Before watching this short statement by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy {Direct Rumble Link}, let me remind everyone of the baseline truth.

Democrats want power; Republicans want money.  Threaten Democrats power, they get vicious.  Threaten Republicans money, they get vicious.  Democrats use money to get power; Republicans use power to get money.  The ideology of the democrats drives their donor activity.  The donor activity drives the republican ideology. 

This is the core and essential difference between both wings of the DC UniParty, two wings of the same vulture.  This is the truth of the thing. Underline it, put it on Post-It notes, remind yourself of this baseline in all review of both parties.  This is the core motive behind everything!

To hammer this point home, listen to this soundbite from Kevin McCarthy speaking at Oxford University, U.K. WATCH:

Why does Kevin McCarthy only see rich white republicans? Because Kevin McCarthy only sees rich, white republicans.

Get it?

The MAGA base is invisible to Republicans.

The MAGA base is the most diverse coalition in U.S. political history. MAGA cuts across all races, national origin, color and creed definitions. MAGA is a massive cross section of every American segment. MAGA is pure American! The republican party cannot see it, because the republican party cannot see it.

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Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy announced in a Wall Street Journal op-ed [SEE HERE] that he is leaving congress at the end of this year and will not seek reelection.

This announcement follows significant sunlight upon the GOPe wing of the DC Uniparty, as the big ugly battle between the voting base and the detached professional Republican apparatus rages on. Based on policy advocacy and votes registered, there are approximately 100 establishment GOP House Republicans, who represent DC interests, and approximately 100 Republicans in the House who honor the representative wishes of their constituents. It is a pretty even split.

Despite that 50/50 reality, the pragmatic conservative base, the America-First MAGA movement, is in far better shape than ever before. Having slightly more than half of the Republican House representing the people is significantly more than in the past 20 years. Thanks to the sunlight provided by Donald Trump, we have made progress. Here’s McCarthy’s announcement.

(Via Wall Street Journal) – I’m an optimist. How could I not be? I’m the son of a firefighter. For 17 years I’ve served in the same congressional seat—the same office in which I was once denied an internship. Only in America.

I helped lead Republicans to a House majority—twice. We got more Republican women, veterans and minorities elected to Congress at one time than ever before. I remained cheerfully persistent when elected speaker because I knew what we could accomplish.

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This is, well, too full of smiles to adequately describe.   Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz delivered a resoundingly honest speech to the Republican attendees at the Florida Freedom Summit on Saturday.   It is well worth the time to watch, as prompted.

Look, I’m still on the fence with this guy, but his brutal confrontation of the GOPe is some of the funniest and best components of the BIG UGLY so far.   The guy has been put through the wringer, hit from every angle, ridiculed by both the left and right, and yet he’s standing there snarking brutal one-liners in their faces while sipping their tears.

It’s so much fun to watch him go full wolverine, and yet so brutal in its abject honesty; quite frankly, it makes him very easy to like. WATCH:

I mean, seriously.  Think about it.  He took down the Speaker of the House…. 😂

He’s a rebel with a cause. Give em’ hell kid!  

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Louisiana Republican Mike Johnson won the vote and has become Speaker of the House of Representatives.  This is a huge shift in momentum for the MAGA base, for common sense pragmatic voters, and for the overall direction of our national body politic.

Speaker Johnson delivered a humble, gracious and fantastic speech after the vote.  WATCH:

WASHINGTON DC – The fourth-term Louisianan sailed to victory with 220 votes, more than the 215 he needed to be elected speaker on the House floor. The final vote on the first ballot was 220-209.

Johnson’s win marked a stunning turnaround after more than three weeks of chaotic limbo in the House following the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy and the demise of three other failed speaker candidates. He did not lose a single GOP vote from lawmakers who were present; Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) is in Israel and did not attend the balloting.

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This is deep weeds inside baseball, but boy howdy does it tell a story. Representative Matt Gaetz (MAGA, FL) goes through the details of yesterday’s House republican conference assembly as they select a Speaker nominee.

What Gaetz reveals in detail is how Kevin McCarthy has been working the conference to undermine any other Speaker candidate so that McCarthy would be renominated as the only possible alternative. The insight and details are really interesting. This is a must watch.

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The slate is set for a Monday evening conference in the Republican House of Representatives as nine GOP politicians have registered by the deadline today to put their names in the nomination process.   After the conference meets on Monday night, there will be a secret ballot vote on Tuesday.

The absolute worst-case scenario is Tom Emmer (R-MN) who has just received the endorsement of Kevin McCarthy.  Emmer wants to abolish the electoral college for presidential races in favor of a national popular vote. Unfortunately, Emmer likely carries around 70 automatic votes from the professionally Republican caucus.

On the opposite side of that spectrum is Byron Donalds (R-FL) who is pure MAGA and also running for the job.

