I'm cynical about this whole Speakership thing

[nitpicked]

I think that some Repugs are hoping that if there is no Speaker by the time government shutdown is due, it will occur.

[getagrip_already]

1. Shutdown is a goal, not an obstacle

They want a shutdown. Gaetz and his gang of 8 have been calling for one since before the debt ceiling fiasco.

That's why they tossed poor old Kevin. He passed bills to avoid it.

[onenote]

2. Because they want it absolutely clear that the shutdown is their fault?

How does that make sense?

[Bettie]

4. I suspect that they believe they own enough of the media

and the maps that it doesn't matter that they are at fault.

[Bucky]

5. They're nihilists. They're all about destruction as protest against their own impotence

Freud would call it being stuck in the anal expulsive mode.
Alfred Pennyworth noted that some people just want to see the world burn.

If you're looking for a way to make sense of it all, then you haven't reckoned with the Republican reactionary mind. At no point does personal or civic responsibility enter their minds' calculus. You might as well ask how it makes sense for Phillies or 76ers fans to trash their own city in celebration whenever they win a big championship. It's not a function of a rational mind. They're stuck in mob mentality mode.

[Tommy Carcetti]

8. Say what you want about the tenets of National Socialism...

...at least it's an ethos.

[Bucky]

12. "I hate Illinois nazis"

[Silent3]

7. It makes perfect sense to the chaos caucus

Besides having a “burn it all down!” attitude, they don’t worry much about Republicans taking a lot blame for anything. And they aren’t entirely wrong about that.

Low-attention-span voters can be counted on to blame the current President and that President’s party for whatever they are unhappy about, facts about the real culprits be damned.

If we had a sensible electorate Trump and his fellow Republicans would be hopelessly trailing Democrats by double digits in nearly every race.

[Bucky]

3. That might not be the original calculation. After all, they love power more than they hate spending.

For that matter, Republicans have never not been big spenders. They routinely run up bigger deficits than Democratic politicians do.

But yes, there's a few sickies in there who think a de facto shut down is a victory blow for small government principles. I reckon we need to be grateful that McCarthy cut the temporary spending measure deal on his way down the shitter.

[BlueTsunami2018]

6. I've said from the beginning that paralyzing the government is the goal here.

These people work for and are compromised by our enemies. What could be a better gift?

[FalloutShelter]

9. Of course... the whole GQP playbook

Is set up to ratfuck the Biden administration.
Trump, the Speakership, the chaos caucus, Tuberville , all are committed to burn the world down if they can’t get their way Democratically.

[usonian]

10. As part of coup part Deux, shutting down government is their goal.

Especially to show that a handful of fifth-column suicidal terrorists can strangle a country.

A splendid maga example.

Putin playbook.

[2naSalit]

11. I am thinking that is...

Kill America Playbook, 2023.; Plan B; subpart 4(c).

If you look carefully, it's in there.

[keithbvadu2]

13. Whichever republican eventually becomes Speaker of the House will know that they are second choice behind a man who

Whichever republican eventually becomes Speaker of the House will know that they are second choice behind a man who tolerates teenage boys being molested.

[Dulcinea]

14. A quote:

"...Conservatives will always be with us. If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy.”
― David Frum, Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic