HELP WANTED:  House Speaker

Qualifications:  Honesty & Integrity & A Functional Brain

Apply at:  House of Representatives, U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C. 20004

Three down, 218 to go.  Currently nine of those 218 are in the running for the position of Speaker, and seven of those nine … 78% … voted to overturn our votes in the 2020 election, voted against democracy, against We the People.  The other two are facing a torrent of criticism and hatred from their fellow-Republicans.  Why?  Because they voted to certify President Biden’s victory, thus making them ineligible to even live on the planet in the minds of Donald Trump and his faithful boot-lickers.

A number of mainstream media outlets, including The Washington Post and New York Times have published articles intended to help us get to know these nine largely obscure legislators, but as Chris Cillizza points out in his Substack post, there is really only one thing that matters, one thing we need to know:  Do they believe in democracy or not?  You may want to take a look at Chris’ post where he gives us a glimpse into those vying for the speakership.

My best guess is that there is NOBODY in the House of Representatives who can get the 217 votes needed for government to function at the federal level any time soon.  Democrat minority leader Hakeem Jeffries comes the closest with all 212 Democrats consistently voting for him, but any Republican who dared to cast a vote for him would likely be impeached by his own party members in a matter of days … or murdered by a trumpian mob.

The Republican Party is broken, perhaps irreparably.  There are two separate and distinct factions, the Trumpers and the not-Trumpers, and neither side will give an inch.  Why should they?  They’re still getting paid, and even when the government shuts down in 24 days, they will STILL get paid.  They only work a few hours a week anymore, can travel on our dime, and they don’t even have to work at all.  The victims, meanwhile, are We the People … and the people in Ukraine who need our help so desperately to fight off the Russians, the people of both Israel and Gaza, some of whom are without food or shelter.  But apparently none of that matters to half of our elected officials.

But the biggest  question in my mind is why should a twice-impeached, four times indicted, failed former president still have such a chokehold over an entire branch of our government?  Donald Trump is a FAILURE … he is a criminal, a liar, a cheater, a racist … so WHY does he have so much power over the current legislature?

So, if the Republicans cannot get their sh*t together and elect a Speaker … where do we go from here?  An outsider?  There is nothing that prohibits an outsider, a person who is not a member of Congress, from holding the Speaker’s gavel, though it has never been done before.  Perhaps a state governor … oooohhhh … maybe they could get Duh-Ron DeSantis to do it!

Seriously, though folks, I don’t know the answer.  The solution would have been for we voters to have done a better job at ousting half the Republicans last November, but that ship has already sailed.  But I know that we are not in a good spot and it’s only going to get worse while the assholes in the House continue their one-upmanship and game playing … on our dollar and at the cost of our lives and many others.