Tucker Carlson can't encourage the haters but Donald Trump can?

Once you platform Donald Trump, one should not be surprised to get more of this.

 

In America political mistakes like that can be undone politically. 

 

November 2026 is the next opportunity.

 

 

 

Pressure on the House GOP reconciliation bill holdouts got them all, save one, to flip at 03:23 this morning, finally allowing the bill to come to the floor for debate

Thomas Massie was originally for bringing the bill to the floor for debate, then switched to against that after Trump got testy with him lol, and then switched back to for again after getting Trump to stop criticizing him, at least temporarily.

He'll still vote against this damn thing, and will probably be the only one. 

The debate phase started at 03:30 and is still ongoing.

Hakeem Jeffries is trying to outdo Kevin McCarthy with a marathon floor speech in opposition longer than eight hours and thirty-two minutes. 

This would be quite the payback to Trump for Jan 6, 2021 lol

 The House Speaker election is January 3, 2025.

You've got 34 Republicans pissed off at passage of the American Relief Act on December 20th by Mike Johnson and 170 Republicans.

Hakeem Jeffries has already told everyone Democrats will not help elect Mike Johnson speaker again because he stiffed them on the continuing spending resolution. Democrats are pissed off, too, although 196 did vote Yea on the bill.

So Republicans absolutely need those 34 to re-elect Johnson to speaker on Jan 3rd.

But let's say they don't, and the process drags out like it did with Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

The 2024 election results go to Congress in joint session for casting of the electoral college votes on January 6th, but that wouldn't happen without a speaker to swear-in the new House.

Jan 6, 2025 could be disrupted for Trump.

Very amusing.

Discussed here.

Third continuing resolution since September passes Congress to fund federal government into March

WASHINGTON — Congress passed a bill on Thursday that would prevent a partial government shutdown this weekend and keep federal funds flowing through March 1 and March 8.

The Democratic-led Senate voted 77-18 on final passage after considering a few amendments. The Republican-led House soon followed suit, passing it by a vote of 314-108.

The bill now goes to President Joe Biden’s desk to become law before the funding expires Friday at midnight.

It is the third stopgap bill since last September as the divided Congress struggles to agree on full-year government funding bills. ...

The first stopgap bill led to the ouster of Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., as speaker. His successor, Johnson, is seeking to avoid the same fate by selling the conservative victories in the latest deal.

More.

Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy has announced his intention to resign at the end of the year

 Story here.

Combined with the Santos expulsion last week, the House GOP majority now goes down to 220 effective Jan 1, just a seven seat advantage over the Democrats, which guarantees that the new, more conservative Speaker Johnson will have to continue to compromise with Democrats to pass spending bills:

The removal of Santos lowers the number of House Republicans to 221, with 213 Democrats. This makes it even more difficult for the majority to pass legislation without Democratic support.

McCarthy's revenge.

How Kevin McCarthy was like Obamacare

 Republicans repealed him but didn't have a replacement.

 

Scalise drops speaker bid as House devolves into further turmoil...

Rep. Jim Jordan nominated for House speaker, but falls short of votes needed... 
 

Nancy Mace has it both ways

 

CNN: Everyone elected to office from California is a Democrat

 

Wanting-it-both-ways DeSantis strikes again

 

Ron DeSantis: "I Was One Of the Guys That Opposed McCarthy Before It Was Cool" :

At the same time, though, I look at guys like Chip Roy, Tom Massie, Jim Jordan, and they’re basically saying there’s not a plan to go forward with whatever Matt Gaetz is doing.

Republicans barely control one half of the legislative branch and eight of 'em decide to eat each other instead of to live to fight again in 45 days

 Brilliant, just brilliant.

McCarthy removed as speaker 216-210.

The roll call vote is here.

Eight Republicans joined 208 Democrats to depose McCarthy as Speaker.

the eight Republicans who voted to oust McCarthy as Speaker included that slut Nancy Mace

not even that Scrooge Thomas Massie voted to depose McCarthy

Nancy Pelosi had just enough class not to vote at all

 

US House passes 45-day government funding bill 335-91 minus Ukraine aid

 The House measure would fund government at current 2023 levels for 45 days, through Nov. 17, setting up another potential crisis if they fail to more fully fund government by then. The package was approved by the House 335-91, with most Republicans and almost all Democrats supporting.

More.

The biggest turd at the Department of Justice is Merrick Garland

 When Obama nominated that guy for the Supreme Court, it was like throwing a Molotov Cocktail at it.

The federal prosecutor tasked with investigating Hunter Biden told at least six witnesses last year that he lacked authority to charge the first son outside Delaware and was denied special counsel status, according to an IRS whistleblower — and now the House Judiciary Committee wants to talk to them.

Delaware US Attorney David Weiss made the shocking disclosure at an Oct. 7, 2022, meeting with top IRS and FBI officials — contradicting sworn testimony from Attorney General Merrick Garland, IRS supervisory agent Gary Shapley told the House Ways and Means Committee last month. ...

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Sunday that Republicans will launch an impeachment inquiry into Garland if Shapley’s account is corroborated.

More.

Debt ceiling compromise clears the US Senate 63-36, Republican Senators extract pledge from Chucky Schumer for more defense spending which amounts to a pig in a poke so 31 vote against it anyway

Hello, all spending bills must originate in the House.

Some Senate Republicans are pretending you don't know that.

What a joke.

