Mostly Monday Reads: Dysfunction American Style

Good Day, Sky Dancers!

We’ve avoided a federal government shutdown for at least 45 days, and MAGA Replican’ts are livid. Additionally, we’ve just experienced their idea of impeaching a President without evidence. We know this party faction is basically into performing sideshow acts, but it’s not a good look for the country.  This is especially true since it’s leaked into the Supreme Court.  We cannot afford to let it back into the White House. The radical right–especially its theocratic and fascist forms–is a threat to our democracy.  The elections this year will be maddening but essential.

And now, the news.

This is from Steven Benen, writing for Maddow Blog at MSNBC. I picked it up off of POST, which is just a great compiler of news articles.  They may want to shut down the government but don’t want to shut down any of their sideshows orchestrated by the impresario from hell. Hopefully, when he’s jailed, this will stop.  “Republicans eye ‘reset’ after failed impeachment inquiry hearing. After last week’s failed hearing, some Republicans want Jim Jordan to replace James Comer as the impeachment inquiry lead. That’s a deeply flawed plan.”

Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill might not agree on much, but there was one belief that generated bipartisan consensus last week: The GOP’s first impeachment inquiry hearing was an embarrassing fiasco.

One senior Republican staffer described the proceedings as “an unmitigated disaster.” Another conceded that House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and his staff “botched this bad.” Steve Bannon, meanwhile, slammed GOP members for being unprepared, while one of his guests said House Republicans “don’t know what they’re doing at all.”

It was against this backdrop that Politico reported that some in the party were prepared to do more than just complain.

After a dud of a first impeachment hearing Thursday, some House Republicans are pushing to take the Biden inquiry away from House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and put it in the hands of Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). … “People are just not happy,” a senior GOP aide said, adding that Jordan, on the other hand, “been tested on this stuff” because he led Republicans through Trump’s impeachments.

The same report, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, added that House Republicans privately agreed that “a ‘reset’ needs to happen.” It went on to note that Republican Rep. Dan Bishop of North Carolina is among those “pushing for a Jordan takeover.”

While GOP officials weigh their options, there are few angles to this that are worth keeping in mind.

The first is that Comer has earned the frustration of his allies. The Kentucky Republican has spent months overseeing a flailing crusade, making promises he couldn’t keep, holding hearings that undermined his own partisan efforts, and releasing ostensible “evidence” filled with factual errors.

Of course “people are just not happy.”

Their biggest problem is that Biden hasn’t done anything wrong and any trial is based on hard evidence.  But, I forget, it’s a theatre performance.

“So we agree that the whole government can be shut down by a consensus of Congress’s ten biggest weirdos?” Cartoon by Paul Noth

Politico characterizes the maneuvers to avoid shut down thusily. “‘It is a surrender’: Why McCarthy reversed with his survival uncertain. After Saturday’s shocking vote, the speaker all but taunted his critics to come after his gavel if they wanted to.”

When he walked into the Capitol on Saturday, Speaker Kevin McCarthy knew exactly what he’d do to stave off a shutdown: Call up a bill that abandoned the border policy and spending cuts he’d preached for weeks.

McCarthy’s move marked an abrupt shift after spending most of the year trying to placate all corners of his party — including a dozen-plus hardliners who have made it next to impossible for him to maneuver anything onto the floor. After the vote, McCarthy all but taunted his critics to come after his gavel if they wanted to.

>And their first chance to do that will be Monday night. Multiple House conservatives confirmed in interviews they will begin seriously mulling whether they will try to seize McCarthy’s gavel in the coming days.

“I think it is a surrender,” said Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), one of multiple conservatives who warned McCarthy not to accept Democratic help to avoid a shutdown.

In the end, the 45-day funding patch that is on track to keep the government open passed with more Democratic than GOP votes, in a repeat of the spring debt vote that first inflamed McCarthy’s opponents.

