WTF Just Happened Today

Wednesday, January 4, 2023

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1/ House Republicans, despite being in the majority, were unable to elect a speaker – again – as Kevin McCarthy lost his 4th, 5th, and 6th bids for the gavel. A day after McCarthy lost his first three votes for speaker, Trump urged Republicans to vote for McCarthy, warning them to “NOT TURN A GREAT TRIUMPH INTO A GIANT & EMBARRASSING DEFEAT.” Biden, meanwhile, called the House Republicans’ inability to elect a speaker “embarrassing,” saying it’s “not a good look” for the country, but also “not my problem.” McCarthy received 201 votes in all three votes today, short of the 218 typically needed to win, as 20 conservative Republicans instead supported Byron Donalds. Yesterday, the group supported Jim Jordan. The Democrats, meanwhile, have remained united behind their leader, Hakeem Jeffries, who will make history as the first Black lawmaker to lead a party in Congress whenever the House elects a new speaker and 118th Congress convenes. The House adjourned until 8 p.m. Eastern to allow more time for Republicans to negotiate with the holdouts. A seventh vote could take place when lawmakers return tonight. The Speaker of the House is second in the U.S. presidential line of succession, after the vice president. (Associated Press / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NPR / NBC News / Washington Post / Axios / CNN / CNBC / Bloomberg / Politico)

• Behind the humiliation of Kevin McCarthy. “The GOP has gone from being a disciplined party of limited government to a party of anti-government protest to, now, a party of performative verbiage.” (New Yorker)

• House shitshow has a message for America: GOP can’t govern and doesn’t want to. “As Kevin McCarthy reaps the whirlwind, let’s hope voters understand this chaos was never really about Donald Trump.” (