The only thing funnier than watching Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s humiliation as seven times he’s come up short on the House speaker ballot is the internet’s jokes about it. Let’s face it: It’s hilarious to watch the total disarray of the Republican Party, a party that has been backbiting and infighting since it began electing incompetent narcissists hellbent on power and terrified of actual progress.
So when your mouthpiece (Fox News) implodes and your lawmakers begin pulling candidates out of their asses—Rep. Matt Gaetz nominating former President Donald Trump, for example—while the world watches in dismay, the shame is deserved. The comedy pretty much writes itself.
The House convened Thursday, another vote took place, and the chuckles commenced.
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Here’s a roundup of some of the internet’s best:
The Washington Post reports that there have been 435 voting members of Congress since 1913, and in that 100-plus years, there have only been two times when a House speaker was not elected.
We assume McCarthy is shaking hands and making deals as fast as he can to sway his ultra-conservative holdouts, but we’ll see.
Daily Kos’ Laura Clawson writes that during “Wednesday night meetings with Republican holdouts, McCarthy tried something new. He had already surrendered on many of their demands, so you’d think he didn’t have much left to offer, but on Wednesday, he seems to have progressed to abject surrender and maybe some groveling.”
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Daily Kos’ David Nir writes skillfully about what would happen if the House never votes for a speaker. He writes:
“All the while, with no House in operation, we’d be spared the sham investigations Republicans are frothing to weaponize against Democrats. Sure, nothing helpful would get passed if the House pulls a Rip Van Winkle number, but that would also be true if McCarthy or any other Republican were named speaker.”