comment: >
  
  This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 92%. (I'm a bot)
  
  
  To his credit, despite his well-documented lack of policy chops, McCarthy did read his party well: He knew that the path to power lay only in winning over his party's right flank, and he has spent the last several years slavishly cozying up to it.
  What McCarthy failed to consider was how hard it would be for him to meet the most critical demands of the hard-liners: for him to not be Kevin McCarthy.
  McCarthy's fatal mistake was his failure to recognize that the right doesn't care about what he can offer them, because they have no interest in actually using it for anything.
  
  
  Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: McCarthy^#1 party^#2 House^#3 want^#4 member^#5
context: But as Josh Marshall wrote, this tidy explanation ignores a larger context: Those who are seeking to flex their newfound majority power in the House Republican caucus don’t want government to function. They don’t care that these stunts hurt their party or the country. These stunts are the whole point of being in government. 
  McCarthy’s fatal mistake was his failure to recognize that the right doesn’t care about what he can offer them, because they have no interest in actually using it for anything. They just want his head, and the thrill of going on television to boast about the decapitation. It’s just vibes, all the way down.
  
  Republicans have been in burn it all down mode. They know they are on their way out. But they forgot about the crazy Republicans that want to be popular more than they care about staying in politics and following orders. 
  
  They don’t want policy; they want airtime. >
  
  Starvation Politics, If you don't like if starve it of funding and then call it a failure when it fails. >
  
  Speaking of that, what happened to the lady on the hunger strike? That still going? >
  
  To shreds you say? >
  
  No, not for a long while, by the looks of her >
  
  Republican speaker of the house is a pretty cursed job. 
  You got Newt Gingrich, who was just evil. Then Dennis Hastert, who was a pedo. Then Boehner who was driven to retire and is now a cannabis lobbyist. Then you have Paul Ryan who went from GOP golden child to more or less completely out of politics after he was speaker. >
  
  Such a rich and storied history of bullshit and blind obstruction >
  
  And I'm OK  with that. Let them eat themselves up. Leopards all the way down. >
  
  Enemy of my enemy, and all that. >
  
  The enemy of my enemy is still my enemy, but I do like watching them fight. >
  
  They will weaken eachother and then we can go in and finish them both. >
  
  In game >
  
  You want to really humiliate him?  Vote for Jeffries. >
  
  Do you think this is a likely scenario? I can't imagine there's any other decent contenders for the GOP to look to. >
  
  If they can find 6 republicans who want to end this nonsense, and vote for Jeffries. It’s highly unlikely, but one can hope. >
  
  More likely get them to no-show for the vote or just vote present >
  
  It’s also all about McCarthy’s ego. “I alone deserve to be Speaker. I will sell my soul and the country for that title”. >
  
  I wouldn't give into those fascist weirdos either.  Even if it's purely for self-interest I'm glad some Republicans are standing up to the most toxic elements of their party. >
  
  As much as I disagree with Boebert and co. she’s right that McCarthy cannot command his caucus. He doesn’t have a right to be Speaker, it’s not his turn, he’s failed. In the past candidates for Speaker bow out before the first vote to stop the humiliation of continually failing to unite on the House floor. He’s burned, the party has to move on >
  
  And let's remember, in the past McCarthy has done that very thing. After Boehner McCarthy wanted to be speaker. He sat down to allow Ryan to be speaker. >
  
  I think it was Liz Cheney that said given the choice between doing what's right and doing what's best for his political future, McCarthy will choose his political future every time. >
  
  "If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism, they will abandon democracy." >
  
  McCarthy isn't even abandoning the procedure. He's just losing the vote over and over again. If Trump was a more effective leader he would privately ask him to step down and threaten to do so publicly the next time. >
  
  Trump hasn't grown emotionally since he was a pre-schooler, though.  The 'demand the thing you want relentlessly until they give in' is a technique he's never seen the need to give up. >
  
  Because Trump is entirely focused on the performance rather than the results as well. Throwing an endless fit looks like a demonstration of strength to idiots, and idiots don't pay attention to what actually happened as a result of that tantrum, so... here we are. >
  
  Trump is all about appearance, not substance. Like a little kid, he's happy as long as the wet rock is shiny and angry when it turns dull because the water evaporated. >
  
  Probably the only time I’ll agree with the likes of Boebert, Gossar and Gaetz. They’re awful humans who get off on watching the world burn. But McCarthy is a spineless, power hungry loser who let these lunatics run wild for years, so I’m all for seeing him humiliated. >
  
