Steve Scalise

The Florida Man had a plan. It was obvious from the beginning, but this being Washington, despite all the bizarre outcomes of the post-Cold War political scene — interns, scandals, impeachments, Donald Trump in the White House and out of it, the Cheneys surrounded by cheering Democrats — normalcy remains the assumed status quo. Normalcy does not encompass a plan to vacate the speaker’s chair with the unanimous help of the other party. In fact, prior to 2019, anyone could have used the same tool the Florida Man would deploy to unseat a speaker. They just never tried it officially, because to do so would be crazy, risking handing control of the House to the minority. And it was that audacity which kept the Florida Man’s plan alive.

“We must move forward,” Representative Jim Jordan wrote in a letter to his Republican colleagues as he works to lock up the votes he needs to become speaker, lay out an agenda of empowering rank-and-file lawmakers and expand the fragile House majority. Following a surprise call for a weekend-long recess, Jordan has been herding the cats in his conference. After facing what seemed like long odds to secure the gavel on Friday, Jordan made several key strides, securing backing from former foes like Representatives Vern Buchanan, Ken Calvert, Mike Rogers and Ann Wagner, the latter a fierce ally of his rival last week, Steve Scalise. Right now, Jordan is the only announced candidate for speaker — and pulling former critics on board is a sign of some much needed Jordanmentum.

George Santos, the histrionic New York congressman, is under investigation once again. This time it doesn’t matter whether he is a drag queen or not, as the courts, not journalists, are leading this investigation.According to a new indictment filed Tuesday, the congressman stole the identities of his campaign donors, using their credit cards to send tens of thousands of dollars to his war chest. The twenty-three-count indictment comes after one filed in May charging Santos with various offenses, including lying to Congress about his wealth and embezzling money from his campaign.The new indictment claims the congressman charged over $44,000 to his campaign without the authorization of donors.

In Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight, a posse of violent ne’er-do-wells forced by circumstance into a house together descend, through duplicity, avarice and lies, into bloody chaos which leaves everyone dead. The title is a fitting one for the eight Republicans who crossed party lines to vote with House Democrats, unanimous in their belief that they are better off without Kevin McCarthy as speaker. In doing so, they ensured the House is controlled by Democrats in all but name. As the speaker race begins, the odds favor Steve Scalise or Jim Jordan — both more satisfying to the right wing than McCarthy, but far less capable of fundraising as he did to protect the tenuous hold of moderates in blue states.

House Republicans have launched an all-out war on the remaining Covid vaccine mandates being enforced by the Biden administration. So far they have won some important concessions, but are pushing for more. The Spectator spoke with several key players involved in the legislative battle, which they claim forced the Biden administration to finally declare an end to some of its coronavirus emergency powers later this year. The Republicans, however, want them shut down right now.

House Republicans are engaged in what military analysts call a "war of attrition." The winner is the side that can hold out the longest, or convince its opponent that it can. The reason the balloting for speaker has continued for so long is that both sides are trying to convince the other that they won't give in. In wars of attrition, firm resolve wins, but you have to convince your opponent that your resolve is stronger. That is exactly what is happening on ballot after ballot. The whole process is damaging the Republican Party, obviously, but that won't sway individual votes. What will sway them the prospect of members losing support within their own districts, or ending up on the losing side because their compatriots are losing support in their’s and cave.

Cockburn on Thursday headed over to Nationals Park in Washington to watch members of Congress play a friendly game of baseball. The friendly game soon turned into a brutal slaying when the Republican team beat the Democrats 10-0 in the seventh inning. The air was alight with excitement. Crowds bustled into the stadium, though not without some trouble. Outside the park was a small crowd of people wearing red — a protest that included a band with a very ecstatic tuba player. It turns out these people were from the Ikiya Collective, an activist “news” organization that focuses on protests, and were advertising for NowOrNever.earth, a climate activist group. Some particularly observant readers may ask what this had to do with baseball. Absolutely nothing, as it turned out.

Who knew that House Republicans would embrace civil disobedience? About two dozen legislators led by Republican firebrand Matt Gaetz stormed the House Intelligence Committee meeting this morning to disrupt the proceedings, where Pentagon official Laura Cooper was supposed to testify about the transfer of funds to Ukraine. Against all the evidence, the congressmen keep claiming the hearings represent a kind of Star Chamber. They only left after they had the chance to gorge themselves on Domino’s pizza. At least they didn’t order chicken kiev. The stunt probably had President Trump’s blessing, who has been worrying that the Republican dominoes are about to fall as fresh revelations about his attempts to muscle over Ukraine emerge.Trump has good reason to worry.