The chaos is over, let the chaos begin.

Nor do a growing minority in the POT have a desire to.

 

Their opponents will have their chance to vote them out.

 

Weird how we have such good surveillance of Boebert in a dark theater, but no video of Epstein's cell when he supposedly hung himself. And weirdly enough, no video of whoever left cocaine in the WH. Why do you think this is?

 

The Republican vs. Republican feud behind the government shutdown fight, explained

This month, due to House Republican in-fighting, the US government is on the verge of a shutdown yet again.

It’s clear Congress doesn’t have time to pass the full-year bills it needs to in order to keep the government open before money runs out on September 30. At question is whether the House can keeping the government running by passing a short-term funding bill, known as a continuing resolution or CR, that’s acceptable to the House GOP caucus, Senate Democrats, and President Joe Biden in the time that’s left. Doing so would buy lawmakers the time they need to come to an agreement on longer-term funding bills, while avoiding a shutdown.

The main hold-up so far is that the Republican conference can’t agree on what should be in the short-term bill, or if there even should be a short term bill at all. Although the GOP is broadly fiscally conservative, its far-right members are pushing for more aggressive spending cuts, the attachment of border security policies, and the omission of Ukraine aid in any spending package, short or long term.
https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/9/21/23884114/government-shutdown-republicans-kevin-mccarthy

It's very possible the shutdown will cause the rating agencies to downgrade US debt again. That would be considered a win for the POT's goal of bringing down the country.

 

There's no reason to believe the ranks of the misinformed who swallowed copious amounts of lies and then acted on the belief in them have diminished.

 

Credit where credit is due. I'm very surprised to see a brief moment of honesty from one of the Craziest of the Crazies.

Comer says Kushner ‘crossed the line of ethics’ with Saudi deal
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brie...r-crossed-the-line-of-ethics-with-saudi-deal/

 

Gaetz Threat Already Crumbling Apart

Right after House Republicans went low energy and agreed to a clean 45-day continuing resolution over the weekend, Rep. Matt Gaetz announced he would lower the boom on Speaker McCarthy by filing a so-called “motion to vacate” this week. But that threat already seems shaky at best. There are already almost certainly fanciful threats circulating in right-wing media that Republicans will try to expel Gaetz from Congress if the long-simmering ethics investigation into his druggie, teen-dating past finds evidence of wrongdoing. This report started at Fox and got picked up in the New York Post, Daily Mail, et. al. More significant, very few of the hardliners Gaetz will need are coming to his banner. As far as I can tell only Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona has suggested he might be on board.

Don’t hold your breath thinking that Republicans are going to expel Matt Gaetz. That’s BS fed to pliant press. But the attack articles in the right-wing press confirms what is true, which is that a lot of Republicans are seriously pissed at Gaetz for his central role in their latest high wire debacle.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/gaetz-threat-already-crumbling-apart

Kev looks to be coming out on the other side of this as having strengthened his position.

 

They are voting on Kev's future as Speaker now. If they sack him what kind of Crazy will be next?

 

The message Gaetz and his fellow Repubs are sending is pretty clear. Work with Dems to help govern the country and you are toast.

 

Kevin is gone. Does anyone among the Crazies want the job herding feral Repub cats?

 

MCCARTHY IS OUT

“The office of speaker of the House for the United States House of Representatives is hearby declared vacant,” Rep. Womack said, banging the gavel.

Only the best people.

 

I've got little love for McCarthy, aside from him stepping up in this latest standoff, but how are we supposed to get a new Speaker?

 

Let the blood letting begin.

Seven of the eight Republicans who voted to sink Kevin McCarthy’s speakership were longtime conservative critics. There was one unexpected rebel who McCarthy’s allies say committed the worst betrayal of all.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) triggered audible gasps on the House floor when she joined seven hardliners in torpedoing McCarthy during Tuesday’s historic ouster vote. That decision is now clouding her future in the GOP, not to mention imperiling the status of her relatively competitive seat next year, as scores of angry Republicans mull possible retribution.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/05/the-gop-unsheathes-its-knives-for-nancy-mace-00120118

 

There is no shortage of Repub Crazies.

 

True, but there's a big shortage of crazies that can get enough of a vote to win. Seems like the "Big Tent" has burned down.

 

It's down to Scalise and Jordan now, with Gym getting Trump's endorsement. They are both solidly in the Crazy camp.

 

Justice Department and House Republicans in standoff over FBI witness testimony

WashingtonCNN —
The Justice Department has directed an FBI special agent not to testify before the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee in a dispute over the agent’s request to have both his personal lawyer and a Justice Department attorney present during his deposition, a source familiar with the matter tells CNN.

