I wrote the bulk of this post *before* last night’s insane session. Like every other observer, I thought it would be a lucky fourteen for KMac. I planned to post this last night then things got even more chaotic with Matt Gaetz nearly getting punched out by some neo-Confederate. It was too close to Odds & Sods to post it right after that clusterfuck. Oh well, what the hell.

The rest of the post is as I wrote it yesterday afternoon *except* for an insert about Gaetz and a Tweet from yours truly. I had to finish what I started.

Let’s get on with it.

KMac finally won the House Speakership on the fifteenth ballot. If he had a soul, I’d say he sold it to win but he does not.

Cue musical interlude from XTC:

The ironically named Freedom Caucus is in the saddle riding KMac. He’ll do what he’s told, or he’ll be ousted.

Meet the creeps in the featured image:

Scott Perry is the Chair of the Freedom Caucus. He’s also under investigation for his role in the DOJ aspect of the coup plot. He’s the guy who introduced Jeffrey Clark to Meadows, Trump, and Eastman. Cassidy Hutchinson testified that Meadows burned documents on several occasions after meeting with Perry.

Chip Roy is a former Ted Cruz aide and almost as big an asshole as his former boss. He negotiated the wingnut’s deal with Team KMac.

Matt Gaetz had his moment in the spotlight after spoiling KMac’s “victory” lap. He extracted yet another concession from KMac. This was my speculation as it happened:

Did KMac offer Gaetz this? pic.twitter.com/ZUO1vjpjwE

— Shecky (@Adrastosno) January 7, 2023

This is one of the major concessions the Freedom Caucus extracted from the hapless speaker:

THERE IT IS: McCarthy agreed to give Freedom Caucus the keys to the car on pushing for national debt default. pic.twitter.com/Hl33FpQnSv

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) January 6, 2023

Scott Perry and Chip Roy are now the bull goose loonies in the House GOP asylum. KMac has the gavel but they have the power.

The last word goes to the Rolling Stones: