\n<\/p>\n
Hello, and welcome to day two of The Humiliation of Kevin McCarthy<\/strong> Show<\/a>. On Tuesday, the California Republican lost his bid to become Speaker of the House not one, not two, but three times. On Wednesday, as of this writing, he had lost six times total. It\u2019s all extremely embarrassing and yet entirely emblematic of the Republican Party, which, in addition to being dangerous, racist, and ignorant to boot, is a regular embarrassment to itself and the human race.<\/p>\n Why does McCarthy keep losing his bid for the top job, over and over and over again? That\u2019s thanks to a group of GOP holdouts known as the House Freedom Caucus, who want<\/a> more power for the ultra-right and less power for the Speaker, who they want make it easier to fire<\/a>. This might lead you to believe that, unappealing as he may be, McCarthy\u2014who lied about January 6 to help Trump<\/a>, has allowed GOP lawmakers to get away with disgraceful<\/a> behavior<\/a>, and is generally a shameless hack<\/a>\u2014is the least bad candidate for the job. But as New York<\/em>\u2019s Ed Kilgore<\/strong> notes<\/a>, McCarthy \u201cis only barely better than his GOP enemies\u2026Yes, the rebels\u2019 demands to change the House rules to give them more of a grip on the wheel might have consequences down the road for governance of the people\u2019s chamber. But it won\u2019t have much real-life significance.\u201d The one exception re: both sides being basically equally terrible might be the Freedom Caucus\u2019s willingness to play chicken with the debt limit and potentially plunge the economy into depression for political theater. But when it comes down to it, we\u2019re effectively looking at a choice between loathsome and a tad more loathsome.<\/p>\n Anyway, back to the vote. At this time, you might be wondering if there\u2019s a point at which the House goes to plan B in order to pick its leader. Say, 10 votes? Twelve? Twenty even? And, incredibly, there is not! They literally just keep voting until someone gets a majority. Meaning McCarthy could lose 100 more times. One thousand, even!<\/p>\n Some might say the fact that he hasn\u2019t thrown in the towel after half a dozen losses suggests that he\u2019s lost touch with reality or at least the reality of this specific situation. His opponents would definitely like to make that case. One among them? Lauren Boebert,<\/strong> who demanded on Wednesday Donald Trump<\/strong> sit the guy down and explain it\u2019s over.<\/p>\n \u201cPraise the work and the leadership of Byron Donalds,<\/strong>\u201d Boebert said on Wednesday, while nominating the Florida representative for Speaker. \u201cSo let\u2019s work together, let\u2019s stop with the campaign smears and tactics to get people to turn against us. Even having my favorite president call us and tell us we need to knock this off\u2014I think it actually needs to be reversed. The president needs to tell Kevin McCarthy that, sir, you do not have the votes and it\u2019s time to withdraw.\u201d<\/p>\n This content can also be viewed on the site it originates<\/a> from.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Earlier in the day, Trump offered his support for McCarthy, writing<\/a> on Truth Social: \u201cIt\u2019s now time for all of our GREAT Republican House Members to VOTE FOR KEVIN, CLOSE THE DEAL, TAKE THE VICTORY.\u201d He added: \u201cKevin McCarthy will do a good job, and maybe even a GREAT JOB \u2014 JUST WATCH!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat depends on what your definition of<\/strong> is<\/strong><\/em> is\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\nTwitter content<\/h4>\n