The circus in the House of Representative continues this week but without a ringleader, it is full blown chaos. I sincerely hope that Matt Gaetz and his seven co-conspirators understand the serious wound they have inflicted upon the United States. Although, frankly, I don’t think this gang of eight cares. This is just par for the course for Trump acolytes to just lob political grenades along the way with no forethought or regard to the consequences. They clearly decided to oust Kevin McCarthy with no endgame in mind. It was almost as if they did it for sport!
Montana’s own, Matt Rosendale, was one of the ‘gang of eight’ who voted to oust McCarthy. He has been a useless, ineffective Representative for Montana prior to this, and his participation in this mini coup as a political stunt just shows he should be selling used cars rather than participating in an institution like the House of Representatives. Even worse, he, along with the other members of the gang of eight, signed a letter basically saying they would be willing to pay a pound of flesh for their sins by being removed from the Republican Caucus, censure, etc. to atone. This is like consciously flattening the tires on an ambulance carrying a critically ill patient to the hospital and then offering to pay the funeral expenses for the patient who died. There is no way to undo the damage these idiots have caused. Period.
This week nine or ten (Jordan may still be in the race according to some reports!) Republican Representatives will enter the cage to fight it out to see if anyone can emerge with the required 217 votes required to become the new circus ringleader. It’s a very interesting slate of candidates: Tom Emmer, Minnesota, current majority whip; Kevin Hern, Oklahoma; Jack Bergman, Michigan; Austin Scott, Georgia; Bryan Donalds, Florida; Mike Johnson, Louisiana; Pete Sessions, Texas; Dan Meuser, Pennsylvania; and Gary Palmer, Alabama.
A couple things stand out in this field. First, they are all men. Secondly, except for Bryan Donalds who is black, they are all white. Five of the nine are from Southern states which had once been part of the Confederacy. Of the nine candidates only two, Tom Emmer (Minnesota) and Austin Scott (Georgia), DID NOT vote to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Former Wyoming Representative, Liz Cheney, recently stated in an interview that anyone who voted to overturn the results of the 2020 election should be disqualified from running for the position of Speaker of the House. I absolutely agree. How can you have someone who voted to overturn the results of a legitimate election (remember the election had been litigated in multiple lawsuits prior to this vote and all claims of fraud had been found to be noncredible) be the person who is second in line to the presidency? It is absolute lunacy.
Almost the entire Republican Party has taken on the persona of Trump himself – self-serving, divisive, corrupt, obsessed with power, and viewing the world through a very transactional, zero-sum, win-lose, lens rather than being focused on what is best for the entire country. It appears that after decades of unaccountability, Trump may be close to finally having to answer for his actions. Let’s hope that it doesn’t take decades for the Republican party to purge their party of the Trump virus, otherwise, its going to be a very rocky road ahead. Buckle up!