  Right?! Where is all this Kevin McCarthy love coming from?
  The Speaker of the House, by definition, has to speak for a majority of the House. He doesn't. It's time for him to accept that. They need to find someone these 20 can support. That's the reality of the situation.
  The establishment Republicans need to view these 20 like another party. They (the establishment Republicans) don't have an outright majority, so they need to negotiate with these 20, and they'll have to make some concessions. That's how these things work.
  Edit: Removed erroneous statement that McCarthy has already been speaker. >
  
  The moment republicans call these 20 a member of another party - is the moment Jeffries becomes house majority leader and democrats are in charge again. >
  
  How would that change the number of votes? >
  
  If the Republicans break..then they aren’t the majority party anymore. Democrats would be. 
  McCarthy is only considered the lead candidate because republicans are the majority party. He’s received less votes than the house minority leader. 
  Arguably Jeffries should be in the speaker office temporarily, not McCarthy…but GOP is the ruling party, so decorum goes to them. >
  
  A majority is half the seats plus one.  Doesn't matter what party they are or are not from. >
  
  Jeffries has held the lead in every vote. 
  The house minority leader is closer to the speakership than the house majority leader. 
  As George W Bush once said. That’s some weird shit. >
  
  Boehner summed up the so-called Freedom Caucus pretty well 6 years ago:
  
  “They can’t tell you what they’re for. They can tell you everything they’re against. They’re anarchists. They want total chaos. Tear it all down and start over. That’s where their mind-set is.” >
  
  Agree with all of that, except the "start over" part. They've not thought that far ahead. >
  
  Boehner gave them too much credit. I think a number of them are foreign assets who want to destroy democracy. >
  
  
  a number of them are foreign assets
  
  Considering how many of them voted against aid packages to Ukraine? Most certainly. >
  
  Anyone against aid to Ukraine needs to be extremely cautious about their reasoning. It is most likely coming from the Kremlin.
  The reason I say this, is because aid to Ukraine is a no-brainer. We're grinding down a military adversary, no American lives on the line, for a tiny tiny slice of our huge defense budget. Russia's been doing itself no favors, either, by committing war crime after war crime. They love to "whatabout" with US war crimes, but that loses its impact when you absolutely rocket past the bar set by the US. Point is, Russia is generating moral impetus to back Ukraine.
  I'd really like to hear a reason for not sending aid that isn't just the usually conservative vaguery of "Taxes bad! Spending bad!" or the threat of "Don't piss off Russia!" >
  
  Its even less than that really. Some of the "money" we are sending Ukraine were weapons that would have been retired and sent to warehouses to sit for years anyway. >
  
  Weapons that were designed specifically to fight russia >
  
  I have to admit that humiliating Kevin isn’t a bad goal. If anyone deserves the humiliation, he does >
  
  Jmo , he likes it 
  Not knocking fetishes, ..
  But he likes it 
  Or perhaps, if I'm wong as to humiliation fetish, maybe he is a greedy ego dumbass >
  
  Spineless, cowardly, greedy ego dumb-ass >
  
  it's the little things that make life so grand >
  
  As a palliative care patient now, 
  You nailed it. 
  It's the little things in life that bring me joy. 
  I know I'm 1 step before hospice, 
  But ya know what? Im a stubborn , warrior, and this shit is pure laughing for me. Laughter the best medicine for me. 
  Thing is, I'm terrified for our country, our nation..
  Im ok when my time comes, no fear .. but I do worry for our nation. 
  It's painful and sad to see our country going through such a divide and shit show 
  Jmo >
  
  Don't worry, we'll keep fighting. >
  
  Did they evict the squatter today? >
  
  
  Rep. Nancy Pelosi: "I'm saddened by all of this. You can just imagine what it would be like if a woman were holding up the opening of Congress, the swearing in of members, the enabling of staff to be hired to do the people's work. Can you just imagine for a person of color?" >
  
  Uh, isn't Boebert a woman holding up the opening of Congress? >
  
  With no context, I assume she was referring to Mccarthy for still trying? Just a guess though. >
  
  That makes sense. >
  
  Humiliation is at least a goal. Look at Trump. >
  
  Shit is going to get real if they nominate Trump for Speaker today. >
  
  Tomorrow. It's all just blowing smoke until 'the Jan 6th' anniversary. They will elect trump. Joe and Kamala need EXTRA SECURITY! >
  
  They do have another end goal: paralyzing the government and defaulting on the debt.  This is what Putin instructed them to do. >
  
  They don't have nearly enough to freeze things until October, especially since it only takes 6 switchovers to get Jeffries in as Speaker. And believe me, if this goes more than a month, they'll find 6. >
  
  We'll see.  The Republican party has already gotten us to the verge of default before, this isn't the first time they try. >
  
  I disagree.   
  While I don't think the 20 or so nutters who are opposing McCarthy are particularly smart or strategic, the real politic of the situation favors them.
  
