>

Do we have any evidence than another R is actively plotting a serious play to be Speaker?
Biggs isn't any better. He voted right along with Greene, Gaetz, Gosar, Gohmert, Boebert, Roy, Norman, and Massie. He's McCarthy wearing a different tie.
He is a multi-millionaire who earned his riches the old fashion way … through blind luck. Back in 1993, Biggs was handed a $10 million check by Ed McMahon and Dick Clark as the winner of the American Family Sweepstakes. >

I’d argue Biggs is worse. Kevin doesn’t have a spine, he’ll go wherever he can get a win. Biggs would double down on extreme right views.
I’m holding out for the 2% chance Kevin can’t get the votes and somehow someone a bit more moderate/center-right takes it with support from Dems. >

I mean, if the dems vote as a whole, they only need a few Republicans to join them. >

This is true, but it seems unlikely to me that the 5 or so that are voting against Kevin would take someone more “moderate”. This seems like the opponents just using leverage to get concessions out of McCarthy (which they’ve done successfully so far) before finally giving him the gavel. >

Those aren't the people that other Congressional Republicans are threatening to reach out to. Supporters for Kevin are threatening that they might just go to the more conservative Democrats and get them on board with voting for a more moderate Republican Leader of the House to completely bypass the MAGA crazies.
This would be fucking amazing if they do so because it would be the MAGA's forcing Congress to actually function like it's supposed to (Republicans forced to moderate and work with some Democrats due to a highly contentious and divided election cycle). >

Right, but im saying the 5 MAGA would flip to yes’s on Kevin after getting their concessions, before they’d allow a vote on a more moderate person to proceed.
It’s like 2018. Some progressives were making a fuss about Nancy. And that’s all good to get some concessions out of the speaker. But when all is said and done they would’ve never actually defected, handing the gavel to someone that’s much more ideologically distant from them. >

I wonder if the MAGA plan on nominating Trump to the speakership. >

Trump won't do it.
Going from president to speaker is a demotion in terms of power. 
Trump wants "his" White House back and nothing less >

Not if the deranged plan is to somehow get rid of Biden and Harris and Trump slides into the presidency. This plan has been floated by the MAGA on several occasions. As crazy as it may seem, I don’t put it past the MAGA. >

Ah, impeach them both and ship them to the floating barges in the Bay of Pigs that Supreme Court Justice Thomas's wife Ginii was texting Mark Meadows about. This would clear the path for Trump to bypass an election and slide right into the Oval like he was on a slip and slide full of tinkle and ketchup. >

More like assassinate them both, but yes, that would be why Trump would accept the speakership. He probably doesn’t have the votes for it though. >

I think Trump is delusional enough to believe all the GOP will fall in behind him >

As unpopular as Trump is nationally, he could still probably get a large chunk of Republicans primaried.
In my home state there's a Republican turned Independent state congressman who put it best, "You can't win a primary without Trump but you also can't win a general election with him."
Trump is like meth for Republicans, he makes them crazy, they're hopelessly addicted to him, and it's only going to get worse for them the longer they stay on this ride.
"Shutup, you're the one with the problem, I can quit anytime." - Republicans in 2023 >

He’s only meth bc consevatives primed their voters for an extremist for decades. Trump was enough of an outsider that he didn’t dog whistle like the main party, and the base loved him for it.
They are a victim of their own rhetoric becoming policy. >

Trump was merely a catalyst for the metastasis of a long-running rot present within the Republican. For decades, cynical ploys like "The Southern Strategy" and the abject sensationalism of conservative media had been their go-to plays. The disappearance of anything remotely resembling policy along with the party eating itself alive is merely chickens coming home to roost. >

Way to start off... internal fights.  The GOP is a cluster-F. >

The chaos they are creating is going to be the top line in the campaigns against them in 2024.
The crazies are likely to keep their seats, but the Toss Up, and Lean-R districts are going to go blue. >

Imagine thinking this Trump sucking chode isn't far right enough.. >


Those lawmakers’ demands have included allowing any one member to force a vote on the House floor to depose a speaker.

