Congress Continues to be the Worst High School in America
They're fighting in the hallways next to the lockers
The big news this morning is that there will not be a government shutdown this week after the Democrats bailed out the Republicans. Again. Mike Johnson, the new Speaker of the House, pushed through another stopgap bill very similar to the one he voted against six weeks ago. Meanwhile, his like-minded colleagues in the House continued to vote against it — it needed huge support from Democrats because 93 Republicans voted against it (only two Democrats voted against it).
Johnson, however, will not get the Kevin McCarthy treatment from the Freedom Caucus because, notwithstanding this move, he’s one of them. Also, they all seem to hate Kevin McCarthy less because of his politics and more because he’s a weasel. He also apparently elbowed a fellow Republican in the kidneys yesterday while he was giving an interview to NPR. Claudia Grisales has a first-person account of the incident. There was a whole back-and-forth about it in the news media that went on all day long, which is where the news media is these days. “Authoritarian legitimately threatening to take over the country, expel millions of people, and lock up his political enemies? That’s nothing! Did you hear about the Representative who elbowed another guy in the kidneys?”
I’m glad there won’t be a government shutdown. If this happens again closer to the 2024 election, however, I’m not sure the Democrats should be bailing out the Republicans again.
In any respect, there’s a lot of anger in D.C. right now. Yesterday, Bernie Sanders had to step in to prevent Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) from getting into a fistfight with the Teamsters President, Sean O’Brien. It was quite the scene.
Afterward, the Senator suggested that we bring back canings and duels. The Senator has a background in mixed martial arts, but I wouldn’t necessarily overlook Sean O’Brien. Also, I wouldn’t pick a fight with the Teamsters.
You know it’s an election year (or within a year) when we start to see stuff like this. It’s going to get worse. There will be a lot of performative outrage. Everyone will claim to be the victim. There will probably be more threats of violence. The whole GOP is going to go full Marjorie Taylor Greene. It’s the enshitification of politics. I hope voters don’t take the bait and instead of getting wrapped up in these quarrels, see it for what it is: Childish bullshit. I’m not going to hold my breath.
Other Notes:
— The Senate approved a resolution that would finally allow them to circumvent Alabama Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville's months-long hold on military promotions over his objection to the Pentagon's abortion travel policy. Both Schumer and McConnell participated in the vote.
— RFK, Jr. continues to go barefoot in airport terminals. Can someone beat this guy up? INEXCUSABLE.
— Speaking of Speaker Mike Johnson, he said yesterday that the whole "separation of church and state” was a misnomer and not in the Constitution, never mind the plain reading of the First Amendment. "What [Thomas Jefferson] was explaining is they did not want the government to encroach upon the church,” he said, “not that they didn't want principles of faith to encroach on our public life. It's exactly the opposite."
Go back and look at the context in which the Constitution was written, buddy. In Europe at the time, the state determined the religion of its people. America wanted to avoid that.
— Tammy Murphy, the wife of the New Jersey governor, has entered the race to win the Senate seat of Bob Menendez, who is facing all sorts of criminal charges. She’s the frontrunner already.
The idea that Mike Johnson would try to play an Uno "Reverse" card on the meaning of the separation between church and state is pretty fucking wild.
We started a war with England, why? Because they were ruled by a king. A king supposedly ordained by God. The law was ordained "from God." We didn't want God in our laws. HENCE, THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR, YOU ABSOLUTE CRAWFISH.
Some commentator this morning said tensions are high and people are losing their tempers because Congress has been in session, presumably forcing them to endure one another's company, for ten weeks straight. But the House wasn't in session for the first two weeks of October or the first week of November. I think it's much more accurate to say Republlicans are losing their tempers because they're backstabbers and crybabies.
Also, I read this morning that Truth Social lost $22 million on operating income fo less than $3 million and likely will not be viable much longer. Please make it so.