WASHINGTON DC – The House GOP’s enormous speaker field is officially set, with nine Republicans seeking to somehow unify their splintered party after almost three weeks without a leader.

It’s the most crowded field since former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s fall 19 days ago. The latest round of candidates includes current GOP leaders — like Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) and Vice Chair Mike Johnson (R-La.) — as well as more surprising rank and file members like Reps. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.). Another last-minute addition, Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Ala.), who serves as GOP policy chair, raised eyebrows on Sunday.

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After a lengthy and often combative GOP conference earlier today, Jim Jordan’s office has announced there will be a 3rd vote for House Speaker Friday at 10:00am.

“The House will vote Friday at 10 a.m. on a third speaker ballot, according to Jordan’s spokesman.” {link}

The UniParty Republicans had earlier floated an interim proposal to grant temporary House Speaker Patrick McHenry with additional authorities which would gain Democratic vote support.  The concept was to get the House through a round of funding for Israel and Ukraine aid and avoiding a shutdown, until January.  However, that effort fell short as the non UniParty Republicans would not agree to the plan.

Jordan spoke briefly about that issue following the conference meeting.  WATCH (46 secs):

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(Via Politico) – […] Republicans are split. Jordan, for now, isn’t ready to call it quits, and some of his backers are gearing up for trench warfare.

“I can tell you, nobody in our conference can get to 217 on two rounds, and three legislative days. So I think he deserves more time,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), a Jordan ally, told reporters. “I’m in favor of trying. For Jordan, I would go at least another week.”

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The media and punditry are saying it’s the pressure of Jordan, but really, it’s the pressure of the voters that’s scaring the crap out of the Republicans in the House.

The block of opposition to Jim Jordan’s nomination in the House is crumbling, as their phones, emails and fax machines are being lit up by voters demanding support and threatening a removal primary against any House member who tries to stand in the way of the people.

Jordan has vowed to take his nomination to a House floor vote and force the Republican Party to take a stand. This is a solid strategy that puts any no vote against the will of the electorate.

WASHINGTON – Twenty-four hours before the full House will vote on whether to hand Jordan the gavel, the Judiciary chair and his allies have managed to chip away at a significant bloc of opposition that many in the House GOP saw as insurmountable just days ago.

That includes two lawmakers who had publicly vowed not to support Jordan: Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.), who had publicly railed against Jordan’s behavior towards Majority Whip Steve Scalise, and House Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), who had also backed Scalise’s bid and has been critical of the House Freedom Caucus’s tactics in recent years.

Another holdout, Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.), posted on X Monday that he would be “offering my support on the House floor” to Jordan. Buchanan, a senior member of the Florida GOP delegation, is another significant get, given three Republicans from the Sunshine state are still holding out.

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The House GOP Speaker’s race is a system of conniving and positioning for a cushy committee assignment, indulgences from the lobbyist control apparatus, office locations and Machiavellian influence for the best junkets and largest leadership PAC deposits.  That’s the truth, the non-pretending truth about the system at work behind the GOPe blind vote.

This internecine professionally Republican stuff has nothing to do with principle centered leadership, and everything to do with self-indulgences and personal affluence.

Riddle me this…. Steve Scalise drops out leaving Jim Jordan as the last man standing that seemingly could unite the caucus.  Kevin McCarthy supports Jordan. Against this backdrop, Georgia Republican Austin Scott, the seven-term representative who  told CNN’s Manu Raju on Thursday that the GOP’s inability to elect a new speaker “makes us look like a bunch of idiots,” now enters the race.

If the caucus was likely to support Jordan, and if Scott was so concerned about them looking like idiots, then why would Scott enter the race to impede the consensus candidate?   That tells you what you need to know about Georgia’s Austin Scott.

Georgia?  What concerns have previously been identified within the Georgia Republican political circles?  Funny that.

VIA CNN: Austin Scott began his political career in the Georgia House of Representatives in 1997, where he served until being elected to Congress in 2011.  Scott, represents Georgia’s 8th Congressional District, serves on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the House Armed Services Committee and the House Agriculture Committee.

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President Trump is scheduled to meet with Republican House Conference leadership on Tuesday next week.  According to Congressman Troy Nehls, President Trump is going to recommend and endorse Ohio Representative Jim Jordan for the position:

[Source Link]

Obviously, I do not personally like this idea, as I think it’s just another bondo and spray paint application upon the Republican wing of the UniParty.  However, oddly enough when John Boehner stepped down, I wanted to see Jim Jordan instead of Paul Ryan.  Goes to show how rapidly the machinery in DC can compromise someone.

Ukraine will get funded.  Jordan will be the arbiter of which DC inhabitants will be protected from subpoenas; the House will change the rules to protect him.  The door nameplates change, and everyone goes back to business as usual.  Meh, I wonder who will be placed as chair of the Judiciary Committee and Weaponization Committee?

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