The bill was finished just before midnight on Friday. But McCarthy didn’t unveil his plans to take up the bill until almost 11 hours later, after a choreographed parade of Republicans took the mic during a private 90-minute meeting to argue for exactly his proposal.

Dozens of conservatives ended up voting against the bill, which gave in on their two biggest priorities — spending cuts beyond McCarthy’s spring debt deal and hard-right border policies. Still, McCarthy wanted the groundswell of support for it to look like an organic move by his members, rather an order down from leadership.

Mere hours later, a majority of House Republicans backed the type of shutdown-averting bill that the California Republican had repeatedly sworn was unacceptable. McCarthy’s 180-degree turn could soon threaten his speakership, giving conservatives who have threatened to try to eject him plenty of fodder to make their move.

“You can’t form a coalition of more Democrats than you have Republicans who you’re supposed to be the leader of, and not think that there’s going to be serious, serious fallout,” Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) said. He confirmed that after Saturday’s spending vote, they would start discussions about ousting the speaker.

Freedom Caucus member Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) acknowledged that McCarthy’s speakership is “probably” in danger, but added: “I’m not even getting into that right now. There are other members that have to decide if they want to bring that or not.”

Steven Beschloss sees it as  “A Choice Between Chaos and Governance. Democratic leaders must speak out with clarity about the dangers of extremists, showcased in the latest effort to shut down the government.”  You may read his thoughts at his Substack.

“The American people have won, the extreme MAGA Republicans have lost,” Jeffries said at a Saturday press conference after the final vote that excluded any of the MAGA demands that would have severely cut spending and implemented extreme immigration restrictions. The bill was approved 335 to 91, with 209 Democrats and 126 Republicans voting for it and 90 Republicans opposing it.

“It is our hope that the traditional Republicans will finally take their party back from the extremists who have hijacked this Congress from the very beginning of this Republican majority,” Jeffries said. “Time and time and time again, House Democrats have had to come to the rescue, to push back against the extremists and to ensure we’re doing the right thing for the American people.”

President Joe Biden quickly signed the short-term funding bill that keeps the federal government operating until Nov. 17, calling it “good news.” But he underscored Jeffries’ criticism. “We should never have been in this position in the first place,” he said in a statement. “Just a few months ago, Speaker McCarthy and I reached a budget agreement to avoid precisely this type of manufactured crisis. For weeks, extreme House Republicans tried to walk away from that deal by demanding drastic cuts that would have been devastating for millions of Americans. They failed.”

The aggrieved plan of Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, to oust McCarthy from the speakership, only makes the Democrats’ role more important. McCarthy, who said yesterday Gaetz is “more interested in securing TV interviews than doing something,” sounded for a whiplash moment like a bipartisan leader interested in governing.

Referring to Gaetz’s threat to drive him out, McCarthy said, “Bring it on. Let’s get over with it and let’s start governing. If he’s upset because he tried to push us into a shutdown and I made sure the government didn’t shut down, then let’s have that fight.”

But no one should assume that the unreliable and spineless McCarthy, who was more than willing to kowtow to the extremists until that weak tactic failed, is turning over a new leaf. There’s no sign he’s genuinely interested in decreasing Congress’ deadly dysfunction or dropping his appeasement of Trump and the House cultists bent on a Biden impeachment without evidence.

The Bulwark‘s Joe Perticone has this analysis. “How We Avoided a Government Shutdown. (For now.)  Congress kicks the can down the road until November. Plus, keep your eyes on Ukraine funding.”

In a chaotic, mad dash on Saturday, Congress averted a government shutdown—at least until November 17. After tumultuous meetings and lots of Republican infighting—all under the lingering threat to depose House Speaker Kevin McCarthy—both the House and Senate passed a continuing resolution to give themselves more time to squabble on the federal budget so that we can do this all again just before Thanksgiving.

Here are the vital stats:

• The legislation funds the government at the current (fiscal year 2023) levels for 45 more days.
• The resolution passed the House 335–91, with more Democrats than Republicans voting for it. It passed the Senate 88–9, with all “no” votes coming from the GOP side.
• There is no Ukraine aid attached.

