this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2023
132 points (95.2% liked)

politics

19144 readers
2163 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

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

top 39 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 75 points 1 year ago (3 children)

His plan is simple. Pay some underage girls for sex.

Winning.

[–] 520@kbin.social 36 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Oh come on, cut the guy some slack 🙄

That joke's getting older than the girls he pays for sex.

[–] Illuminostro@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

You forgot the coke.

Geeking.

[–] Drusas@kbin.social 6 points 1 year ago

Starting to get a little too old for him there.

[–] ViewSonik@lemmy.world 38 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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 32 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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.

[–] ViewSonik@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

You’re probably spot on.

[–] spider 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

running a traditional campaign is a complete no-go for him.

His nontraditional campaign theme song

[–] squiblet@kbin.social 7 points 1 year ago

Another nepo fuck who wouldn’t be anywhere near where he is if not for that.

[–] Ertebolle@kbin.social 36 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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

[–] hitmyspot@aussie.zone 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

As the republicans have veeered more and more into extremism, the veneer has been lifted and they get most of the blame. Their propaganda machine doesn’t work as well when people know it’s propaganda. Obviously the third that live in an alternative reality still blame the dems.

[–] Cryophilia@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think that's more a reflection of your specific changing tastes in media/social networks, and not people in general.

[–] hitmyspot@aussie.zone 1 points 1 year ago

Maybe, but if the dems were getting the blame, why fight internally?

[–] sirboozebum@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Didn't work in 2020.

Democrats overperformed.

[–] Cryophilia@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

True. Maybe the electorate is getting wise.

[–] sirboozebum@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Roe vs. Wade was overturned.

[–] errer@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago

Let them fight.

[–] RampantParanoia2365@kbin.social 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Why is he starting to look like Richard Nixon? Is this like that thing with the crab formfactor?

[–] yemmly@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

How do you know he isn’t Richard Nixon?

[–] gazoinksboe@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This guy looks like a straight up cartoon villain

This guy looks like a straight up ~~cartoon~~ villain

Fixed it for you.

[–] ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 year ago (3 children)

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 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

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 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

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 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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 5 points 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 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 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 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 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 3 points 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.world 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Just like "let Trump win the primaries cuz he can't win against Hillary" tactic?

Surely it wouldn't backfire twice.

[–] Red0ctober@lemmy.world 3 points 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 5 points 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 1 points 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.

[–] halfempty@kbin.social 6 points 1 year ago

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

[–] Rapidcreek@reddthat.com 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 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.

[–] j4k3@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Gotham beware of the Joker