The Runback: Total Clown Show
Weeks after Matt Gaetz sold his soul to join with Democrats to turf Kevin McCarthy, House Republicans continue to beclown themselves
Welcome to another week of The Runback. Have you been enjoying The Duckpin? Do you have comments or suggestions? Do you want to write for us? Let me know at theduckpin@gmail.com. Please be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Threads, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Thanks in advance.
News and Politics
Examining Anti-Israel Bias in American News Media Reporting: Examining instances where critics have raised concerns of anti-Israel bias in American news media and the broader implications of such claims.
Hyser Attacks Royals, Accuses Combat Vet of "Never Having to Work a Day in his life": Hyser claims Royals, a decorated combat aviator, "always had everything given to him."
Sports
Athletic Commission cracks down on license sharing, "rentals": Memo issued on October 19 reiterates illegality of practice
The Monday Thought
Well, Republicans in the House of Representatives have continued to beclown themselves.
Republican Congressman and choad Matt Gaetz filed his motion to vacate the chair. Gaetz and seven other Republican goofs voted with the Democrats to turf Speaker Kevin McCarthy from his post.
And now here we are, nearly three weeks later, and the Republicans in Congress still have not gotten their act together.
Louisiana Republican Steve Scalise won the nomination in the House Republican Conference nomination by defeating Jim Jordan. Except six goofs in the House would not vote for Scalise because he was “too much of a RINO.” Mind you, only somebody who had no idea what they were talking about would say that, but it would deny Scalise a first-ballot win.
So Scalise withdrew. And Jim Jordan was nominated. And he couldn’t get enough votes either. So he withdrew.
Because irony is dead, Matt Gaetz found this the perfect time to send this fundraising email assuming that his donors were complete morons.
MEANWHILE, the death threats levied at Republicans who wisely did not support Jim Jordan continue to pour in.
Still, Bacon said the harassing text messages and phone calls have taken a toll. His wife slept with a loaded gun near her bedside one night. Other Republicans said their families have been threatened. And every lawmaker who voted against Jordan has received a barrage of angry phone calls and messages….
…After Rep. Drew Ferguson’s family started receiving death threats for his vote against Jordan, the Georgia Republican said in a statement that he would not support “a bully” for speaker. He said the threats were “unacceptable, unforgivable, and will never be tolerated.”
Ferguson told Republicans during a closed-door meeting Thursday that he'd had police stationed at his child's school — along with his home — over threats he'd gotten, according to a senior GOP source familiar with the discussion.
Rep. Ken Buck (Colo.) said that the landlord for one of his district offices is terminating his lease due to his vote.
Multiple members said that their office phones are being bombarded with "profanity-laced" calls from outside their districts, hindering their ability to hear from and handle constituent issues.
All of this is being driven by the kind of way-too-online sadistic politics that Donald Trump has made the norm in the GOP. And all of this is being driven in support of Jim Jordan, a guy who seems to have covered up sexual abuse, for a job most of them could not explain.
It’s madness and never have I been more glad to be an ex-Repubican.
And now, there are NINE Republicans seeking the gavel to become Speaker. That’s 4% of the Republican caucus….
Of those only two, Tom Emmer and Dan Meuser Austin Scott, did the right thing on January 6th and voted against the attempted Trump coup d’etat.
What exactly is the end game to all of this? I don’t think any of us have any idea? I don’t think Matt Gaetz has any idea what he wanted to get out of this, except for the two things he has gotten: an excuse to raise money and absolute chaos in the house.
Lost on the mishigas of the Speaker vacancy is the fact that Congress is effectively shut down. No legislation can be passed without a Speaker being elected first. Normally that would be a good thing: after all, the less Congress does the safer we all are.
But these are not normal times. Right now, the House still needs to take up:
Disaster relief for the East Palestine derailment, the Maui fire, and Florida hurricane relief;
Addressing the crisis at the southern border;
Passing a budget before the government shuts down in 25 days.
That doesn’t even talk about any weapons deals that may be passed supporting Israel and Ukraine.
Instead, House Republicans are trying to hold yet another beauty pageant for Speaker and hope that five of their Republican colleagues don’t knife this one, too.
House Republicans are showing that they are completely unfit to lead. They have turned the House into a Total Clown Show that can’t even keep the doors open, much less do what few things they need to accomplish. And by working with the Democrats, Matt Gaetz has punched the one-way ticket back to a Republican Congressional minority.
I hope all of the way-too-online goofs who started this are happy with themselves. Because for want of a nail, a kingdom will be lost.