Examine these three points individually and you can already see some of the problems Congress and the president are going to face in the weeks ahead.

First, the continuing resolution doesn’t mean a shutdown won’t still happen this year. The new deadline of November 17 is less than two months away, a short period of time on Capitol Hill, and members of Congress have a habit of not getting their acts together until the very last minute. As we’ve seen this week. And during last spring’s debt ceiling fight and frankly several other times every year. The budget fight that culminated on Saturday is going to be replayed again very soon—and next time McCarthy might not be there to cave and/or Democrats might not be there to bail him out.

Second, the fact that McCarthy put a “clean” continuing resolution on the floor is sure to anger many of the Freedom Caucus members, like Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who have repeatedly threatened a motion to vacate if they didn’t get their way. In an interview Sunday with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Gaetz said he will file the motion this week. Up in the air is the possibility that Democrats might throw McCarthy a life preserver. For what it’s worth, Gaetz had been testing the waters on a motion to vacate by talking up Democrats on the floor during votes this week. Gaetz and 89 of his other Republican colleagues voted against the CR.

Gaetz and his motion are just one more Maga Republican’t initiative. The chaos and the attention are a feature, not a meaningful part of a process.  It’s just more “reality” show antics adopted by the followers of Orange Caligula.  This headline is surreal, and I believe it. “Nikki Haley Says Trump’s Campaign Sent Her A Birdcage. The move came after Trump dubbed her “birdbrain” after she criticized him at the second GOP primary debate.”  He only put the ” best” people in White House positions, right?  This is from HuffPo. It’s reported by Taiyler S. Mitchell.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley suggested Sunday that former President Donald Trump’s campaign sent her a birdcage a couple of days after Trump posted a social media rant calling Haley a “birdbrain.”

“After a day of campaigning, this is the message waiting for me outside my hotel room,” Haley posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Haley, a 2024 GOP presidential candidate, shared a picture of a birdcage with a note that read: “From: Trump Campaign.” She added the hashtags #PrettyPatheticTryAgain and #YouJustMadeMyCaseForMe.

Two days before Haley posted the birdcage photo, the former president went on a rant on his Truth Social platform against Haley, who was ambassador to the United Nations under his administration.

Trump started his social media rant by claiming that Haley once said she’d never run against him because he’d “done an outstanding job” as president.

“Anyway, Birdbrain doesn’t have the TALENT or TEMPERAMENT to do the job. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,” the former president continued.

Your average six-year-old would even know that’s a stupid thing to do.  Meanwhile, voters today consider both Biden and Trump to be Hobson’s choice.  There’s a Monmouth Poll that ‘ain’t that pretty at all.’  I bet more than a few campaign staffers from both sides are throwing themselves at the wall.

There is not a lot of enthusiasm for either President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump becoming the major party nominees in 2024. American voters are much more likely to see Biden as too old than say the same about Trump. The Monmouth (“Mon-muth”) University Poll finds that Biden’s support in a potential rematch against Trump has slipped over the past two months. This has mainly come from a decline in the Democrat’s support among Black, Hispanic and Asian voters, while Trump has made some gains among this group. The poll also finds differing views of Trump’s current legal woes and the impeachment inquiry into Biden. However, both, along with the Hunter Biden court case, factor into the outlook for a potential rematch of the 2020 election.

One of the 14th Amendment cases to remove Trump from the ballots of several states is going nowhere in the Supreme Court. “Supreme Court declines to consider longshot bid to disqualify Trump from running for president.” This is from CNN.

The Supreme Court said Monday that it will not take up a longshot challenge to Donald Trump’s eligibility to run for president because of his alleged role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

The case was brought by John Anthony Castro, a little-known candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, who sued Trump earlier this year in an effort to disqualify him from running for president and holding the office “given his alleged provision of aid or comfort to the convicted criminals and insurrectionist that violently attacked our United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.”

