Renee Parsons
Despite premature news that Majority Leader Steve Scalise had been elected Speaker in what was really a ‘straw vote,’ the House caucus has been meeting to consider a replacement behind closed doors which is obviously meant to exclude the public as elected Representatives “let it all hang out’ in private. The caucus has not only been discussing a new Speaker but other relevant issues like funding Ukraine and what extent should the US or Caucus support the Israel war.
That conflict is now threatening to spread beyond Israel borders as the US military is on the move without any Congressional War Powers resolution which would require a vote. It should come as no surprise that the Uniparty wing of the Caucus prefers discussion to be privy so that the public remains uncertain as to how each elected Representative (especially Red State) is voting .
Nevertheless, it is curious that with 221 Republican members of the House caucus, only two Members have stepped up to announce their candidacy, both arising from the high profile professional class as a path to advancement and yet neither as an inspiring example to the voting base. Identified as ‘leadership,’ tacit or otherwise, claim the inside track, as if having paid their dues is sufficient qualification; therefore deserving a promotion to guide the country through its most severe tribulations than ever experienced..
As no other candidates are currently in the queue to take the Republican reins, shall the public assume that Republican resources are so narrow, so lacking in leadership potential with a dearth of independent thinkers; that Republican House members still defer to the Uniparty’s botched agenda as it drags the country deeper into the fiscal quagmire and into another disastrous proxy foreign war – to end all war.
It would be ideal for an individual who fully understands the depth of the economic crisis, not as an ideological political battle in which to score points but as a devastating insurmountable fiscal catastrophe awaits, after decades of exceedingly bad judgment that has led to a massive destabilization of the country’s economic health from which there will be no ‘quick fix’. With a $33 Trillion debt, an accompanying trillion dollar interest payment and another trillion dollar shortfall, it is no secret that whoever controls the money, controls government policy, controls the vote, the administrative state and foreign policy choices.
It is clear from the earlier debt ceiling kerfuffle followed by dismissal of the agreed-upon single-subject consideration of appropriation bills, that McCarthy was not with the program of fiscal sanity. Such necessary rectification was far beyond McCarthy to plot a clear decisive path to economic resuscitation as the viability of US liabilities and assets remains questionable including the dilemma of who will alert its recipients that the country’s cherished social programs are no longer sustainable.
It is against this unholy background that unchecked Federal fiscal extravagance with Billions allocated to unrestrained military expeditions and covert black ops has been allowed to transmogrify into an unconscionable, unsustainable computation that defies logic, reason or oversight as the majority of the Republican caucus appear immune to a looming catastrophe.
It may be that since post-Fed Bank creation in 1913, the country has historically been governed by a subspecies of archaic humans elected to Congress who performed as wasteful, fiscal illiterates with little regard for balancing the books, always putting off today what can wait until tomorrow; but tomorrow never arrived – until today.
With a November 17 deadline by which remaining appropriation bills need to be finalized, the predisposed media pushes the narrative that there is ‘chaos’ in the House unless a new Speaker is identified asap, with added chaos as the US inserts itself into a war raging in the Middle East without reasonable contemplation. It remains unconvincing that McCarthy’s long devotion to Israel enables him to be the sole advocate to oversee his five point plan which reads like an unabashed plan for US involvement in another forever war, if not a conflict fated to escalate into WW III.
It is curious that war mongering Republican Members of Congress predominately from Red States, rush like lemmings to the sea seemingly in expectation of a well-earned bonus while interim Speaker McHenry has suggested Israel aid could be approved by an automaton House before a Speaker is appointed and before Constitutional requirements are met.
Infowars journalist Owen Stroyer’s spectacular interview with Dr. Francis Boyle (48.09) on the Hamas-Israel war is worth the time even as Secretary of Defense Austin has ordered the USS Gerald Ford Carrier Strike group to the Mediterranean and Special Forces rescue team without a Congressional War Powers resolution.
As the long standing Hamas-Israel conflict rears its ugly head, McCarthy attempted to step back in to fill the void once again with a five point plan, to assume national leadership where he failed to provide national leadership the first time around. As the usual Uniparty suspects band together in panic of losing their seat on the gravy train, whose first priority is to keep their coffers filled, there exists a few quiet holdouts who backed off in deference to the ‘leadership’ class which lined up prematurely to stake their claim.
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The first candidate to announce was House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan who became a front runner with former President Trump’s endorsement, bringing considerable House support but not enough to take the prize. In the past, Trump who has a reputation for poor personnel choices, has also endorsed Kevin McCarthy for Speaker. Known as a McCarthy acolyte, Jordan’s leadership at Judiciary has been more modest than assertive leaving the America First crowd less than enthused.
Given Jordan’s support for McCarthy’s candidacy in January as well as the Biden-McCarty debt ceiling in April and the more recent McCarthy-Biden Continuing Resolution, there is an outstanding question whether Jordan has the tenacity to dig deep to fulfill the Speaker’s historic Constitutional role as third in line for the Presidency.
While Judiciary has conducted a full schedule of hearings, yet frequently inconclusive with little public satisfaction as subpoenas have yet to morph into criminal complaints against an openly brazen and weaponized FBI and DoJ for assorted illicit violations. Outstanding is Jordan’s correspondence related to Secretary of State Antony Blinken role initiating the intel memo scamming Hunter Biden’s laptop as Russian disinformation or Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg’s role in fraudulent social media 2020 electioneering as well as a subpoeena follow up on the Center for Countering Digital Hate’s (CCDH) dark money disinformation and its role in the 2020 election.
Majority Leader Steve Scalise (La) who is popular and respected within the caucus wrote a well-drafted letter seeking support to be Speaker although he failed any mention of the $33 Billion debt and its implications, no mention on foreign policy which is now a huge issue and especially failed to add his thoughts on the Ukraine war. Are we to assume that Scalise will fall in line with every other RINO member of the House and has no problem authorizing another $100 Billion to Ukraine, on top of the generous $115 B already provided by the American taxpayer and will follow the Uniparty agenda wherever that may lead.
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A good question might be how a new Speaker will work to improve House performance with a 15% approval rating which means reaching beyond the usual establishment Republican status quo. It may be that the on going candidate search comes down to the caucus sharpening its own leadership and accept the need to expand consideration, to create space for other Speaker candidates to step forward and give it a Go, to be vetted, to show their mojo, their quality and their plans that might surprise and even be worthy of support.