LOL

[allegate]

lol there's a disambiguation page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Speaker_of_the_United_States_House_of_Represe ntatives_election) for the 2023 Speaker Elections.

2023 Speaker of the United States House of Representatives election may refer to:

January 2023 Speaker of the United States House of Representatives election
October 2023 Speaker of the United States House of Representatives election

[GulDukat]

Placing bets on Gym Jordan becoming the new house speaker?

[sweeterthan]

i’m willing to bet the republicans will put someone terrible in power but gym doesn’t have the votes rn. fingers crossed it stays that way.

[Swykk]

Gym loses round one.

You love to see it.

[versusreality]

he'll get it. I won't expect it to be the McCarthy marathon either.

this country's fucked.

[Swykk]

Jordan goes down in Rd 2 as well. Worse than yesterday!

Yeah, he will probably get there but let me enjoy the in between.

[TheBang]

Gotta tip my hat to the Jim Jordan opponents. That is some evil genius shit to pressure him by intentionally making him look worse in each subsequent vote:

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/house-speaker-race-vote-10-18-23/h_c3cf2a68ea66281cdbc108b964b4c7b3

Opponents of Jim Jordan’s speakership have been deploying a strategy aimed at pressuring the Ohio Republican to drop out of the race: purposely staggering their “no” votes across multiple ballots.

One Republican who has voted for Jordan on the first two ballots said a group of them have been planning to peel off gradually in an attempt to show building opposition to his speakership, and “basically drew straws” over who would vote for Jordan initially but then vote against him in subsequent ballots.

Jordan lost four Republicans on the second ballot, and the member said more would follow suit if there is another vote.

[allegate]

Wow, if only they could apply that same effort to governing the effin' country.

[Swykk]

Gym’s is now 0-3.

So much losing.

[ickyvicky]

Jim's now dropped out as speaker nominee

[TheBang]

Jim's now dropped out as speaker nominee
He didn't drop out so much as the GOP conference held a vote that said "yes" or "no" to keep Jordan as the nominee, and the majority voted "no". lol

Also, some GOP members were so frustrated that they didn't even stick around for the vote. They got on planes to go home early for the weekend.

[leo3375]

Gym’s is now 0-3.

So much losing.

And now I have the following lyrics from "Cabinet Battle #1" from Hamilton running through my head:

"You don't have the votes
You don't have the votes (Ah-ha-ha! Ha-ha-ha!)
You're gonna need Congressional approval
And you don't have the votes"

[versusreality]

"Pro means good, con means bad, that much is clearly seen
If progress means to move forward, what does congress mean?"
A quote from Nipsey Russell I remember hearing as a kid.

[bobbie solo]

While of course Gym is a loathsome creature that we all would love to literally spit on if we were ever near him, it would have been excellent if he was elected Speaker. He has the well documented skeletons in his closet from Ohio State, and he's also an extreme right winger & even worse....an election denier to this day. He would have absolutely torpedoed the R's chances of maintaining the house next year, especially if Trump is the nominee. This is why all these NY State R congressmen in battleground districts opposed Jordan last week.

We actually want some nutjob R as Speaker (unless it somehow can end up being Jeffries...who, to be clear, fucking sucks on his own accord, but is still a Dem), b/c he will doom their chances. Bad enough for them already now that McCarthy is out, as his fundraising abilities were the main reason he got it initially. So in theory, fundraising will go down now that he's out. He will now probably wait out all this drama, serve out his term & quietly go to K Street for his big payday..

[M1ke]

Well, they got one:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-10-25/what-to-know-about-trump-backed-speaker-candidate-mike-johnson#xj4y7vzkg

He sounds shitty.....

[allegate]

super shitty.

[Wretchedest]

This is some 20/20 hindsight but probably why we should have tried harder to negotiate with mccarthy

[Jinsai]

aaaaaaand they found someone way worse than McCarthy. Fuck.

[bobbie solo]

good. it's not like any Dem legislation was gonna get through, any gov't shutdowns will clearly be their fault & they will get the blame, and his far right views will become crystallized over the next year. Conventional wisdom is that they will lose seats in next year's election b/c of him & the Dems will regain the House. Considering they were well might lose the Senate, this will most likely be a good thing long term. They can have all their fun now with Hunter Biden bs & the like...all stuff thats a turn off to voters.

[allegate]

Ok, here's what I don't get: They spent three weeks holding out and embarrassing themselves to no end and then suddenly they 100% vote for this prick? what happened in the last closed-door session that made them decide this is the guy? Some of them seemed to grow a spine and suddenly this?

Combine that with Trump's "don't vote" thing and it's just so effing weird.
This is some 20/20 hindsight but probably why we should have tried harder to negotiate with mccarthyuh, no? He was literally slagging the democrats the weekend before the vote. They already look spineless, this would have cemented that.

[TheBang]

Ok, here's what I don't get: They spent three weeks holding out and embarrassing themselves to no end and then suddenly they 100% vote for this prick? what happened in the last closed-door session that made them decide this is the guy? Some of them seemed to grow a spine and suddenly this?
Here's my take on it. The extremists wouldn't support establishment picks, so that tanked McCarthy, Scalise, and Emmer. And the moderates wouldn't support Jordan, not because they necessarily disagreed with his policies and positions, but because he's a raging asshole who tried to bully his way to the chair. They're fine with extremist Johnson because he's polite and inoffensive. So, the inmates are really running the asylum in that caucus.

[Wretchedest]

Ok, here's what I don't get: They spent three weeks holding out and embarrassing themselves to no end and then suddenly they 100% vote for this prick? what happened in the last closed-door session that made them decide this is the guy? Some of them seemed to grow a spine and suddenly this?

Combine that with Trump's "don't vote" thing and it's just so effing weird.uh, no? He was literally slagging the democrats the weekend before the vote. They already look spineless, this would have cemented that.

McCarthy was definitely putting up a fuss but at the end of the day on the dark end of the grey scale he was better for what we need. And this guy seems so much worse. In the house we have almost no power at all, I think that was a possibly, possibly not, a small opportunity to claim some or be harm reductive.

I'm with you on the vote. All the weeks of total chaos and it's like they just woke up one day and were all over it for Johnson. Baffling

[GulDukat]

Sen. Mitch McConnell will step down as Republican leader at the end of the year (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/sen-mitch-mcconnell-will-step-republican-leader-term-rcna99337)

[allegate]

Lauren Boebert’s Son Arrested For Property Theft (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/lauren-boebert-s-son-arrested-for-property-theft/ar-BB1j39z9?OCID=ansmsnnews11)


Police in Rifle, Colorado said Boebert, 18, was arrested in connection to a “recent string of vehicle trespass and property thefts in Rifle.”

Boebert is facing a total of 22 charges, according to arrest records from the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office, including conspiracy to commit a felony, four counts of criminal possession of identification documents and four counts of criminal possession of financial devices, as well as more than a dozen misdemeanors, including criminal trespassing, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and theft of less than $300.

[GulDukat]

Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema will not run for re-election in Arizona (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/rcna124499)

Good riddance.

[GulDukat]

Buck to retire next week, narrowing House GOP majority (https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4526727-buck-retiring-next-week/)