The case was denied without any comment or recorded vote.

Maybe the states will fare better. Trump’s busy today with his own problems.  This is from the Washington Post.  “Trump attends his fraud trial in New York court.”   This is the sideshow part.  Trump’s antics reminded me of when he stalked Hillary on stage at a debate.  Again, give me an average six-year-old’s opinion on this playground bully.

The proceedings paused for a lunch break shortly before 1 p.m. On his way out of the courtroom, Donald Trump hovered right over New York Attorney General Letitia James, who was still seated in the front row. Standing about a foot away from her, Trump leaned over and glared. Afterward, she appeared to laugh off the incident.

Red states are diving deeper into 1984 territory. “North Carolina Republicans create “secret police force”.  This is reported by Tesnim Zekeria.

North Carolina’s new $300 billion state budget contains a provision that gives extraordinary investigative powers to a partisan oversight committee co-chaired by Senate Leader Phil Berger (R) and House Speaker Tim Moore (R).

The Joint Legislative Committee on Government Operations — or Gov Ops for short — is empowered to seize “any document or system of record” from anyone who works in or with state and local government during its investigations. The rule applies to contractors, subcontractors, and any other non-state entity “receiving, directly and indirectly, public funds,” including charities and state universities.

Moreover, Gov Ops staff will be authorized to enter “any building or facility” owned or leased by a state or non-state entity without a judicial warrant. This includes the private residences of subcontractors and contractors who run businesses out of their homes, lawmakers say.

Alarmingly, public employees under investigation will be required to keep all communication and requests “confidential.” They cannot alert their supervisor of the investigation nor consult with legal counsel. Violating this rule “shall be grounds for disciplinary action, including dismissal,” the law reads. Those who refuse to cooperate face jail time and fines of up to $1,000. In the event that Gov Ops searches a person’s home, these rules mean that the person 1) must keep the entry a secret, 2) cannot seek outside help (unless necessary for fulfilling the request, the law says), and 3) could face criminal charges if Gov Ops deems them uncooperative.

Moore and Berger claim these new rules are benign and necessary to exercise oversight of state funds. But Democrats and other critics say the changes turn Gov Ops into a “secret police force,” warning that the new policies have far-reaching implications.

During a legislative debate, State Senator Graig Meyer (D) asked lawmakers to consider a hypothetical scenario in which Gov Ops accesses personal health records like ultrasounds, which are required by the state to receive abortion pills. The Commission, Meyer said, could release these documents “to the public in a hearing.”

Gov Ops could also potentially enter and search “a law firm that receives state funding for court-appointed lawyers,” compromising “the sanctity of the attorney-client privilege,” State Representative Allison Dahle (D) said. Dahle added that these new powers will allow Gov Ops members to carry out grudges, empowering them to target political enemies as “backlash for previous actions.”

“I don’t think I have ever publicly called the GOP leadership ‘authoritarian’ because that’s not a term I take lightly, but their approach to seizing power and cover up their tracks now fits the bill,” Meyer told Popular Information. “The hypotheticals of how Gov Ops power could be abused are endless. Verbal assurances of restraint are inadequate; we need clear guardrails in law.” Meyer added that he “hope[s] that members of both parties can see what’s happening before it’s too late.”

It’s cooled off down here, so I’m comfortable, but I still have this saltwater wedge threatening potable water for 3 months starting around Halloween. Everything is just overwhelming me at the moment.  Youngest Daughter’s condition is still stable.  We’ve also got a forecast for a cold winter down here.  That won’t bode well if the pipes are still under attack by saltwater.

I hope things are going okay in your corner of the planet.  Somebody needs to turn on the Bat Light!  Matt Gaetz needs to be given the Batman Treatment. POW!  I’m just trying to figure out if the best look for the guy would be to put him in a Harley Quinn costume and turn him loose in Disney World.  Your average six-year-old would know what to do with him.

Have a good week!  At least we can’t get Potomac fever!

What’s on your reading and blogging list today?