2023 House Republicans

Rep Jim Jordan, House Judiciary Committee v AG Merrick Garland

by Dave

The Judiciary Committee is chaired by Republican Representative Jim Jordan. Jim Jordan is known for his very aggressive attacks on the Biden administration. He will conduct hearings to determine if President Biden committed “high crimes and misdemeanors” which warrant his removal through impeachment. It is almost certain that the committee will recommend impeachment although the supporting evidence will inconclusive. There is little justice in the Judiciary Committee under Republican control.

Obviously, Hunter Biden has legal problems. AG Merrick Garland will refuse to give details, as this is an ongoing legal matter, handled by a Special Counsel. Jim Jordan will likely refer to the shady or corrupt “Biden family” as if Hunter and Joe Biden shared a business together. There is zero evidence that Joe Biden was involved with Hunter Biden’s clients or profited from his consulting business. Jordan knows Garland can’t comment, as this is with the Special Counsel.

Rep. Jim Jordan is playing a game of deflection. If a fellow Republican is in trouble, to play the game of deflection, you accuse Democrats of doing much worse things. It seems really hard to deflect on this one, with Donald Trump charged with 91 criminal counts. The President’s son has been indicted on making a false statement on a gun application. Since he lied on the application, he is charged with possessing an illegal gun.

The New York Times got it right this morning (September 20, 2023) with the statement:

“The theory that President Biden intervened to protect his son, widely trumpeted by House Republicans and amplified by conservative news media, is central to the impeachment inquiry begun by Speaker Kevin McCarthy under pressure from the right flank of his party.”

You can be expected that Attorney General will be treated rudely. This is Jim Jordan’s style. He will spend as long as possible on the accusations, and then interrupt AG Garland as he attempts to provide an answer. In fact, Fox News frequently broadcasts just the accusations made by Rep. Jordan and other Republicans, then commentary in favor of Republican committee members.

The elephant in the room, is Trump’s legal charges. The classified documents case looks increasingly stronger, based on recent reports that Trump was actively trying to hide the documents from officials.

Garland’s opening statement will not be interrupted. Excerpts have already been given to the media. Garland will state:

“As the President himself has said, and I reaffirm here today: I am not the President’s lawyer. I will also add that I am not Congress’s prosecutor. The Justice Department works for the American people. Our job is to follow the facts and the law, wherever they lead. And that is what we do.”

And, it is true.

Stay tuned,

Dave

US House Republicans v. Republicans

by Dave

In case you’ve missed it, I’m talking about the inability of the House Republicans to elect the Speaker of the House, because 20 “holdout” Republicans will not vote for the most likely candidate, Kevin McCarthy. Thus after now 11 votes, McCarthy has not gained a majority.

It is unprecedented event, at least in the last 164 years. Much of the negotiations are in secret, but some demands have leaked out. Imagine if a group of kidnappers took a child, and each sent a separate ransom note, and not one note assured the release of the child. It is that crazy.

Link: CNN, What do these hardliners want? Here’s what they’ve said

Link CNN: McCarthy fails on 11th ballot amid hopes for tentative deal with conservatives

The Republican lead House will not pass legislation. Most scary of all, the US reaches the debt ceiling in mid-summer and it needs to be raised. Unfortunately, it is wrongly portrayed as permission to spend recklessly. Approval has come after a lot of grandstanding by Republicans of how totally out of control our government spending is and they will put a stop to it.

It is in fact, it is government asking permission to borrow enough money above a certain limit to pay for expenses that have already been authorized. Failure to approve the debt ceiling increase will mean the US is now in default on its payments, and trust in the US dollar will plummet. Higher interest rates will affect everyone. Trying to repair the damage afterwards is very difficult.

Rep. Ralph Norman, a South Carolina Republican, said the debt ceiling fight is a “non-negotiable item” which is really scary talk. It guarantees that Norman will have his day in the sun, as he can blast the Democrats for our cumulative debt. The Trump administration also increased the national debt, with large tax cuts, mostly for the wealthy, in 2017, which continues to effect borrowing today.

Link: Kevin McCarthy must commit to government shutdown over raising debt ceiling, say Freedom Caucus holdout.

The Republicans will hold hearings. Under brutal attack will be the Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas for the crisis at the southern border. Republicans may start impeachment hearings against Mayorkas.

Our support for Ukraine will come under constant attack from the radical right Republicans who will attack almost everything the Biden administration is doing right.

Many of the 20 holdouts belong to the Freedom Caucus, and one of the demands of this group, is that the members of important committees must be members of the Caucus. Thus, it is the Caucus with unelected officials and not the Republican Party, which is really driving policy.

Finally, the holdouts want to make it very easy to get rid of the Speaker, thus vastly reducing his authority. Imagine McCarthy has negotiated a deal on increasing the debt ceiling, but the hard right representatives don’t like it. They don’t need to debate it, they just send McCarthy packing. And then go through more rounds of voting on a new Speaker.

There has been some great reporting. From the New York Times, “It’s not about policies, it’s about the fight,” said Doug Heye, a former aide to Representative Eric Cantor, the onetime majority leader who lost his seat in a stunning 2014 upset by a far-right challenger, David Brat. “The more you hear the word ‘fight’ or ‘fighter,’ the less you hear about a strategy for winning that fight.”

Matt Gaetz has said repeatedly there are at least 5 representatives who absolutely will not vote for Kevin McCarthy, and this is enough to block him from serving as Speaker. One of them is Representative Lauren Boebert, who decided to be interviewed by Sean Hannity on Fox News. He asked, “Is this a game show?” which is interesting as I consider most of Hannity and Carlson Tucker just entertainment for conservative Republicans.

It is Trump MAGA stuff: Winning is for the strong, Compromise is for the weak. Unfortunately, as Trump has shown, it isn’t winning for the country, and for personal political gain.

Buckle up, we are in uncharted waters.

Dave