McCarthy is the only speaker in history to be voted out of the job.
He's the only speaker, I believe, who needed 15 votes to get chosen as speaker and did so, in a bit of foreshadowing, having accepted that a simple vote would oust him from that role, which several of his unruly caucus were only too pleased to make. Never had anyone's speakership so underlined the perils of trying to operate with a slim margin when, in addition, you get no respect.
He does this after another rare occurrence: the expulsion of Rep. George Santos. The drama that was the Congressman from NY's 3rd District went on for entirely too long--it probably shouldn't have even begun if political vetting were still a thing among Republicans.
Let me help. This is someone who might be running in the special election to replace Santos:
WASHINGTON — A New York man who is running for the congressional seat previously held by George Santos was convicted this week of charges relating to the Jan. 6 riot after he testified at his trial that he didn't know Congress convened inside the Capitol.
Philip Sean Grillo, of Queens, was found guilty Tuesday of the felony charge of obstruction of an official proceeding, along with a series of misdemeanors like entering restricted grounds and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, the Justice Department said in a news release.
See. Should someone go straightaway from allegedly not knowing Congress convened in the Capitol to working there after having illegally entered it? I think that sounds like the kind of sketchy thing the party should worry about.
I don't know what to tell you about the future of the House GOP other than it won't improve. The party has always had its Steve Stockmans, Louie Gohmerts, Michele Bachmanns and Steve Kings. The speaker pro tempore from earlier this year, Patrick McHenry, is serving out his term and out the door. Rep. Bill Johnson's got something lined up already. And goddamn it, Marjorie Taylor Green is probably a really safe seat for as long as she wants to stay in Congress.
Oh, and their current speaker thinks God told him he's Moses. I kind of wish I was making that up:
Johnson said that once Rep. Kevin McCarthy was removed as Speaker of the House, God began to wake him up in the middle of the night “to speak to me, [telling me] to write things down; plans, procedures, and ideas on how we could pull the [Republican] conference together.”
“At the time, I assumed the Lord was going to choose a new Moses and thank you, Lord, you’re going to allow me to be Aaron to Moses,” Johnson declared.
As one candidate after another stepped forward to run for Speaker but failed, Johnson said that “the Lord kept telling me to wait” but “then at the end, when it toward the end, the Lord said, ‘Now, step forward.”
“Me? I’m supposed to be Aaron,” Johnson said. “No. The Lord said, ‘Step forward.'”
So. Uh. That's them. Plenty of room for improvement--but I'm not seeing it anytime soon. Except for losing the House majority. Now, that would be an improvement.
3 comments:
dude thinks god talks to him. AYFKM?!? this guy should be so far from the levers of power that they deliver his mail on mars.
This is JUST the sort of clever thinking that what passes for Republican "leadership" admires. I expect this is exactly the "caliber" of candidate we'll see more of across the country. Honestly is it wildly different than many back bench Republicans of the past? Our last Republican congressman could have been replaced on the floor of Congress with a cardboard cut out of his silhouette and no one would have noticed. Every election cycle he would crawl out from under his rock and trot out the same old BS about Republican leadership, illegal alien crisis, free spending Democrats, and whatever "reform" smoke the Republicans were trying to blow up our asses. Hoping no one would notice that he missed half the votes when the house was in session, or that his big Ag supporters had no interest in actually doing anything about illegal aliens, or that curbing the Federal budget was only an issue when Democrats were in power, or that any reform he supported was really about favors/handout to the rich and powerful.
The best joke I'm seeing everywhere about Johnson is, "If he thinks he's Moses, he can go get lost in a desert for 40 years and take the rest of the Republicans with him!"
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