Why would you want that ever? But especially on your own party? >

Because it takes away McCarthy's power to do anything to punish or stifle any member. If he tries to kick someone off a committee or censure one for hate speech, they can call for a vote to replace him.
It probably won't work, but it mucks things up for awhile and he has to do the same song and dance to get 218 votes again. >

The entire thing is idiotic. Democrats will be able to call for a vote and force the house into a constant state of having to vote to retain the speaker. >

Typically the “number” of representatives needed to call for a vote to replace the speaker (known as a motion to vacate the chair) only looks at members of the majority party. Under current rules, it takes a majority of members of the majority party to lodge a motion to vacate; it is irrelevant how many members of the minority party support it.  So, this change wouldn’t give the democrats any power because, while lowering the threshold needed for a motion to vacate, it will still only look at the number of members of the majority party who join the motion to determine if that threshold is met. >

Interesting. So I wonder who or what determines a member of the "majority party"...
Can say a member of the Democratic party decide one day they are a republican, and suddenly call for a vote to vacate? >

iirc you have to declare for one of the two parties. There is not independent portion of a committee, so if you want to be on a committee you have to declare for either party to get assigned.    
In the case of Bernie even though he is voted in as a independent, he is under the democrat banner. This would be the case with Sinema who would be a independent, but must declare either R/D to get committee assignments. >

One thing is clear - if Mccarthy pulls this off he will have many owners. >

A few things could happen, but really, its difficult reading a party that, within the past few years, seems to recruit congressional candidates from r/PublicFreakout instances.  
Colliding with an increasing roster of full-on contrarians and public freakouters is the standard Post-Nixon movement conservative Republican tendency to fall in line and vote as a monolith no matter what. 
I suspect that either Republicans will coalesce around a hollowed-out shell of McCarthy that they can pinata around for a few months, or he will be the sacrificial authority figure put forth before the MAGAs and fail the initial speaker vote. If that happens, whichever person is further right that is put up for a vote will win, because the swing-district Republicans will vote as a monolith with whatever the rest of the party tells them, and the Freedom Caucus will demand one of their own or will block the necessary votes to confirm a speaker. 
There will never be a bipartisan vote for speaker in 2023. Anyone who were to receive votes from Democratic congressmembers is radioactive to nearly all Republicans moving forward, making their speakership last no longer than a week, 2 weeks tops. >

Why couldn't enough Democrats agree to support any moderate Republican? Wouldn't a majority of Republicans want something like that?  Maybe it's better politically for the Democrats if the House is turned into a joke by the crazies of the party. A bunch of insane investigations going nowhere won't be good for them in the next election. >

Hard to imagine a republican that would take that deal.  It would end their career. >

Not if they're in a safe, but relatively sane district. Some rich suburban one probably. >

And if the democrats get them to flip with the promise of not primarying them in 24 >

They'd get primary by a maga rep and likely get death threats from the base asap >

Nelson haha.gif >

How would a rule be written that would allow only the members of the GOP majority to bring motions to vacate? >

the motions to vacate only apply to the majority party is what I gathered. that's how it's written in law. >

Republicans are looking at endless battles between the slightly rational and the completely batshit crazy. >

I would not say that this is a promising start for their majority. >

McCarthy is basically going to have to show up every day in a MAGA hat. Otherwise they aren't going to vote for him. >

I think he has that hat tattood on his head after kissing the ring after Jan 6. >

This term is going to end up being way more entertaining than I imagined! >

I don't know about you guys but I'm super psyched for the "Will Be Wild" rally that Pelosi is holding tomorrow so she can stop Cons from taking power. Be at the Capitol at 11:30 AM!! >

If the Dems could trust McCarthy, they could extract some promises from him and give him 10 Dem votes.

Choice committee assignments for effective Democrats, and
Keep the MAGA nuts off of all of the important committees.

The alternatives are

10 Republicans could join the Democrats and then we would see another Democrat Speaker, or
Let the votes go through hundreds of rounds without electing a Speaker. The House does not come into existence until after a Speaker is chosen.

