The latest news and updates on the House speaker race as Jim Jordan struggles to secure the votes needed to win. Democrats have nominated Hakeem Jeffries.
Even tactically it would be the smart move for the Republicans.
If nothing gets done, they can blame the Democratic speaker, if things get passed the wingnuts don’t like, they can blame it on the Democratic speaker, meanwhile, the republicans from the slightly more swingy states get creds with more moderate voters, when they vote sensibly.
But nooo, Republicans can only stand either having it all or blocking it all.
Good points, but any Republican who votes for a Democrat would see the entirety of the MAGA base vote against them. Hell, McCarthy got ousted for just negotiating with Democrats to avoid a shutdown. None of them are going to vote for Jeffries.
As a general rule, new rules (in anything) are only implemented in anticipation of using them, because it takes less work to let the status quo remain. The Dems had changed it to a much higher bar than a single majority vote in 2019; that Kevin McCarthy’s candidacy depended on him accepting that specific rule change back to a single majority vote to vacate as prerequisite, before he was even frontrunner, before the first vote was cast, tells you how much it was on the minds of those controlling the GOP.
All of which is to say that the GOP/their controllers meant to push him out anyway, from before the first vote was cast. The passage of the continuing resolution was simply the moment chosen.
Sounds like they could easily solve this problem by making Hakeem Jeffries speaker.
Even tactically it would be the smart move for the Republicans.
If nothing gets done, they can blame the Democratic speaker, if things get passed the wingnuts don’t like, they can blame it on the Democratic speaker, meanwhile, the republicans from the slightly more swingy states get creds with more moderate voters, when they vote sensibly.
But nooo, Republicans can only stand either having it all or blocking it all.
Good points, but any Republican who votes for a Democrat would see the entirety of the MAGA base vote against them. Hell, McCarthy got ousted for just negotiating with Democrats to avoid a shutdown. None of them are going to vote for Jeffries.
This is true, and I know this is a bit of an aside, but the house rule regarding Motions to Vacate, the process wherein a speaker is removed, was drastically changed just before this session of Congress began, even before the first vote was held, to make it much easier to remove a speaker.
As a general rule, new rules (in anything) are only implemented in anticipation of using them, because it takes less work to let the status quo remain. The Dems had changed it to a much higher bar than a single majority vote in 2019; that Kevin McCarthy’s candidacy depended on him accepting that specific rule change back to a single majority vote to vacate as prerequisite, before he was even frontrunner, before the first vote was cast, tells you how much it was on the minds of those controlling the GOP.
All of which is to say that the GOP/their controllers meant to push him out anyway, from before the first vote was cast. The passage of the continuing resolution was simply the moment chosen.