The House And Its Emperor With No Clothes

 

The circus is back in town, so send in the clowns (our emphasis):

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's Republicans will face a first test of their control of both chambers of Congress on Friday when they decide whether to keep Mike Johnson in the powerful role of Speaker of the House of Representatives.

House Republicans have proven themselves an unruly bunch over the past two years -- first electing Johnson after taking the unprecedented step of ousting his predecessor Kevin McCarthy in the middle of his term -- and will have a scant 219-215 majority when their new members are sworn in on Friday.

 

Trump sought to clear the way for a smooth ride after he endorsed Johnson on Monday following weeks of uncertainty.

 

"Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hard working, religious man. He will do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN," Trump posted online.

 

Johnson this week has tried to project confidence. "We have the smallest margin in U.S. history. We’ll have a margin of probably two votes ... but I think we'll get it done," the speaker told Fox News on Thursday about his chances. "We cannot afford any palace drama here."  [Ed.:  easy prediction -- there will be continual palace drama there and in the MF's very- White House.]

 

Maverick Republican Representative Thomas Massie, a regular thorn in the saddle for his party's leaders, has vowed to vote against Johnson. Several other party members have been coy about whether they would back him.

 

More than one vote against Johnson, or multiple Republican abstentions in the form of "present" votes, would be enough to block Johnson's re-election if all Democrats vote for their leader, Hakeem Jeffries, as they are expected to do.  [snip]

 

Massie argued on social media this week against Johnson's leadership abilities within the Republican conference.

 

"He won’t tell the President what is achievable and what is not achievable in the House, and he lacks the situational awareness himself to know what can pass and what cannot," Massie said, "The emperor has no clothes and the entire conference knows it but few will say it. The general public knows it too."

 

We've had enough portrayals of the MF as an emperor with no clothes;  now we have to try to erase the image of MAGA Mike "New Moses" Johnson prancing around exhibiting his limitations?!    At least give him the MF- amended Ten Eight Five Two What Commandments? tablets to hide what little he has!

 

One of the few MAGA failures in the last election was that the MAGAts couldn't expand their majority in the House -- they actually lost ground.  Assuming MAGA Mike is eventually elected Speaker with less margin for error, this assortment of misfits, loons, extremists, and "chaos monkeys" will have even more trouble getting anything done on their own, especially when it comes to the MF's fascist Project 2025 agenda.  Democrats will truly be the party in charge if they stick together and force the MAGAts to perform just the most basic functions of government.

(Image:  119th Congress Republican MAGAts --"Hold our beer!")

Same Clown Car, Different Driver

 

It can't be emphasized enough (and now more and more Christofascist Republicans are emphasizing it too) -- the dysfunction of their House caucus hasn't been changed by new Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson: 

The House GOP has descended, as one member put it, into “schoolyard bully bullshit.”

Republicans cannot agree on basic policy priorities or even fund the government without a majority of Democratic votes. Individual lawmakers are going rogue on the House floor with theatrical efforts to censure colleagues and impeach members of the Biden administration. A growing number of lawmakers are choosing to retire because they feel it’s impossible to get anything done.

Amid months of intra-GOP drama, this week stands out: Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy was accused of kidney-punching one of his detractors. House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) lashed out at a Democratic colleague, calling him a “liar” and a “smurf.” Then on Wednesday, conservatives blocked another GOP spending bill, forcing Speaker Mike Johnson to send members home early on a losing note.

Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.), who compared Republicans’ infighting to grade school bullying, said Johnson was doing his best with the party’s slim margins, but the party is still a mess.

“It’s the same clown car with a different driver,” Armstrong said. And unless the GOP could figure out a way to regain control of the floor, he warned: “We essentially don’t have the majority.”

With the next government shutdown threat looming in January, it's unclear how MAGA Mike will maintain his ordained- by- God Speakership in the face of rebellious nihilist dumdums like these:

Adding to the boiling tensions, House conservatives on Wednesday tanked another appropriations bill that they described as weak — and took a victory lap just after Johnson was forced to cancel votes and send members home through Thanksgiving.

“We’ve had enough. We’re sending a shot across the bow,” House Freedom Caucus Chair Scott Perry (R-Pa.) told reporters after the vote, flanked by a half-dozen other conservatives.

Perry was one of many hardliners who took aim at fellow Republicans on Wednesday, demanding Johnson show them a wholesale plan to cut spending rather than resurrecting individual bills that keep floundering on the floor. They urged the speaker to prove that he is willing to fight for conservative priorities, many of which are DOA with the Democratic-controlled Senate and the White House.

“One thing. I want my Republican colleagues to give me one thing. One. That I can go campaign on and say we did. One,” conservative Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said in a floor speech Wednesday. (Democrats wasted no time in turning his statement into campaign fodder.)...

There'll be plenty of fodder between now and election day 2024, count on it.  Thanks to these working- hard- at- hardly- working incompetent cranks, this is on track to be the least productive Congress since 1931-32, the early days of the Great Depression. 

The Christofascist coup caucus has devolved into petty feuding, backstabbing, and deep ego butthurt that won't be healed soon, if ever.  The nihilism of their cult leader has infected a critical mass of their caucus;  their true goal is to delegitimize institutions like Congress to pave the way for unitary, fascist government under the Malignant Loser.  They're clowns, but that doesn't make them any less dangerous to our democracy.

(Cartoon:  Nick Anderson / Baltimore Sun/ Reform Austin News, TX)

Cartoon of the Day

(click to enlarge)

With wingnut con man Rep. Paul "Lyin'" Ryan running like mad away from the Speaker position being offered to him on a platter, House Rethugs are rudderless for the time being.  Enjoy the schadenfreude of watching a party that is causing its own unraveling after years of appealing to the worst in our natures.  The Rethuglican / New Confederate / Stupid Party's corporate country club wing thought that they could control the pitchfork peasants of the base, but they miscalculated, and now the mouth breathers have enough representation in Congress to create havoc.  Salon's Andrew O'Herir has a worthwhile read on the background leading up to the "Suicide Caucus."

(cartoon:  Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)