In a letter obtained exclusively by CNN, the department on Wednesday accused the Republican-led committee of “needless escalation” of a routine matter, as the Biden administration and House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, a Republican, battle over GOP claims that the FBI played a role in social media suppressing a story about Hunter Biden’s laptop in 2020.

Larry Berger, an attorney representing Chan, says that his client has from the beginning requested that two attorneys be present during his interview – a private attorney to represent his personal interests and an agency counsel to represent the interests of the Justice Department and the FBI.

“There is no reason in logic or law that allows the committee to refuse his personal choice,” Berger told CNN. “This is an utterly arbitrary decision without basis in law or rule.”

Berger has represented federal agents in dozens of interviews over the years with congressional committees and says Chan’s request is standard and it has never been an issue for other witnesses in congressional investigations.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/05/poli...ff-house-republicans-fbi-testimony/index.html

“There is no reason in logic or law that allows the committee to refuse his personal choice,” Berger told CNN. What does that matter to The Crazy?

 

McCarthy flips, doesn’t rule out being Speaker again 

Washington experienced a sense of déjà vu Monday as the House prepared to pick a Speaker and a familiar face threw his hat in the ring. 

You read that right: Erstwhile Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — who was publicly ousted from his post last week, making him the first Speaker in history to be voted out during his term — said Monday that he’d be open to retaking the position.
https://thehill.com/newsletters/mor...hy-flips-doesnt-rule-out-being-speaker-again/

Is there anyone with less self respect than Kevin, besides Boebert, who allowed herself to be groped in public.

 

Santos Indicted For ‘Credit Card Scheme’ First Reported By TPM

In January, TPM broke the story that donors to Rep. George Santos’ (R-NY) 2022 campaign were charged for contributions they didn’t intend to give. On Tuesday, roughly nine months after that story, federal prosecutors in New York charged Santos with credit card fraud and identity theft related to a “scheme” that mirrors the allegations first revealed in TPM’s reporting.

When we first reported on the Santos credit card shenanigans, we also found donors who said they got questionable charges from Tina Forte, a Republican who ran against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (R-NY). Forte, who was among the January 6 rally VIPs and who livestreamed from the U.S. Capitol that day, is running again this year. Her 2022 campaign has multiple links to Santos and his business associates. Forte was paid $14,000 by her own campaign, which also made payments to the Santos-linked companies.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo/house-republicans-bet-on-divine-intervention

George has got to go.

 

Scalise Wins Speakership Nomination, But House Republican Circus May Continue

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) emerged victorious from House Republicans’ closed-door, secret ballot speakership nomination vote Wednesday, though there might be more drama to come.

Prior to the vote, caucus members had tabled a rule that would have lifted the threshold for winning to that which the candidates will need on the House floor. That full vote — with its higher requirements — could come as soon as Wednesday afternoon.

On their way out of the meeting, a few members — including Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Max Miller (R-OH) — told reporters that they still intended to vote for Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH). Reps. Chip Roy (R-TX) and Michael Cloud (R-TX) tweeted shortly after that they would not vote for Scalise this afternoon, due to their opposition to a full House vote potentially coming so soon after the nominating meeting. A critical mass of such holdouts could sink Scalise’s chances.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/scalise-house-republican-speaker

The proverbial lessor of two evils, but not by much.

 

GOP lawmaker wants to expel scandal-plagued Rep. George Santos
By Azi Paybarah

 

Credit to them. But he should have been expelled months ago.

 

For what? Lying to get elected? Indictments are another matter.

 

Steve Scalise does not appear to have votes to become speaker as GOP remains divided

Republican lawmakers remained divided Thursday after nominating Rep. Steve Scalise as their candidate for speaker of the House of Representatives, raising the prospect that the lower chamber will once again face a drawn-out election with multiple rounds of voting.

The GOP majority leader from Louisiana does not appear to have the 217 Republican votes needed to win the speaker’s gavel at this time given the tight margin in the closely divided House.

Scalise secured his party’s nomination Wednesday after defeating Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio in a narrow 113-to-99 vote during a closed-door meeting.

“The conversations we’ve been having with my colleagues over the last few days leading up to this show that there’s a resolve that we need to get back to work,” Scalise said after winning the nomination Wednesday.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/12/ste...to-become-speaker-as-gop-remains-divided.html

Is dysfunction really a strong enough word to describe the POT shyteshow? Steve Bannon, once in a position of real power given to him by Don, said his goal was to dismantle the administrative state. Just as Putin must be smiling at the chaos Trumpery has created, and the role he played in it, so too is Steve.

 

He had previously been charged with wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds and making materially false statements to the House. The credit card scheme isn't his first rodeo.