Adrastos, Congress, Political Crack, Teabaggery

Continuing Confusion

KMac yells at Matt Gaetz, He should try it more often.

Life is full of surprises. There was a big one yesterday. The House passed a continuing resolution to fund the government for 45 days but with a rub: emergency aid for Ukraine was stripped from the bill. That led to a brief stall in the Senate where Colorado’s Michael Bennet held up the CR  until receiving assurances that Ukraine would be taken care of. The Senate vote was 88-8; even Josh Hawley and Tommy Tuberville voted aye.

We all expected a shutdown this morning. I’m glad it didn’t happen but something else I’d like to see also didn’t happen: Matt Gaetz didn’t STFU. He’s still out there smirking, snarling, and Trumping.

It’s not as if KMac had a backbone implant: the coup threat I wrote about on Friday acted like corn starch in gravy to thicken KMac’s spine. How long will that last? Gaetz, Chip Roy, and their allies are still stirring the pot. The result could be this:

It’s unclear what card the so-called Freedom Caucus will deal next. Will they vote to remove KMac? Who the hell wants that fakakta job?

I don’t expect KMac to go all Johnny Paycheck on their asses like John Boehner in 2015, but it would be entertaining:

House Democrats provided the margin of victory but they, quite rightly, don’t trust KMac. His word is NOT his bond. He reneged on the agreement he made with President Biden to placate the nuts in his caucus. He was against an impeachment inquiry before he was for it. KMac is all over the map: like gelatin that hasn’t set properly. Nobody likes loose gelatin or loose tongues for that matter:

If Gaetz and his asinine allies move against KMac, there will have to be a vote of the full House. Democrats can vote for a Republican speaker instead of leader Jeffries but there would have to be something in it for them.

I dig Josh Marshall’s take on that aspect of this fast moving story:

And as for McCarthy, will he now be ousted? Maybe. But I really doubt it. The House Freedom Caucus needs a nominal Speaker like McCarthy in order to exist. I explained that here. If they ousted McCarthy they’d simply need to find a new McCarthy. Indeed, if Matt Gaetz forced a vote on McCarthy’s ouster I wouldn’t be surprised if he were ousted and they eventually had to elect him again after another few days of votes like we saw back in January.

The MSM refuses to acknowledge that this is how the House GOP has operated since the 2010 Tea Party wave election. Speaker Boehner was tormented by right wing extremists in the same way as KMac. But Boehner was liked and respected. Nobody respects KMac. In fact, he lacks self-respect as well. Will his sudden show of independence wilt under pressure from the Kaiser of Chaos? Stay tuned.

The last word goes to Santana:

INSTANT UPDATE: