QUIVERIN' QEVIN'S QAOS

NOTE: The best-laid plans of mice and men to put up more posts this weekend oft go astray when one’s responsibilities include caregiving for a person in late stage Parkinson’s, where every day can be an adventure one would rather not partake of, but want has nothing to do with it.

With that…

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) said that Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has no values and that he is doing anything to win the support of the Qanon caucus in the House.

“McCarthy apparently doesn’t think it’s collusion if your campaign manager is giving inside polling data and battle strategy in key states to an agent of Russian intelligence, while the Russians are helping your campaign, but most Americans would call that collusion.

“McCarthy’s problem is not with what I have said about Russia. McCarthy’s problem is, he can’t get to 218 without Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar and Matt Gaetz. And so he will do whatever they ask. And, right now, they’re asking for me to be removed from our committees. And he’s willing to do it. He’s willing to do anything they ask.

“And that’s the problem. Kevin McCarthy has no ideology. He has no core set of beliefs. It’s very hard not only to get to 218 that way. It’s even more difficult to keep 218.”

Watching Quiverin’ Qevin dancing his ass off trying to achieve his heart’s desire and become Speaker of the House of Representatives after failing in the quest back in 2015 is a good reminder that one should never underestimate how single-minded the MAGA movement can be when it comes to delivering for the base.

With a total majority of around 221, out Qiverin’ boy has a very narrow margin, which makes the demands of the K-K-Krazy Kawkuss all the more important. No one knows exactly what promises Qevin has made, but it’s certain there would be a full-fledged investigation into Hunter Biden, and a full-fledged investigation into the origins of the January 6th Committee. Matt Gaetz is running an online campaign against McCarthy, demanding, among other things, that the January 6th Committee be rebooted as a pro-insurrection committee to “exonerate our Patriots” - the people who stormed the U.S. Capitol. Perhaps some sort of investigation into Nancy Pelosi’s finances, Merrick Garland’s investigation of Mar-a-Lago, the origins of the Covid virus, and an investigation of Dr. Anthony Fauci. Impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Mayuorkas for failing to secure the southern border has also been mentioned.

In this hypothetical world, they could target funding for Ukraine with the goal of severely curtailing or eliminating financial support altogether, if Marjorie Traitor Goon’s hollering is to be be considered. Also holding up everything and anything in order to close the Southern border from illegal immigrants, and possibly investigating tech billionaires (Elon Musk excepted) for alleged suppression of conservative speech online. 

I’m pretty sure you’ll see them make this play right now even with a good number of moderates in power, who claim to be interested in legislating and not playing to the MAGA Peanut Gallery. For the Fwee-dumb Cw-cuss, it’s a way to engage the base by making Qevin’s life a living hell bashing him as an establishment doormat while never worrying about the how and why of legislation they might pass that will never get through the Democratic majority in the Senate.

Over the past week Republicans have said there’s a 50 percent chance Qevin becomes Speaker, but those odds seem drop every day.

Thje important thing is to watch and see what major concessions he’s willing to give up, and what power he’s willing to lose, in order to become Speaker.

Like it or not, there’s no one quite like Marjorie Traitor Goon: she’s an amazing fundraiser, a huge rally draw, and with her origins as a QAnon-citing online personality, she has an authenticity with the base that no one except Trump can match. She represents MAGA’s current mood with an obstructionist, burn-it-all-down approach to politics no one else manages to convey as convincingly that she means it. Qevin has her support following his promise to put her on major committees.

While it seems the Fee-dumb Caw-cuss holds all of the cards, the truth is the Republicans won the majority thanks to the victories of a lot of less-nutty members who won seats in districts Biden won in 2020, primarily in California and New York. The new Congress will include 16 to 18 House Republicans in Biden districts, up from nine after 2020. However, it is noteworthy that Brian Fitzpatrick, the most prominent moderate and GOP leader of the bipartisan House Problem Solvers Caucus, nominated McCarthy for speaker.

However, the idea that he, or a moderate like him, could end up becoming a challenger to McCarthy and even the eventual winner is the product of people taking too many hits from their own supply, since such an event would require some serious magic, like getting most Republicans to vote with a sizable number of Democrats for a Republican speaker.

There is also the fact that what passes in the Republican party today for a “moderate,” isn’t very moderate. For example, this is Republican Main Street Caucus Chairman Don Bacon, known to the DC Press Corpse as a “leading moderate” last month: “I stand with life and voted against the extreme federal pro-abortion bill today. It would have led to taxpayer funding of abortions and would remove late term abortion bans among other adopted pro-life laws in place by various states, including overturning Nebraska’s ban on dismemberment abortions which has wide support in our state. I’m grateful for the pro-life women in Nebraska like Deb Fischer and Jean Stothert, as well as those in Congress who spoke out for life today.”

Does that sound like a guy the moderates who really are moderate among the Democrats can really deal with? Even if he has at another time pointed out that the Main Street Caucus is nearing 90 members and that after years of the Freedom Caucus throwing its weight around: “It’s time we flex our muscles.”

Qevin’s problem is that in a three- to four-seat majority, everyone has power. Qevin’s promise to remove prominent Democrats from their committees might not get a majority vote in Congress if the “front line” Republicans from those Biden districts decide they don’t want to commit political suicide in 2024. This also applies to torturing Hunter Biden as payback for Trump, and Marjorie Traitor Goon’s desire to impeach Biden. These members say Qevin should know any really radical deal with conservatives could face resistance from these people who see themselves as the “majority makers.”

Fitzpatrick and New Jersey Democrat Josh Gottheimer, the Problem Solvers’ co-chairs met for dinner the week before Thanksgiving; Politico reported they talked about possible rules changes to help ensure their roughly 50 members in the next congress are more unified.

Punchbowl News, which generally really does know where things are at in Congress, reported before Thanksgiving, “Let’s make this clear: This isn’t where McCarthy’s team hoped they’d be going into the final month of 2022. If the vote were held today, it looks like he would lose.”

But the vote isn’t being held today. It’s in six weeks. And McCarthy has a lot of tools he can use and deals he can cut between now and then. Overall, we can’t emphasize to you just how uncertain things are in the Republican conference right now.”

They went on to point out that, “The most likely result of an investigation of Hunter Biden’s laptop will be the revelation that Joe Biden is a loving father who was desperately trying to help a son in trouble. How do Republicans expect Americans to react to that disclosure? If congressional Republicans had empathy and decency, they would understand that Americans would find those disclosures endearing. So, let’s relax and see whether Republicans can do anything in their investigations and impeachments besides embarrassing themselves.”

To my mind, all this comes down to the conclusion that there are a hundred ways for the Repuiblican “majority” in the House to step on a different banana peel every week, if not more frequently.

Democrats need to be able to point at those, and laugh in their faces. 2024 is only two years from now. There’s a lot of fine messes to come.

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