Are The House GOP *Ever* Going To Govern Themselves?

Update: Thanks again as always to Batocchio for sharing this article at Crooks & Liars' Mike's Blog Round-Up. Also, waking up this morning to the news about the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore. Oh my God, to everyone up there, I am so sorry...

It had to happen. The minute the Republican-controlled House of Representatives actually does something, the Freedom Caucus rises up to knee-cap the entire system with another purity purge. In response to the current flavor of the month Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-Mosesville) agreeing to bring appropriations bills to the floor for votes, major wingnut Marjorie Taylor Greene filed the latest Motion to Vacate (via Deirdre Walsh and Lexie Schapitl at NPR):

Greene and other hardline conservatives had expressed anger with Johnson's handling of the six remaining appropriations bills for fiscal year 2024. The package of those bills – totaling $1.2 trillion – passed the House Friday morning with more Democratic support than Republican support. It now heads to the Senate. Working with Democrats to avoid a shutdown is also what triggered the push to oust then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy last year.

"This is not personal against Mike Johnson. He's a very good man. And I have respect for him as a person. But he is not doing the job. The proof is in the vote count today," Greene told reporters Friday. "The Republican speaker of the House handed over every ounce of negotiating power to Chuck Schumer and the Democrats and went ahead and funded the government when this was our point of leverage..."

For Greene to accuse Johnson of "not doing the job" plays into the Far Right mindset that there should never be compromise with Democrats, only the abject surrender by Democrats to every Republican wish.

For all the Beltway media obsession with the idea of bipartisanship, it ought to horrify them that the modern Republicans can't even spell the word, even among their own ranks. And yet, there's no outrage or disappointment from the punditry as they sit there wondering why the Democrats won't come to the rescue of the opposition party when the GOP are clearly refusing the lifelines.

Never before in our nation's political history have we seen the controlling party in the US House self-immolate itself like this on an almost monthly - arguably daily - basis. Ever since the House Republicans gained a narrow majority in the 2022 midterms, instead of uniting behind a coherent and achievable policy agenda they've been backbiting over how to force Democrats - both in the House and Senate - to agree to draconian legislation like a harsh immigration bill. And then reject their own bills because they feared Biden and the Dems would claim those accomplishments for their own.

In the process, instead of uniting behind a Speaker of the House to gain them legislative victories, the extremist Irrational factions - the Freedom Caucus, the Tea Partiers, anyone to the Right of Grover Norquist - among the Representatives are using the Motion to Vacate tool they forced their First Round Speaker Mike McCarthy to accept - and then used on himself - to now remove their Second Round Speaker Johnson for exactly the same reason: To sow chaos.

This shouldn't be happening. The way it's set up in the Constitution and in centuries of rules and traditions, the Speaker is supposed to be one of the most powerful offices in the land (at times outclassing the Presidency). Back in the earlier days when Congress held more power - and responsibilities - than it does now, being Speaker was one of the most coveted jobs out there. And GODS, it was powerful. Men like Henry Clay, Thomas Reed, Joseph Cannon, Sam Rayburn, Tip O'Neill, and yes even the first woman Speaker Nancy Pelosi... They established and influenced national policies, and wielded the kind of control that would have lesser congresscritters hiding under the tables.

And yet, here we are: Those lesser congresscritters are now tearing at the ones who are supposed to be their leaders, all because those leaders are "failing" at shutting down the federal government on the extremists' terms. All because those Speakers - not just Johnson and McCarthy, but John Boehner and Paul Ryan who were driven out by these same backbench rioters - realized once in office they were responsible for actually getting work done in spite of the shutdown demands.

You'd think after all these years of trying and failing to get a Republican Speaker to accede to the Far Right fantasies of burning the entire federal government down in order to get rid of social safety nets -  like Medicare, Social Security, ACA, safety regulations, clean water/air acts, etc. - that the wingnuts would dial it back a little. But they can't, because they don't see any consequences to their actions: Even within their own ranks, there has rarely been any payback. Even as they're on the brink of triggering yet another prolonged job hunt for a replacement Speaker should Johnson get kicked out.

This was how it went last time in October: Failed vote after failed vote of trying to find a palatable candidate that both the Rational and Irrational - remember, there are no Moderates left in the GOP, just different levels of Conservatives - could accept. I wrote this after the third - or was he the fifth - potential compromise candidate in Steve Scalise got shot down:

There is some schadenfreude to be had here as we watch a political party that's risen to power through partisan bullshit tears itself apart applying that partisan bullshit to themselves. However, there is little joy to savor. This is all happening as the planet faces multiple global crises - not just the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East but also increasing climate change disasters and also economic instability with China - that creates an urgency to fill the Speaker's role so that our government can function and respond to these crises.

Which is exactly what the Freedom Caucus / "Government Is Bad" / pro-Russian / racist-sexist bastards want to prevent. They WANT government to fall so they can build their Utopia on the ashes.

Greene - and Gaetz, and Jordan, and Gosar, and many other extremists - genuinely believe they can pull these stunts and there will never be any punishment for it. Even though they're exposing the possibility of forcing a handful of Rational Republicans to do the "unthinkable" and put the Democratic caucus leader Hakeem Jeffries in as Speaker to spite them.

This scenario is getting more likely by the day, as various Republicans are "retiring" from their seats at just the right moment where their offices remain vacant well into the November general election, reducing the magic number needed for Democrats to flip majority control of the House.

But none of that matters to the Far Right. They will Rule or Ruin, either the House or the whole Congress or the entire United States. If they lose the House this term before November, they'll scream bloody murder and scheme out other ways to delay all meaningful legislation, and yell on Fox Not-News every minute of the day how they're the victims of an "illegal takeover" of Congress.

All for the attention, and the deep-pocket money from their PACs (whatever trump can't vacuum up through his control of the RNC), and the ability to rile up their MAGA followers to spill "bloodbaths" when the time comes.

The Republicans can't govern America. They keep proving that the last 20 years. Today, they can't even govern themselves.