Chaos in Congress

[N.E. Brigand]

Two Democrats missed last night's vote on whether or not to adjourn. Had they been there, they could have forced the voting to go on, because the motion to adjourn passed by just two votes. This morning, those Democrats apologized in a party caucus meeting. (That said, two Republicans also missed that vote.)

- - - - - - - - -
Anyway, nominees are now being made for a seventh vote.

[Frelga]

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Matt Gaetz voted for Donald Trump.

[N.E. Brigand]

It took nine ballots to choose a Speaker in 1923, the last time this happened. So far today, McCarthy failed to win on the seventh and eighth ballots (the latter is still underway, but there are already 10 votes for other Republicans with more than half the votes still to come), so we will have at least nine ballots this time.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

He appears to have lost the ninth round as well, so it will be the most in 164 years!

[Dave_LF]

If I'm not mistaken, someone from outside of congress can be elected speaker of the house, is that correct? Is all of this turmoil intentional so that such a suggestion is put forward? If a non-elected (by the American people) person becomes speaker, are they still 3rd in line to the presidency?

It's never been done, but you're right that the Speaker need not be a member of Congress -- and there's been lots of talk lately about that possibility.

Kyle Cheney (the reporter, no connection to those other Cheneys) tweeted a thread yesterday claiming his lawyer buddy told him that while this is a popular belief, it is at best legally questionable and would certainly result in court challenges. Under normal circumstances, that threat would be enough to prevent anyone from even testing the theory.

Here it is:

[N.E. Brigand]

Josh Marshall points out that Hakeem Jeffries has been the top vote-getter on more ballots for Speaker than anyone since Sam Rayburn, who won the Speakership twelve times and served in that role for a record 17 years in three tenures from 1940 to 1961.

[Eldy]

Santos appears to be enjoying himself as well, based on this photo, perhaps because no Speaker means no disciplinary proceedings.

[Eldy]

With the House voting about an hour ago to adjourn until Friday, this will be only the fourth Speaker election to last more than three days, per Wikipedia's list of contested Speaker elections. (In 1820, there were 22 ballots across Nov 13–15, though of course the House was much smaller then.) We are now in Second Party System-tier dysfunction territory.

[N.E. Brigand]

I'm enjoying many of the jokes about the chaos, like this one from Rep. Jamie Raskin.

[Sunsilver]

Adam Kinzinger #fella
@AdamKinzinger
·
5h
Trump got one vote for speaker. ONE VOTE.

This made me smile.

Also the Groundhog Day meme someone posted...

[Frelga]

Jorts the Cat explained yesterday.

If someone stepped on a rake and bonked themself 6 times in a row it’d be funny 6 times. If they took a break for a few hours the 7th rake would be even more hilarious

But, an unexpected upside!

[elengil]

So what are the chances that the Republicans are actually doing this on purpose to distract from something else going on?

Specifically my thought is distract from Trump/Jan 6th investigations, but is there another possible event that they're trying to draw attention from?

[Inanna]

I think they are just disorganized nincompoops.

This should make the democrats appreciate Pelosi even more than they currently do!

[elengil]

I think they are just disorganized nincompoops.

This should make the democrats appreciate Pelosi even more than they currently do!

Despite the admitted appeal of that assessment, I think it's dangerous to dismiss them as merely disorganized.

[Frelga]

Malice and incompetence are not mutually exclusive.

[River]

Malice and incompetence are not mutually exclusive.

True. And I think that's what's driving the current situation. If it were competent malice, we'd have a Speaker by now.

[elengil]

Malice and incompetence are not mutually exclusive.

True. And I think that's what's driving the current situation. If it were competent malice, we'd have a Speaker by now.

No but that was my point - competent malice can *look* like incompetence if you aren't in on what the goal is. If the goal is a Speaker, then yes, incompetence. If the goal is a Distraction, then it's just malice.

[Dave_LF]

The chaos is the point. Throw wrenches into all the gears so you can say the machine doesn’t work.

[Frelga]

The chaos is the point. Throw wrenches into all the gears so you can say the machine doesn’t work.

This.

The goal of the MAGA team is to keep the government from doing anything for the citizens, and then point to that and say, see, government bad!

The trouble with that strategy is that now they are the government, but they are betting on being able to suppress democratic elections so that no one can do anything about that.