INBOX ZERO DAY UPDATES
Featuring A Summary of the State of Play ... yeesh! ... of The Vacant House Speakership
-WANTED: The United States House of Representatives has an open position for Speaker, responsible for bringing necessary legislation to the floor, manage debates and votes, and ideally work with a variety of individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds. No extra pay, but you may become part of a rare group of individuals. Apply from within.
-Thus far, it is believed three people will definitely be applying for the position. On the Democratic side, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of NY - who applied in 2021 and received solid support - is again likely to be nominated, but short of finding five non-Democrats, it is not believed he will be able to get the position.
-On the Republican side, two men have emerged and are currently scrambling to replace Kevin McCarthy, unceremoniously dumped out of the position. The current #3 in GOP House leadership, Steve Scalise, is working and may have the backing of some of the non-UltraMAGA factions of the Republican party - that despite one of his apparent 'qualifications' being his self-assessment that Scalise is "David Duke without the baggage."
-And that may actually make Scalise the moderate choice, because the other candidate and current 'leader' to potentially get the chair is controversial Ohio Rep. Jim "Gym" Jordan. Jordan, the product of a severely gerrymandered district with literally no legislative accomplishments to his name since he first entered the House in 2007, has made a reputation as one of the loudest UltraMAGA rhetorical bomb throwers, as well as multiple reports of Jordan being at the epicenter of the January 6, 2021 insurrection - which may make him a favorite.
-Jordan also got the treasured-for-Republicans-these-days endorsement of Ex-President Trump XCI, whose name has also been floated as a replacement for McCarthy (since in theory a non-House member can be elected Speaker) and whose name may be placed in nomination by several UltraMAGAts who have endorsed him, including Party Leader Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Z-Q-R, GA), who is also still angling for a Vice Presidential nod. Of course, given Trump's track record of running down pretty much everyone who he once supported the second Trump perceives an iota of disloyalty (witness the recent Trump attack on ex-SC Gov. Nikki Haley now that Haley is pushing ahead Ron DeSantis for second place in the GOP Presidential primaries, such as they are), that endorsement may not be as solid as it seems.
-Word is Jordan and McCarthy are working the phones for Jordan - important because one thing McCarthy did do well was fund raise for Congressional Republicans, something Jordan is awful at and Scalise may be iffy about, though potentially also harmful because, as we all remember from the last 15 votes that took place last January, Republicans have a tiny four-vote majority to work with, and at the moment neither Jordan nor Scalise (nor, for that matter since we are going to HAVE to mention him anyway, Trump) appears to have any kind of an edge.
-In fact, word is that the battle between Scalise and Jordan/Trump has exacerbated the divisions within the GOP caucus that erupted in Tuesday's vote that took the gavel away from McCarthy and temporarily gave it to NC Rep. Patrick McHenry, a bowtied champion of the payday lending industry (and McCarthy ally) who hammered the gavel so hard most observers were shocked it didn't come apart. A proposed Scalise/Jordan debate that Fox Bid-ness was going to host was cancelled after the two men agreed on something, namely that a debate would be bad for those divisions.
-Those divisions, of course, erupted after the Motion to Vacate was triggered by McCarthy arch-nemesis Rep. Matt Gaetz (Hey GiRl, FL), and even though Mattie got seven others and Democrats to vote to oust McCarthy, the anger over his acts boiled over to the point that contents of a reported ethics investigation on Gaetz started emerging. And they are just as odious and icky as you can imagine, including reports of Gaetz showing videos of him with (ALLEGEDLY (eyeroll)) girls and young women, bragging about being able to 'go all night' by mixing Viagra with Red Bull, and referring to SD Gov. Kristi Noem as "a fine b*tch." A motion to take Gaetz' committee chairs and potential expulsion may not be out of the question yet.
-And lest you think any of this would divert Republicans from being total D's with Democrats, well, McCarthy's last official act as Speaker was to demand that Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi give up her office - while Pelosi was in CA at the funeral of Dianne Feinstein. Pelosi's belongings were moved out of the office, which was located in a secret area in response to the occupation of her office on January 6 and the attack on her husband by a Trump supporter, and McCarthy himself took Pelosi's old office. He also ordered the immediate relocation of other most senior member of the Democratic House, Rep. Steny Hoyer, all in apparent retaliation for Democrats joining Gaetz in removing McCarthy.
-The (first set of?) votes to permanently replace McCarthy before vital legislation including border security, Ukraine aid (SLAVA UKRAINI!) and keeping the Government open after November 17 will reportedly begin on Wednesday, October 11. Gird your loins ...
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-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Alfred Tennyson, Will Keith Kellogg, Walter Hagen, Anwar Sadat (see above), Nelson Riddle, Bette Davis, Denholm Eillott, Ted Bessell, Mark Belanger, Gorilla Monsoon, Arne Harris, Buck O'Neil, Marian Seldes, Connie Hawkins, Rip Taylor, Ginger Baker, Eddie Van Halen, Johnny Nash, and Judy Tenuta.
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