Rule It or Ruin It: The GOP House Speaker Chaos is Exactly as Planned
They might as well elect Steve Bannon Speaker of the House since he is the man behind the curtain running the show
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Did you forget about Steve Bannon? Don’t underestimate him. The truth is that he is the agent behind the chaos on the Republican side of the House of Representatives. He was the one who egged on Rep. Matt Gaetz to oust McCarthy. He is the one who pushed for election denier and insurrectionist Jim Jordan to be the Speaker.
He is the one with the social media following — he calls them “The Posse” — whom he deploys to harass and intimidate anyone standing in the way.
He just won’t go away, and he has scored a big success for his grand dream and vision: Tear it all down and blow it all up.
We do not have a functional House of Representatives. A portion of our government is decapitated and incapacitated and unable to function. It cannot operate without somebody in the role of Speaker of the House and the GOP has now made two things absolutely clear: 1) They are not able to choose a Speaker and 2) they will not work with Democrats to solve the problem.
This is serious. I think a large swath of Americans do not realize the depth and breadth of the crisis we are now in. Most people hear “vote for Speaker of the House” and they yawn and go check what the match-ups are this weekend in college football and which games they are going to watch.
I wrote a previous piece about McCarthy being ousted in which I did inject a little bit of humor. I spoke of the Democrats perhaps bringing hotdogs and marshmallows to the Republican bonfire of self-destruction.
I was going to title this piece “Hey GOP, you’re not funny anymore.” Even that title would have been a little too tongue-in-cheek.
I’m just not laughing anymore.
I’m scared.
The other day, CNN aired a voicemail received by the spouse of an unnamed Republican representative who voted against Jim Jordan to be the speaker.
Here is a link to it if you want to hear it for yourself. Warning, hearing the actual voice is extremely disturbing. I am usually not bothered by idiots, but this guy was seriously frightening.
CNN of course did bleep out a bit of the profanity and their transcript likewise had the usual editing of nasty words. I am going to include here some excerpts of exactly what this MAGA Jim Jordan supporter said to the wife of a Republican congressman:
Why is your husband such a pig? Why would he get on TV and make an asshole of himself? Because he’s a deep-state prick? Because he doesn’t represent the people? So what we’re gonna do is we’re going fucking follow you all over the place. We’re gonna be up your ass fucking nonstop… I’m putting all your information over the internet now. Everybody else is. And you will not be left alone because of your fucking faggot husband. Jim Jordan or more conservative or you’re going to be fucking molested like you can’t ever imagine. And again, non-violently. You won’t go to the beauty parlor. You must be a bitch to marry a fucking ugly motherfucker like that.
I have no proof to link this unknown individual to Steve Bannon’s “Posse,” but I think it would be more than fair to assume he is a Bannon fan.
The man says twice in the message that he will be “non-violent.” However, I think that is a very small comfort to someone who is going to have a stalker.
This is not an isolated example. All of these people are followers of Bannon and Fox News and the so-called Truth Social of Trump. This vitriol is being stoked and inflamed across the whole MAGA Republican network of “thought leaders.” They take no personal responsibility for voicemails like the above. But hey, the “thought leaders” are safe and not the ones receiving credible threats, so why not keep stoking the Republican chaos, right?
More examples: Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo) has received four death threats. He also says he has been evicted from his office in Colorado because his landlord is “mad” at him.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb) received threatening phone calls and his wife slept with a gun under her pillow.
Rep. Drew Ferguson (R-Ga) says that he and his family received death threats after he reversed his support for Jordan. While Jordan had issued a general statement decrying threats, I find what Ferguson has to say to be very interesting and telling:
“Following the first vote, I had genuine concerns about the threatening tactics and pressure campaigns Jordan and his allies were using to leverage members of their votes,” Ferguson said. “I discussed this directly with Jim and planned to support him on the second ballot.”
“When the pressure campaigns and attacks on fellow members ramped up, it became clear to me that the House Republican conference does not need a bully as the Speaker,” he added. (emphasis added)
Steve Bannon’s “War Room” streams live for four hours every weekday. Immediately following the ouster of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker, there was an article in the New York Times titled “From a Capitol Hill Basement, Bannon Stokes the Republican Party Meltdown.” In it, Annie Karni notes:
He is a vital part of a feedback loop of red-meat media hits and social media posts, online fund-raising and unfettered preaching to an often angry and fervently right-wing base that rewards disruptions and detests institutions.
Another way to put it is that the Bannon model is “rule it or ruin it.”
Predictably, Jordan has lost yet another vote for Speaker as I was composing this. There is no one waiting in the wings to be the next nominee. The Bannon people also have slapped down the notion of working a deal with the Democrats to empower McHenry as a functioning Speaker temporarily.
So, the plan to ruin our government is working. It is working extraordinarily well.
An under-reported fact is the impending brain drain. Good and smart congressional staff members — in both parties — who took their job because they wanted to be part of legislating and advancing policies are sick of this crap (as are we all) and are pondering quitting their jobs.
The world is on fire, our government is going to shut down with no funding, and Steve Bannon is smiling and will gleefully continue to broadcast for four hours a day to egg on his “Posse.”
I have no more jokes to make about pyromaniacs. This is no longer even remotely funny.
What we are witnessing is January 6th succeeding by other means.
(Postscript: I tuned in this evening to take a peek at Fox News to see what they had to say. The banner on the screen read: “Teachers Union Sponsors Pro-Hamas Rally.” The host explained that the Democrats and high school teachers are indoctrinating kids to be pro-terrorist and anti-America. Fox News knows what they are doing. They know exactly what they are doing. They are not stupid. They know.)