Both Republicans likely need the support of Democrats to prevail in their battle over the speakership. Here’s how that could shake out.

  • ViewSonik@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Gaetz has been building up his degeneracy for several years now. I get the feeling his finale is nearer now than it has ever been before. He is a very weird man who does not have the best interests of his constituents in mind. He certainly does not represent our country’s values.

    • logicbomb@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I think Gaetz has realized that Trump is his only possible path to power. With his past misdeeds, running a traditional campaign is a complete no-go for him.

      He absolutely needs to leverage that base of insane people who will vote as they’re told, no matter what, which Trump has hypnotized.

      I suspect that’s why he’s also trying to copy the looks of one of those crazy televangelists.

  • Ertebolle@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    The other side of the argument is that McCarthy is the GOP’s greatest fundraiser, and getting rid of him would help Democrats take back the House. No replacement for McCarthy would have the same set of relationships and the donor network and political operation.

    This is, to me, the winning argument - it hurts them politically, both by taking away their best fundraiser and by replacing him with somebody who’s likely to be even more extreme and so do even more dumb things the Democrats can campaign against. A McCarthy replacement is even likely to shut down the government in 45 days than McCarthy is, and for Democrats that’s probably a good thing - Republicans screwing up air travel right before Thanksgiving and taking away government employees’ paychecks right before Christmas.

    Is it good for the country, maybe not, but Republicans losing the House in 2024 will do several orders of magnitude more good for the country than whatever harm might be done by that short-term idiocy.

    • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Historically, when Republicans have shut down the government under a Democratic president, the Democrats get an outsized share of blame. If I were the Dems, I would avoid a shutdown if possible, even just for purely political reasons

  • ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    The biggest pocket of votes for Gaetz right off the bat will be the Democrats in the Congressional Progressive Caucus. They hate Gaetz, but more important, it could be suicide for any of the CPC’s 100-plus members to vote to save McCarthy.

    Why? Some other Republican will get the role if McCarthy loses it, and McCarthy is relatively moderate by Republican standards. How do progressives benefit from removing him?

    • Holomew@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      There is some reason to dems pushing for McCarthys removal. That said, they’re never going to vote for Gaetz or whoever he decides to back. Best case scenario for Gaetz is McCarthy gets ousted and we have gridlock for the next year with no speaker.

      • protist@mander.xyz
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        1 year ago

        It would only take 5 Republican representatives to make Hakeem Jeffries the Speaker. If things keep going sideways within the Republican caucus, one has to wonder if there aren’t a handful of moderate Republicans who are sick of the bullshit and support Jeffries. He would still need their votes to pass anything, so they would be incredibly influencial while also sidelining these fools, but the far right would certainly terrorize them

        • BolexForSoup@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          There is no reality in which 5 republicans hand over their majority to a democrat speaker. I’ll put money down. 0% chance lol

          • Kleinbonum@feddit.de
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            1 year ago

            If there Republicans were sick of being identified as the party of Nazis, white supremacists, racists, liars, fraudsters, rapists, conspiracy theorists and generally insane people, then the winning move for all of them (except for the above mentioned insane members) would be to collectively vote with the Democrats.

            Sure, that would mean handing the House to Democrats, probably losing the House and possibly more in the next elections, and for s number of them it would mean losing their seats - but the alternative is going to be handing the reigns of the entire party over to the Nazis, white supremacists, racists, liars, fraudsters, rapists, conspiracy theorists and generally insane people.

            • spaceghoti@lemmy.one
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              1 year ago

              I can name two Republicans in the House for whom any of that was a problem, and they both lost their re-elections. Ironically, one of them was Liz Cheney.

            • BolexForSoup@kbin.social
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              1 year ago

              Let’s not mistake my certainty of what they’re doing for approval lol I’m just explaining that it is not happening.

        • dhork@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          You are much more likely to get 50 (or even 150!) Democratic votes for a moderate Republican than 5 Republican votes for Jeffries…

        • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          one has to wonder if there aren’t a handful of moderate Republicans who are sick of the bullshit

          There aren’t. No wondering about it.

    • Red0ctober@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      The other side of the argument is that McCarthy is the GOP’s greatest fundraiser, and getting rid of him would help Democrats take back the House. No replacement for McCarthy would have the same set of relationships and the donor network and political operation. In addition, the argument goes, the GOP chaos in the House would pay political dividends.

      Removing the lead money maker might be a sound decision. If the Republicans put some cretin like Gaetz in, the money might dry up.

      • GreenMario@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Just like “let Trump win the primaries cuz he can’t win against Hillary” tactic?

        Surely it wouldn’t backfire twice.

        • Red0ctober@lemmy.worldOP
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          1 year ago

          I don’t think it would ultimately be in the Dems favor to let McCarthy go, especially since they could extract some great concessions from him. He’s a snake though, so short leash and a swift end if he goes back on the deal.

      • mrbubblesort@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Nah, Dems should vote for McCarthy and let the other side play up the narrative that a RINO from California has turned traitor and run to the Dems to keep power. The money will still dry up just as quick, but they’ll be able to get what they want from him as well.

    • eestileib@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      The Republicans are not acting like a functioning political party right now.

      Having them back in a leadership conference might actually break the party.

  • Rapidcreek@reddthat.com
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    1 year ago

    The Republicans can clean up their own mess. Democrats will vote present on the motion to vacate. Unless a political promise is made, they’ll vote for Congressman Hakeem Jeffries.

  • halfempty@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Excellent article exploring the many factors involved. Personally, I think that the dems should let the GOP thrash themselves into chaos.