House Leadership: the plot thickens...

[brooklynite]

Link to tweet

[Drum]

1. But seriously...imagine if...

So much might get done!

[brooklynite]

2. The question is...

Do we want a competent (but conservative) House speaker, or let the fringe Republicans act like idiots for two years and then take the House back in 2024?

[Drum]

3. The latter is not a given...and after the last 22 years of US electoral politics

…I am sooo weary of the “long game” platitudes. Also tired of the endless cycle of party warfare.

I’d be curious if another way opened up.

[Silent3]

4. Even if Republicans were at fault for the economic chaos government shutdowns...

...or worse, defaulting on the national debt, would cause, too many people would blame Biden and Democrats for it anyway.

We'd be better off with a unity government. Besides avoiding all of the bullshit investigations and impeachments, there are much greater dangers to be avoided if we can manage it.

A coalition between Democrats and a handful of Republicans still seems like a pipe dream to me, however, even though I've been thinking about it since the time after the elections when it was became clear that Republicans would at best hold the House by a narrow majority.

It's a shame that the most likely outcome is, as you say, "fringe Republicans act(ing) like idiots for two years", and the best that we can likely hope for is that this helps Democrats in 2024.

[Sogo]

5. Who was being proposed as the "unity" candidate?

[LeftInTX]

17. Probably McCarthy

[aeromanKC]

6. I had the same thought back in 2010 with Boehner and Pelosi

They could have made the Tea Party whackadoo's irrelevant. Same applies now. But I do have my popcorn ready for the next 2 years.

Liz Cheney would make a good choice now for the Unity choice, but she worries me for 2028 presidential race.

[brooklynite]

7. Cheney will no longer be in the House....

Yes, Speaker doesn't have to be a House member, but after the Republican Caucus kicked her out of leadership, there's no chance she would be a "compromise".

[Hermit-The-Prog]

14. I've heard rumors that Hillary could be persuaded.

[Takket]

8. Cheney lost her seat. She's gone after the lame duck session ends.

[rubbersole]

15. The speaker doesn't have to be a member of the house.

Cheney would blow the heads off the maga/faux news crowd. Popcorn 🍿!

[Beakybird]

9. Two Republicans who voted to impeach remain.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

10. The only conceivable "deal" I would see, is if Democrats eventually work out something

with McCarthy, giving him a lower threshold for a "majority" by not coming to the House floor or by voting "present" in exchange for assurances from him.

[madinmaryland]

11. The ONLY compromise with McCarthy should be...

NO impeachment and

NO debt limit ceiling

Edited to ad: there are so many other issues that need to be added to this list.

[underthematrix]

12. It's interesting most people do not fully understand WHY AG Garland

appointed a Special Counsel.

Based on recent developments, including the former President’s announcement that he is a candidate for President in the next election, and the sitting President’s stated intention to be a candidate as well, I have concluded that it is in the public interest to appoint a special counsel,” said Attorney General Garland.

The AG referenced the two issues the MSM was most likely to grab onto - whether Biden and Trump were running in 2024. That's the low hanging fruit.

The more likely and URGENT reason for an SC appointment has more to do with GOP control of the House come Jan 2023. They have already said they will use every tool they have available to obstruct justice, tamper with witnesses, spread misinformation and threaten, harass and expose agency heads to potential violence.

Most, if not all of the GOP House leadership are potential or actual targets of at least one of the federal grand juries, e.g. MTG, Jim Jordan, Kevin McCarthy, Paul Gosar. I guesstimate there are 23 GOP House members who are likely targets. And I believe there are 7 GOP senators, including Mitch McConnell.

That's my take. I still think Hakeem Jeffries will end being Speaker of the House in 2023.

[rubbersole]

16. It's certainly looking possible...

The traitors need to face consequences for their actions.

[yankee87]

13. Hopeful

I’m hopeful but realistic. I still think in my heart that the crazies like the child molestors, Gaetz and Boebert will basically run the caucus. It will be shitshow for two years.

[OnDoutside]

19. I think most people are expecting that to be the case. The best

Democrats can reasonably do is draw the contrast between themselves and the shitshow the GOP are going to get up to. I am looking forward to Jefferies showing his abilities in exposing Republican loony bin incompetence.

[OnDoutside]

18. Sounds like a lot of double dealing going on. Ultimately it would be

the (maybe) political death warrant for anyone doing a deal with Democrats. I would suggest that it's not where the cowards in the GOP would have the courage to go, and survive in the Fox/RW media world.....it would be the last term they'd serve as a Republican.

[ProfessorGAC]

20. There Are Purple District Rs....

....for whom conciliatory gestures would be a political positive.

[OnDoutside]

21. For Dems yes, but I'm talking about GOP members who would be

constantly attacked, and be primaried in 24, by the nutjob magas. Thus they'd be gone before reaping any benefit from this.

[ProfessorGAC]

22. I'm Talking GOP Too

California, NY, PA, IL, OH, MI...
They all have purple district Rs that were NOT primaries out, but won election by reasonably narrow margins.
They've got reason to resist the will of the crazies.

[OnDoutside]

23. But even there they won't get past the primary, and that's the issue.

Like you, i wish they would stand up, but they don't have a great track record of courage.

[ProfessorGAC]

24. Most of Them Just Did

I don't think the primary threat is as real as you do.
In those districts, if a crazy runs against them & wins, the GE goes Dem. The sane Rs in that district won't want that.
Every R voter is not nuts. Too few of them, to be sure. But, they're out there. I know several and had Kinzinger not been drawn out of office, would have voted for him in a primary. Kinzinger was primaried twice before by the freedumb caucus. He KILLED his challenger in those primaries. Knowing this district, I am 99.999% confident he would have won a primary. Closer than before? Probably, but 50.1% is all it takes. He got high 60s in the past.
I don't believe that our district is unique.
I know Cheney got bounced, but it was Wyoming. A lot different than purple districts in the States I mentioned.