 CNBC:

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer spent much of the day Thursday hammering out an agreement with a group of Senate Republicans who demanded that he pledge to support a supplemental defense funding bill before they would agree to fast-track the debt ceiling bill.

The current House debt ceiling bill provided $886 billion in defense spending for fiscal year 2024, an increase of 3% year over year. That figure rose to $895 billion in 2025, an increase of 1%.

But GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine called this “woefully inadequate” Thursday, arguing that a 1% increase did not keep pace with inflation, so in practical terms, it was actually a decrease in military funding. The solution came in the form of a rare joint statement from Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., which was read on the floor.

“This debt ceiling deal does nothing to limit the Senate’s ability to appropriate emergency supplemental funds to ensure our military capabilities are sufficient to deter China, Russia and our other adversaries and respond to ongoing and growing national security threats,” Schumer read. “Nor does this debt ceiling limit the Senate’s ability to appropriate emergency supplemental funds and respond to various national issues, such as disaster relief, combating the fentanyl crisis or other issues of national importance,” said Schumer.

The Hill:

The normally slow-moving chamber raced through a dozen votes in just over three hours. ...

A total of 31 Republicans voted against the measure ...

Just four Democrats voted against the measure: Sens. John Fetterman (Pa.), Ed Markey (Mass.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), along with Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). ...

The legislation would provide $886 billion for defense, which negotiators described as a 3 percent increase, and $637 billion for non-defense programs, according to a White House summary. ...

Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.) said McCarthy didn’t sign off on the agreement between Senate leaders and defense-minded GOP senators. ...

Asked how confident he is about a defense supplemental spending bill passing later in the year, Thune said, “hard to say.” 

“It was important for some of our members have folks on the record acknowledging there clearly could be a need, will be a need for our national security interests,” he said.

The US House passed the debt ceiling compromise 314-117 this evening

 

Seventy-one Republicans and 46 Democrats voted against the bill in the House — mostly liberals and conservatives protesting specific provisions of the bill. Their numbers, however, were never a threat to the bill’s passage because of a hodgepodge of moderates and leadership allies who — despite some acknowledging the bill wasn’t exactly what they wanted — threw their support behind the measure. ...

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Tuesday estimated that the bipartisan debt limit deal could reduce projected deficits by about $1.5 trillion over the next decade, a meager assessment compared to the roughly $4.8 trillion the nonpartisan scorekeeper said the GOP bill would save. ...

While votes on rules, which govern debate over legislation, typically break along party lines, 29 Republicans broke from the GOP and opposed the rule on Wednesday as a way to boycott the debt limit bill. Shortly before the vote closed — as the bill was poised to be blocked — 52 Democrats threw their support behind the rule, bringing the final vote to 241-187 and allowing the debt limit bill to advance to the floor for a full vote.

More.

Nice to see the GOP going to war with the US Chamber of Commerce

 . . . not over immigration, but hey, I'll take it.

NFL Draft goes to only seven rounds

 

GOP leader McCarthy loses 10th House speaker vote as far right Republicans dig in -- CNBC

Conservatism in Congress is insignificant: Some revolt, huh?

 

McConnell Overcomes Senate GOP Leadership Challenge in 37-10 Vote 

Kevin McCarthy beats far-right challenger 188-31 to lead House GOP

Fake Native American says Kevin McCarthy is a liar, and a traitor

 

Warren: "Kevin McCarthy is a liar and a traitor" 

C'mon, man, nobody believes Kevin McCarthy is that competent.

Ann Coulter says she agrees with AOC: Raise taxes on the rich

Ann just wants to punish the Koch Brothers in the process, but there's a better reason to agree.

Good government acts like a curb on a street, steering behavior. That's what taxing the rich used to be all about.

How so?

Once enacted in 1916, high taxation of ordinary income didn't result in high revenues for government. That's why the income tax was extended to almost all earners instead of just the rich when it became clear within a few years that government wouldn't have enough money to play in the international sandbox without more dough. For their part the rich won long term tax concessions through diverting derivation of income from capitalist enterprises, the latter benefiting not just themselves as owners but also individuals with jobs, the country with productivity, and the government with additional multiple streams of revenue. It was an intricate but effective way of benefiting all concerned. 

The mistake with the Reagan Revolution was that it misunderstood human nature. It thought lots of new untaxed ordinary income would end up getting invested just the same way, and turn America into something never before seen. But the money didn't get invested the same way. It fled abroad where the cost of doing business was cheaper. It helped create middle classes wherever it went, but ours withered on the vine. Meanwhile the number of US billionaires mushroomed, the ratio of CEO pay to worker pay went ballistic, and general income inequality increased dramatically. Real incomes for most people have barely moved up since the 1970s.

And now here we are with an America never before seen indeed, where libertarian advocates of this destructive system tell us with a straight face that this is patriotism.

Unfortunately, none of this is in the pea brain of AOC, let alone in Ann Coulter's, Kevin McCarthy's or Donald Trump's.  

Pro-Democrat Politico wouldn't write a story like this if the Blue Wave hadn't fizzled already

How Republicans could (barely) hang on to the House:

[P]rivately, even a few Democrats — say the GOP could still hang on, if only by a few seats. ... Democrats have pulled money out of several districts that should be competitive, indicating that Republicans have solidified their leads in the closing days of the campaign. ... Democrats should have had “these seats put away by now, and they don’t,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said in an interview. “I feel like they’ve hit a ceiling and held there — and we’re coming back.”