Republicans already delivering on promising prospect of returning House to Democratic hands

[babylonsister]

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/9/2146297/-House-Republicans-have-already-made-a-mockery-of-U-S-governance-It-s-only-the-beginning
 
Republicans already delivering on promising prospect of returning House to Democratic hands
Kerry Eleveld
Daily Kos Staff
Monday January 09, 2023 · 3:27 PM EST
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Just before a hopeful Kevin McCarthy finally got his hands on an all but meaningless gavel, he reflected on his historically tumultuous journey to the speakership.

"It just reminds me of what my father always told me — it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish," McCarthy told reporters Friday evening, as he geared up for the 15th round of voting that would mercifully punctuate the GOP’s inaugural embarrassment.

McCarthy is definitely finished, at least in the sense that the GOP absolutely isn't finished with him.

In reality, House Republicans have only graduated into a succession of self-inflicted wounds over the course of the next couple of years. Indeed, after treating the country to a historic fight over the speakership—rife with intra-party dustups and biting diatribes—Republicans moved right into a Monday evening battle over the rules package that will govern the lower chamber, which also requires 218 GOP votes to pass.

Many House Republicans spent Monday trying to get a handle on all of McCarthy's horrific giveaways to the extremists who plan to lob grenade after grenade at their own caucus in full view of the country.

On Sunday, Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina told CBS’s Face The Nation she was "on the fence" about supporting the rules package McCarthy negotiated with GOP bomb throwers to secure their votes.

"My question really is, today, is what backroom deals did they try to cut?" explained Mace, usually a McCarthy ally. "We don't know what they got, or didn't get. We haven't seen it. We don't have any idea what promises were made or what gentleman's handshakes were made. We just have no idea at this point.

In other words, the conclusion of one House GOP struggle led directly to the next conflict. Get used to it—it's a pattern that will continue in perpetuity. That's partly because McCarthy has no actual backbone to set limits and boundaries, but it's mostly due to the fact that the person wielding the gavel has no actual governing philosophy or goals other than wielding the gavel.

When Nancy Pelosi was speaker, for instance, she had overriding principles she was trying to accomplish, such as insuring more Americans, making health care more affordable, and firing up the economy after Donald Trump's pandemic policies resulted in historic job losses.

McCarthy, lacking a vision for the country, is destined to lurch from crisis to crisis at the whim of the arsonists he has enabled.

In effect, the full glory of Republican dysfunction will dominate headlines for the next two years. Keeping the government's lights on, funding Ukraine's battle against Russian totalitarianism, and avoiding a global economic meltdown by meeting the country's financial commitments will take center stage.

But at the same time, voters will be treated to a disconcerting window into GOP delusion. On the heels of the Jan. 6 probe—the most consequential and productive congressional inquiry in decades—Republicans will devote the next two years to chasing GOP fabrications led by witch-hunting zealots.

Monday offered up a perfect example of what's to come when Republicans voted in Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee as chair of the Homeland Security Committee. Green is a 'Freedom Caucus' wacko, who withdrew from consideration as Secretary of the Army under Trump for characterizing being transgender as a "disease," supporting constricting access to contraception, and making blatantly anti-Muslim remarks.

But most troubling is the fact that Green was one of the 147 congressional Republicans who voted against certifying the 2020 election right after MAGA insurrectionists ransacked the Capitol and threatened the lives of lawmakers. That's the guy who will now be in charge of protecting the Homeland. What could go wrong?

Truly, American voters have no idea the demented abuses of power they are about to witness at the hands of Republicans.

On the morning after McCarthy won the speakership, Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona promised that Republicans would "conduct a real investigation into J6. The effort to attempt a coup between traitor Gen. Mark Milley and Pelosi will be reviewed and exposed."

Republican rule will be nothing short of a dazzling display of phantom probes and political pandemonium unleashed by GOP deviants whose main goal is to neutralize the U.S. government. It will be a daily real-time campaign ad for putting Democrats back in charge.

[Thomas Hurt]

1. The christofascists aren't interested in governing for the people....

They are interested in maintaining their individual power. Tax cuts for the corps and people who maintain their funding. Removing gov't regulation so exploitation of the citizenry is not illegal. Imposing christianity on our society. Controlling speech. Destroying public education to reconstitute a new peasant class. Making themselves a new nobility and to install a king.

They have to do it. All of us heathens and rabble can't live properly as far as they are concerned. We have to be husbanded by those who know better don't you see.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

2. May the illumination of publicity enlighten every sane voter.