Welcome to day three of Waiting for Godot the Speaker of the House. There is no indication thus far that today will turn out any differently than day one or two, but there is literally nothing else that the House can do right now except vote for the Speaker. Okay, they could also adjourn, but it seems like Democrats are going to be more serious about not letting that happen today.
Continuing coverage can be found here.
One more failed vote in the books, with no indication from McCarthy and team that they’re considering an alternative. Again, the only suspense for the next round is if they try to adjourn before it happens.
Still lots of lobbying and meeting with the various maniacs and McCarthy’s team. New this round is the participation of Massie from KY, the non-FC guy who hangs out with them anyway.
Thanks to a reader tip, here’s an interesting thread on Byron Donalds’ many ties to Roger Stone. What a spider’s nest of corruption.
OMG the man is a numbskull.
.@mkraju asks @GOPLeader: “At what point do you say that this is not going to change for you?”McCarthy: “Uh, after I win.”— Elizabeth Landers (@ElizLanders) January 5, 2023
.@mkraju asks @GOPLeader: “At what point do you say that this is not going to change for you?”McCarthy: “Uh, after I win.”
Okay, then. Is Kevin McCarthy truly this dense, to really believe he’s got this? It will only take some more horse-trading? And it’s “great”?
Just asked Kevin McCarthy about why he can’t pick off any of the 20 Rs. “It’s all going to be this way until an agreement comes,”Asked why it’s been so hard for him, McCarthy said: “I think it’s great. If you think it’s so hard, when it comes, I want to see what you write.”— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 5, 2023
Just asked Kevin McCarthy about why he can’t pick off any of the 20 Rs. “It’s all going to be this way until an agreement comes,”Asked why it’s been so hard for him, McCarthy said: “I think it’s great. If you think it’s so hard, when it comes, I want to see what you write.”
Gaetz casts a second vote for "Donald John Trump." Trump has now tied John Quincy Adams for the most Speaker votes cast for a former president. Adams received two votes in the 1835 Speaker's election— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) January 5, 2023
Gaetz casts a second vote for "Donald John Trump." Trump has now tied John Quincy Adams for the most Speaker votes cast for a former president. Adams received two votes in the 1835 Speaker's election
FWIW, there could be a replacement nominee being considered. Maybe. No indication if team McCarthy is in on this.
Hern is a name I’m hearing from some Trump allies… something cooking there, but for now, it’s just another name on a growing list… the case being made for him is he could win RSC members and expand the “no” bloc beyond the current crew https://t.co/N3tKCi5pxd— Robert Costa (@costareports) January 5, 2023
Hern is a name I’m hearing from some Trump allies… something cooking there, but for now, it’s just another name on a growing list… the case being made for him is he could win RSC members and expand the “no” bloc beyond the current crew https://t.co/N3tKCi5pxd
McCarthy loses again.
Boebert casts her vote for “bidiness” man Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK)
McCarthy has personally started lobbying the maniacs on the floor. First Clyde, then Ogles.
And Andy Biggs, Sinema’s BFF in the Arizona delegation, is nominating Donalds.
Clark doing a good job of detailing all the accomplishments of the Democratic Congress and all the obstruction to every part of it by the Rs. It was a very good speech.
Switch up for Dems. Kathleen Clark, the new Whip, is nominating Jeffries. “212, 212, 212, 212, 212, 212, and 212,” she intones. All the winning votes for Jeffries. All the unity among Dems.
Oh boy. Trashing Boehner and Ryan and McConnell is how Mast decided he’d go with this. Because UNITY. Good gawd.
Florida man fake crying in his attempt to appeal to . . . something.
Lucky eight? Don’t think so, but now we have Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) nominating McCarthy. They’re trying something different, having him at a lectern facing the chamber instead of the Clerk. It probably won’t change anything.
And it appears the eight round is going to happen next.
Lots of milling around while they do the official tally (spoiler alert—Kev lost again) and figure out what happens next. Which inevitably is an eighth vote. When it happens is the only suspense.
The only change from the previous balloting in this one was the emergence of Trump as a candidate. All the no votes held, the present vote held. An eighth vote is inevitable. If McCarthy will still be in it is the only real question.
Donalds—who was in a longish meeting during the vote talking to McCarthy’s guy Emmer—comes back to vote for himself. Apparently there’s no movement.
Perry seems to be talking to anyone who will listen about why he will never vote for McCarthy, about leaks, about trust.
TALKS: @RepTomEmmer is hosting talks between dissidents and moderates as vote goes on. Peeved @RepScottPerry emerged, says leaks have harmed the discussions— Erik Wasson (@elwasson) January 5, 2023
TALKS: @RepTomEmmer is hosting talks between dissidents and moderates as vote goes on. Peeved @RepScottPerry emerged, says leaks have harmed the discussions
The most pathetic thing at this point is the forced ovation McCarthy gets for voting for himself, and the ongoing pretense that he’s humbled and flattered by it.
Man, Trump is on target to lose this one absolutely HUGELY.
Gaetz nominates Trump. Because of course he does. I can’t believe it actually took them this long.
If you’re paying close attention, you’ll note Donalds missed his name. He was being lobbied by McCarthy’s whip, Emmers, who also missed.
And he lost again before the balloting reached 100 votes.
Jake Sherman reports “Team McCarthy's goal here is to not LOSE any of the votes he had on previous rounds.” How pathetic is that. Losing by the same number as the last six times is the big goal.
Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC) says that they could have elected the first Black speaker yesterday, talking about Donalds. In fact, the majority of the vote—if it had counted—went to a Black person, Hakeem Jeffries. So there’s that.
It’s not going to be Massie, but Rep. Byron Donalds again, from the chaos caucus.
Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA) rises to nominate Hakeem Jeffries, again, to a rousing ovation and deflates James’s balloon. "There is no victory in adjourning without doing the business of the people."
"We want to talk about people who can win?" Seventh ballot, dude, seventh ballot.
This freshmen from MI is a compelling speaker, if you don’t pay attention to the fact that everything he says is bullshit.
Oh man, calling getting an adjournment last night a “victory.” And getting a tepid ovation for it. These people are so pathetic.
Ok, we’re going to start with a vote. Rep. John James (MI), one of very few Black Rs in the House, does the honors today.
Rep. Tom Massie (R-KY) is trending on Twitter. He’s not a FC maniac, but is adjacent to them, and could be their choice of candidate for the day.
We start with another time wasting tactic, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) calling for a quorum count to give McCarthy team time to organize.
A little late for this. And what exactly do they propose to do about this?
Hear in a meeting with Main Street GOP allies, McCarthy expressed optimism that they can get to a breakthrough. Some members expressed concerns, however, about conceding to giving up gavels to some of the holdouts and other committee assignments.— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) January 5, 2023
Hear in a meeting with Main Street GOP allies, McCarthy expressed optimism that they can get to a breakthrough. Some members expressed concerns, however, about conceding to giving up gavels to some of the holdouts and other committee assignments.
Here we are again. No one—including McCarthy—is predicting today will be any different. The Rs might be planning to have one more ballot and then to try to move to adjourn again. They want to spend as much of today off the floor, and our TVs, as they can.