You Can't Horse Trade With a Jackass

 

     To those not as pragmatic as some in political matters, there's a lot of horse trading that happens on Capitol Hill and this is whether or not the balance of power changes in one chamber or another. Speakers get elected and re-elected, minority and majority whips and leaders, too. Deals are made, promises are solemnly made, "I scratch your back, you scratch my mine" is said in an infinite variety of iterations.

     That certainly applies to the title of Speaker of the House, arguably one of the three or four most powerful positions in the United States government. And, in the unprecedented case of Kevin McCarthy, a lot of promises have to be made, sometimes with self-interested psychopaths, until it begins to feel as if one is striking bargains not with the Devil but several of them.

     Some of these deals we know about, most, I suspect, we don't. We know McCarthy promised Marjorie Taylor-Greene she'd get her old committee assignments back and that was to be expected. But then Republicans, the Gang of 21 began asking for more and more, all the way down to rules changes and without even promising McCarthy he'd get their votes even if he delivered.

     The inmates have taken over the asylum and McCarthy is their asylum shower bitch. He's yipped and yapped at them since yesterday morning but, despite giving away the farm for essentially nothing in return, poor Kevin loses votes with every ballot. The last one, the fourth one this morning, saw him lose another vote when a Republican, who'd previously voted for him, voted "present".

     That makes 21 Republicans who won't vote for him. On the first ballot yesterday, he needed 15. Ah, the good old days.

     And the division in the ranks isn't even among the moderates from the Neo Nazis. The Neo Nazis are at war with each other because hatred is the only language they understand. Taylor Greene and Jim Jordan, two of the worst of the bunch, are still in McCarthy's corner for no other reason than because Greene was assured of getting her two committee assignments back and Jordan was promised chairmanship of the House Judiciary Committee.

     And then, there are the other usual suspects, such as Andy Biggs (R-Nuremberg), Matt Gaetz (R-Mann Act) and Lauren Boebert (R-NRA), who are openly mocking the 201 Republicans, especially McCarthy, and even daring the caucus to hold another ballot, knowing it would embarrass him for a fifth time. Yes, MTG and her old running buddy Gaetz are at each other's throats and meanwhile, the Democrats are standing around twiddling their thumbs waiting to get back to work.

     Or so it would seem.

     Ever the back room schemer, Jim Clyburn is working with some moderate Republicans and trying to get six to vote for Hakeem Jeffries, the winner of all four ballots. As critical as I am of Clyburn and his sleazy back room deals to put the skids to the Democratic primary season in 2020, this is the tack Democrats ought to be taking, in trying to cadge Republican votes to make Hakeem Jeffries the next House Speaker, however temporarily.

     But some Democrats haven't gotten that memo. Take Brad Sherman of California, for instance.  Sherman is trying to broker his own deal behind the curtains whereby certain Democrats would take their votes back from Jeffries (all 212 Democrats voted for him in the first four ballots) and install McCarthy. But Clyburn needs to get just six Republican votes. Sherman needs 17 Democrats to vote for someone who'd be the weakest Speaker in US history.

     Bloomberg rightly points out that the more votes McCarthy gets from Democrats, the more Republican votes he'll lose.

     If this devolves into a zero sum game, we'll just be back to where we are now. The Democrats ought to be pushing Hakeem Jeffries since he's won all four ballots. Instead of talking Democrats into voting for a Republican, they should be talking to moderate Republicans into voting for the Democrat.

     And McCarthy's already 17 votes shy of that magic 218. If the Republicans were interested in the slightest about actual governance, they'd elect McCarthy so the representatives-elect can be seated and legislation in the 118th Congress can begin.