The Speaker of the House is more like a Prime Minister than the President of the Senate, or the Senate Majority Leader. I find it a bit remarkable that Speakers have been chosen on the first Vote every time except once in the last 100 years. Prime Ministers of the UK and Israel often take many ballots to get selected. >


If the Dems could trust McCarthy, they could extract some promises from him and give him 10 Dem votes.
• Choice committee assignments for effective Democrats, and
• Keep the MAGA nuts off of all of the important committees.

Would love to see it, if only for the reactions of all the QAnoners who call McCarthy a RINO. >

Honestly, it would be pretty hilarious. GOP would flip out, McCarthy would never have a stable leadership. They would be voting for him to vacate the chair non-stop. >

Every single one of these guys is an asshole. >

What happens if the GOP fails to elect a Speaker? >

It's not the GOP, it's the 435 members of the house with 218 being the magic winning number.
If the first ballot doesn't have someone getting 218 votes, then they do a second ballot. If the 437th ballot doesn't have someone getting 218 votes, then they do a 438th ballot. And so on. >

He doesn't have to have 218 votes if the remaining vote "present" instead. Pelosi secured the speakership with 216 votes last time. Voting "present" doesn't count as votes that hurt McCarthy. Rather, it lowers the total pool of votes. >

I don’t doubt they will all fall inline and vote for that Russian trader McCarthy but if they didn’t what could happen? The Dems would secure enough to vote in their own speaker? >

I don't understand why enough Democrats could not just agree to support any moderate Republican. Not much is going to get done with nuts in charge and no bipartisanship. >

There is no such thing as a moderate Republican. >

this. perpetrators and enablers are interchangeable cogs in the fascist machine. >

I wish natural selection would play out better. >

Do it. Tear each other apart. See how far it'll get you. >

What an episode for The West Wing. Hey Sorkin, hope you’re writing! >

Sorkin is more drama than comedy. >

And the circus has begun. >

Begun? 
Man, we are in triple OT. >

Lmao! Couldn’t happen to a better weasel. 
I apologize to weasels >

Can you imagine, even for a minute, having to bow down to the likes of Lauren Boebert (3 time failed GED test) and Matt Gaetz (accused child sex trafficker) to get a job that you've wanted for years? To grovel, scrape and crawl before the likes of those two? Any person with an ounce of self respect would nope their way out of that. He'd be better off trying to strike a deal with the Democrats via a few moderates in his party then to perform such self-abasing  and undignified behaviour. Then again, there is no pole low enough that most GOP politicians won't try to limbo under. What a disgraceful lot. >

Does Methy Taylor Greene have McCarthy in a gimp mask with a ball gag? I really kind of want to be a fly on the wall in the repug-licans cloak room. I bet that one young congressman, you know the one who got caught on film dry humping his male cousins face, could really give the world some great details about the cloak room parties. >

I thought Cawthorn lost his primary? >

Oh he did, but he went to a bunch of parties with folks he "admired". These folks invited him to orgies and did coke in front of him. He talked about it and then got shoved out the door by those same folks. >

Lol >

One thing the UK does much better than us is to sack people. What was their last PM's name? Nobody remembers, sacked. That one dude was popular for a while, then sacked. Boris Johnson didn't get sacked nearly fast enough but they sacked him. They'll just up and decide it's time to take out the trash when shit goes wrong. We have the same people at the top for decades it feels like. >

None of those people were sacked. >

Hilarious >

Just the way McCarthy is desperately groveling shows how weak of a speaker he would be. >

Dont vote for controlled Puppet !!  no one wants MTG or trump as ruler. >

"Let's give the crazies some power and see what happens!" >

Republicans seem to have forgotten that Trump owns them. Even if he only has a handful of dir hard loyalists left in congress. You better listen to them. Trump is the only thing that matters to your voters so fall in line you fucking goblins. >

Old white men. So fun. I have to write more words or this subreddit will shut me down so let me keep going about white old men. They will receive their reward. >

Oh no. Which white old guy will control the future?