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Rant 762: Speechless About the Speaker

10/20/2023

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​“America is not sending its best and brightest to Washington, DC.”
–Sen. John Fetterman 
 
“Don’t tell my mother I’m a member of Congress. She thinks I’m a prostitute.”
–Former Rep. Pat Schroeder
 
The level of chaos into which Republicans have plunged the House of Representatives is both stunning and incredibly irresponsible, especially given the major crises America and the world face. It is, of course, not even close to the bedlam the Trump White House wallowed in for four insufferable years. At this writing, it is difficult to see how this once sensible party will extricate itself from out of the mayhem it has wrought.  
 
The overwhelming majority of Republicans seriously believe little ex-wrestling coach, Jim (Gym) Jordan, he of the see-no-evil, hear-no-evil, speak-no-evil disposition when confronted with a fusillade of complaints from his Ohio State wrestlers that they were being sexually assaulted by the team physician, is Speaker material. That this bomb-throwing Trump doormat, election denier and January 6 co-conspirator whom former Republican Speaker, John Boehner, called a “legislative terrorist” might be second in line for the presidency should scare the hell out of every sentient American and global citizen. That this creature who, in 17 years in Congress, has never had a bill passed, much less one even considered by a congressional committee, could conceivably occupy the respected seat that Nancy Pelosi, Tip O’Neill, Sam Rayburn, Joe Cannon, Thomas Reed and Henry Clay graced with their illustrious fannies is mind-boggling. 
 
Fortunately for America and the planet, Jordan lost his first three votes to become Speaker, his opposition increasing with each ballot. But, as the obsessively opportunistic Quisling, Elise Stefanik (R-NY), told us when she nominated Jordan for Speaker, he is a “fighter who never gives up.” Heck, she even compared the demagogic insurrectionist to…wait for it…Moses! Read on when you finish gagging.
 
The number of Republicans able or willing to withstand the intense pressure from Jordan and his partners in crime is small (24 at last count) and could grow smaller as the holdouts are threatened with primaries and even death threats from the extreme right. Profiles in courage are hard to come by these days.
 
Should, heaven forbid, Jordan actually be elected Speaker, the United States will compound the shame of having chosen both a corrupt, inept, lying grifter as President with the embarrassment of conferring the second most powerful political office in the land on an anti-democratic zero who is certain to attempt to blow up what little is left of our threatened, tattered democracy. Not to mention that aid to Ukraine will be jeopardized and that additional bogus, time and money-wasting investigations of the Biden administration will be launched. The likelihood that the government will shut down in late November will shoot up. The little work our dysfunctional Congress gets done now will cease completely. The inmates will finally be in charge of the asylum.
 
Dick Hermann
October 20, 2023

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    Richard Hermann is the author of thirteen books, including Encounters: Ten Appointments with History and, most recently, Mother's Century: A Survivor, Her People and Her Times. Soon to be released is his upcoming Close Encounters with the Cold War, a personal reflection on growing up in the nuclear age. He is a former law professor and entrepreneur, and the founder and president of Federal Reports, Inc., a legal information and consulting firm that was sold in 2007. He has degrees from Yale University, the New School University, Cornell Law School and the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s School. He lives with his wife, Anne, and extraordinary dog, Barkley, in Arlington, Virginia and Canandaigua, New York.

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