We’ll keep Mike Johnson as Speaker for a while longer. He appeared to be two votes short on the first vote, but then a couple of holdouts changed their minds. I understand some of the Freedom Caucus creatures only voted for Johnson to avoid electing Hakeem Jeffries. Trump had endorsed Johnson, possibly to avoid there not being a Speaker to certify Trump’s election on January 6. And that was barely enough.
There has been whining from the creatures that Johnson isn’t the leader the House Republicans need. But as David Kurtz points out at TPM, House Republicans have been ungovernable for a while now.
If you trace the current era of Republicanism to the tea party era that started in 2010, then we’re 14 years into the kind of chaos being demonstrated again today on the Hill, where the GOP is unable to govern itself let alone a country.
I suppose that if Speaker Mike Johnson pulls out a re-election win, you could argue no harm/no foul. But the structural incentives that create this kind of recurring chaos will remain. It’s a mix of things we’ve talked about for years: a close margin in the House that gives the hard-right members more clout; performative destruction as a form of politics that eventually eats its own; extremism both collectively and individually that is rewarded with high media profiles and adoration from the right-wing base.
Consider the last few Republican speakers, going back to the 1990s. Newt Gingrich, Dennis Hastert, John Boehner, Paul Ryan, Kevin McCarthy, and now Johnson. There’s a pack of mutts for you. During the same period the Democratic speakers have been, um, Nancy Pelosi and then Nancy Pelosi again.
We’re learning a bit more about the Las Vegas Tesla cybertruck guy. Now it’s being said he shot himself in the head shortly before the Tesla combusted. The deceased was Matthew Livelsberger, an active-duty soldier who is said to have sustained a head injury in the military and who also apparently had a history of spousal abuse. His second wife had just left him. He also was a big Trump supporter, his family said. The motive here may have been that he wanted to go out in a way that would be noticed. As of now there is no apparent connection between Livelsberger and the New Orleans truck killer, Shamsud-Din Jabbar. That probably was terrorism.
The Trump-Johnson alliance is interesting. Johnson shows signs of pragmatism in negotiating with Democrats from time to time. Johnson also did NOT totally erase the debt ceiling which Trump wanted (and the Freedom Caucus rejected.) From what I understand, the two votes the switched back were contacted by Trump while the vote was open. Which suggests to me that Johnson had the plan before the first vote that Trump would do some arm-twisting. God knows what deals were made.
Even the Freedom Caucus has figured out that Trump is a liar. What they haven't figured out yet is that Trump will lie to them. And probably did today. The first order of business in Jan/Feb will be extending the tax cuts through reconciliation. That will require almost every Republican vote in the House. Problem: Trump will want billions for the wall and hundreds of billions for the American Holocast. There may be other budget-busters on Trump's list. Hardliners will demand that at least any new items in the budget be offset by cuts. They won't be there. I don't know what will happen but I'd be very surprised if the Freedom Caucus just rolls over.
"extremism both collectively and individually"
Glad to see Kurtz call them what they are:"extremists". Too many media types refer to these teatard types as "conservatives". They are nothing close to being conservative they extremist radicals. The rubes over at breitbart are quite upset that Johnson gets another chance to cut deals with the democrats so that is one positive outcome!
All military service is not the same but for most of us we soon understand, even in training, that we are in a kill or be killed situation. Even with a "safe" type military job, your safe status just means you are just less of a target. In either situation, what they call friendly fire, may be your biggest danger. Some of that "friendly fire" leaves only psychological damage without scars or purple hearts. This damage goes with one even after discharge or retirement from service. They don't feature this on recruiting posters or TV ads, but we did get a show of it on New Years.
I try to understand it a bit this way, having spent a good chunk of my life in and around the military. The military is an organization, and its existence and success is important, yours not so much. You know you want to think at least you will go out with a blaze of glory, but you end up settling for a blaze of crazy in a rented pick-up truck on New Years Day.
The only other option would be to deal with the giant mess your personal life was in. That is hardly an option or at least a very hard option with all the wrong training and life skills in your past.
The New Orleans guy even left a message that he considered just a spectacle of violence on family and friends but that lacked in performance impact. Not a big enough blaze of crazy. The Vegas guy even included fireworks in his show. That, the location, and the choice of pick-up truck says a lot. A well staged blaze of crazy. In true military fashion a lot of collateral damage in both. Not quite a West Bank but…
Enough written except that we seem to think that a thank you for your service is all you need to do or say. Think of the person that is recommended to lead the military in the upcoming administration. How much more collateral damage do we want or need? Is this a person up to the task? You might just advise your representatives in DC this might not be a problem associated with immigration. You might check first to see who you sent to DC. They may not be up to snuff for their job either.
: