The third round of voting for Speaker of the House ends with nobody elected speaker. Hakeem Jeffries (D) is at 212 votes, Kevin McCarthy (R) at 202, and Jim Jordan (R) at 20. Image: C-Span
The third round of voting for Speaker of the House ends with nobody elected speaker. Hakeem Jeffries (D) is at 212 votes, Kevin McCarthy (R) at 202, and Jim Jordan (R) at 20. Image: C-Span
Surely there are six Republicans that can grow a pair and stand up for their oath of office and put the House of Representatives back into operation.
As the speaker vote goes into its third day of immobility. The impasse within the Republican ranks has done nothing but solidify. What should be obvious is that Kevin McCarthy will not become Speaker of the House for this Congress.
The the question thus becomes who will.
The opposition to McCarthy within his party is coming majorly from a faction that calls itself the Freedom Caucus. Since the composition of this group is made up almost entirely of members who supported and/or participated to greater or lesser degrees in Trump’s efforts to overthrow the government on January 6th, this crew is better described as the Treason Caucus.
This is a group of politicians who mistake the concept of obstruction with a sense of power. This mistake is not limited to the Treason Caucus. There are two non-Republican Senators who have taken similar viiewpoints: Manchin and Sinema.
In reality power does not come from obstruction. It is much more complicated than that. In part it involves a cohesion to agreement on survival principles, concepts that benefit the majority toward better survival rather than a few big donors or insane death cult factions.
Oddly enough this maybe where a solution to the impasse lies. Before we get to that, let’s examine what’s really amiss with McCarthy. He has given up, unsuccessfully, major concessions to the Treason Caucus. However, these folks being extremist nutcases are intent on the destruction of our government. Going into any agreement at all with this crew weakens the post of Speaker irretrievably. Don’t forget that this crew is operating under the same delusion as Trump and Kari Lake that repeating the same lie over and over will magically make it a truth. Nope. Since none of these members qualify for their positions per the 14th Amendment, their tenure is temporary at best—Jack Smith remains on the job.
So, what can break the impasse? Six Republicans. Six who value the Constitution and the principles of negotiation and compromise more than their reputation on FOX, OAN, Newsmax or other purveyors of conflict and opposition.
Why six? Because Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic Minority Leader has gotten 212 votes in each of the eight ballots taken so far over the past three days. The threshold for attaining the Speaker’s gavel is 218. Get it?
If six Republicans made a decision to step up for the Consitution the way Adam Kinzinger and Lis Cheney did, this would be over. It can still happen.
The problem with the vocal minority represented by the Treason Caucus is the “vocal” part. People think that loudness and voices raised in anger are meaningful and effective. The opposite is true. And in case no one noticed, there’s a LOT fewer members of this minority than it wants to admit.
Cheney and Kinzinger stood up for the Constitution, in accordance with their oath of office. Surely there are six more Republicans that can grow a pair and do the same.
Marty Kassowitz is co-founder of Factkeepers. As founder of Interest Factory and View360, he brings more than 30 years experience in effective online communications, social media management, and platform development to the site. He is a writer, designer, editor and long time observer of the ill-logic demonstrated by too many members of the species known as Mankind. After a long history of somewhat private commentary on a subject he totally hates: politics, Marty was encouraged to build this site and put up his own analyses as well as curate relevant content from other sources.
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