  There are not enough Freedom Caucus Republicans to elect a speaker from their ranks and they will get no support from Democrats.
  There are not enough non-Freedom Caucus Republicans to elect McCarthy without either their support or Democrat support.
  McCarthy is more likely to make concessions to them than convince 12 or so Democrats to support him or vote "present". 
  They recognize that Kevin McCarthy has no firm principles and is only interested in power.  He has no red line.  They have the capacity to grant him the trappings of power - Speaker of the House, while they hold his balls in a vice.
  
  So their end game is to squeeze as many concessions as possible out of his ambition to be Speaker.   
  The one thing they probably haven't thought through is that they face the same dilemma as the Dems in making a deal with McCarthy.  Once he is made speaker, there is no way to enforce any deal they make with him.     Six months down the road, McCarthy could go back on anything he has promised as it is far more difficult to remove a speaker than to elect one. >
  
  These are the completely predictable results of when a political party actively recruits the most antagonistic, paranoid, conspiracy minded, narcissistic members of society into their ranks… Big surprise!!! GQP cannot cooperate, even within their own tribe. >
  
  That's because they don't have a tribe. They're all out for what's best for themselves and fuck everyone else, including the people that elected them. >
  
  They are fascists. They are traitors. They are insurrectionists. They should not have a voice in government. Yet they are driving the clown car. >
  
  I'll allow it. >
  
  Becoming the Speaker of the House is hard enough in a functional political party; it’s extremely difficult in one as rowdy and ungovernable as the current GOP caucus and nigh on impossible when the margin of error is only four votes. >
  
  That's not true, they don't even need that many defectors and they could gotten a coalition govt with the Democrats... Like how a democracy is supposed to work.
  The Republicans bullshit secular she exclusionary shit show is decades in the making.  
  7 Republicans could go vote with Democrats and all this nonsense could be over >
  
  You’d think in a functioning system the person with the most votes would win speakership forcing both sides to actually be more prepared for when the vote comes down. >
  
  That is plurality rule, not majority rule.  Which is not a great idea. >
  
  Republican voters hate him, so I don't see how this is a bad thing. >
  
  Exactly >
  
  I'm totally fine with it! >
  
  Being a republican speaker is getting harder and harder. So anyway… >
  
  You love to see it >
  
  Good dose of Schadenfreude for poor Kevin. Can’t think of a person more worthy that him >
  
  I’m good, let the infighting continue >
  
  Bullshit. He's conceded so many things already.
  They want everything on their checklist, and after he caves in all of that, then they'll ask for a speaker that they want.
  GOP leadership has no control over most of their caucus, so they have no clue how to negotiate this stuff without giving up everything.
  If people like McCarthy actually gave a shit about America and a functioning government, then they would be secretly working behind the scenes to get the votes for Jeffries to make him speaker and end this. But they don't. They want power, even if they know it comes with a disaster. >
  
  Invasive species always gets out of control. >
  
  Clearly their end goal is to get him to give up on trying to be speaker. I’m not sure how that doesn’t count. >
  
  Kevin better hurry up and finish reading "The Art of The Deal" before it's too late! >
  
  So much for serving the American people. >
  
  We are all okay with watching McCarthy fulfill his kink. >
  
  The dominatrix in me, is savoring this. Insert, wicked Cheshire grin here. 
  However, it's the sub who gets his fetishes catered to. 
  The dom only plays the part. 
  The submissive gets his fetishes edged. 
  Jmo 
  W/ that said, he must have a humiliation fetish
  Or perhaps, he is ego greedy, or just a dumbass 
  Jmo 
  Passing popcorn >
  
  Very informative, thank you for this TED Talk. >
  
  Ted talk? 
  I'm aware of what that is..
  But truly, I was expressing my opinion >
  
  Oh I know, I didn't mean that in a bad way. I honestly found your response to be informative. >
  
  Fyi, I followed you thing is, at my age, palliative care, old hen latter gen x, lib Texas filly, I just speak as my opinion
  I do want to see our country get it's shit together, I worry for our nation.
  Im laughing,b but pissed off as to the shit show 
  There is no such thing as perfect,... but for ffs, we have to meet in the middle somewhere for the good of our nation, yet history can sometimes edge itself 
  Jmo 
  Passing you buttered popcorn, and a few edibles
  👌 >
  
  As an aging GenXer, I am right there with you. >
  
  And making him weaker than he already is. And I'm good with that. >
  
  They don't even have to want to humiliate him.  They can just not want him to be speaker.  Simple as that.  Why should they be forced to vote for a dude they don't respect, and have no desire see be their leader? >
  
  ... and glorifying themselves. >
  
  Not that these buffoons are capable of being rational actors, but... has anyone made it clear precisely what their beef is? Isn't he just as bad as all of them?