Also media, it's it's chaos in Congress.
This is this is it could happen here in the podcast about things falling apart, and just this is aest a falling apart episode with though it's a kind of funny one. Yeah, I'm your host, Mia Wong and with me is Garrison Davis. Hello.
Chaos every everywhere, but especially in Congress.
So I just realized you grew up in Canada, which means I did. Can can you explain what the speaker that? Do you know what the Speaker of the House is for America? Yeah, it's the.
Guy who like presides over the things and has the hammer and he yells you.
Know that's that's that's that's That's pretty close. Okay, see say come on, yeah, yeah, it's not bad. It's not bad. This is okay. So we're going to go into a bit more about what this person does because I don't know, the American Constitution was written by absolute clowns and there's some wild stuff there. But however, comma, you know, somewhat more seriously, this is a very this is a very sort of consequential and dangerous moment in American political history,
and in this moment, Congress is incomplete chaos. It is it is. It is the most non functional it has been in my entire life. And that is that is saying something like Congress has been non functional for my entire life. This is the worst it has ever been. And the reason this is the worst has ever been is that Kevin McCarthy, who is the now former Speaker of the House, was removed by a vote of no confidence on October third, which when this comes out, that
will be exactly two weeks out. And he is removed because he tried to cut a deal with the Democrats to avert a government shut down until the seventeenth, and he got the deal through. Crazy.
If we had a shutdown till seventeenth, god, imagine, imagine met Jesus.
Fuck, here's the thing. Okay, there's no shutdown till the seventeenth. There's also a chance, like a real serious chance that like the shutdown starts and we still don't have a Speaker of the House. Oh yeah, like it's not that high, but it could happen, which is nuts. This has never happened before. Yeah, and so so, so I guess we should we should go into specifically what hasn't happened before.
And the thing that hasn't happened before is that no sitting speaker of the House dream their term has ever been removed by a vote of no confidence, which is nuts because again, and I cannot emphasize this enough, for most of the two thousands, the Speaker of the House was a guy named Dennis Hastit who was literally a pedophile, and he was not removed by a vote of no confidence.
So like, this is this is the level of of you know, weirdness that we're in, Like like literally the two hundred something year history of the US, this has never happened.
And from my understanding, you don't actually have to be like an elected member of the House to be the speaker, which means they could carry on this tradition and they could get Polanski as Speaker of the House if they could find the efthoughts to carry it over.
You know, at this point, we're gonna get you later. There was a there was a two day span, two and a half days span where Trump was trying to get himself elected a Speaker of the House. Yes, yes, oh, and then.
That which would be probably the most funny, the most funny.
Oh yeah, results yeah, but you know, because this is he also has a path to the presidency. Yeah. Yeah, you just have to get two impeatriment votes somehow to take it out. This is how Trump can still win. This is the path, guys. Unfortunately he's well, I mean here's the thing. Okay, Legitimately, if Biden and Harris died in a plane crash tomorrow, I actually think Trump could win the would win the Speaker of the House vote.
Oh yeah, absolutely, But this is this is.
This is how Birdie can still win. This is so all right.
So so you know we're in this, We're in We're in I don't know, We're just you know, this is all like nuts but like again, we are just we are in the wilderness, like we're in complete chaos lands.
No no one the US has never been here before. And okay, the other thing we need to mention is, okay, so you know you were saying that there there hasn't like you know, we we we need we need to bring back the like pedophiles to be the Speaker of the House. So Speaker of the House, not a pedophile. The guy who removed him as Speaker of the House.
He's by Matt Gates probably probably. Yeah. So here's here's what I can say legally about Matt Gates, the guy who led eight Republicans to join the Democrats in the in the voter no confidence. He is a man best known for being investigated for the Department of Justice for trafficking underraged girls. What I can legally say is that he was suspected by the Justice Department of being a pedophile. There are there are like, there were receipts from his like on his phone from like cash app of him
sending money to underage girls. So you know, bad things, bad things happening there. That investigation got killed because the bourgeoisie protects its allies. But Comma, we do not have Speaker of the House right now, so something I think, I guess we should also mention this. So there's like a there's no Speaker of the House. There's some guy they put in who's like, is not actually an acting
Speaker of the House. The only thing he can do effectively is like make sure that there's vote specifically on there being another Speaker of the House. Yeah, And this has thrown the entire American political system into chaos because with no Speaker of the House, the House of Representatives, cannot pass bills. They can't do it. They cannot pass
any bills at all. And because of the way that the American system was designed, not having this one person shuts down the entire effectively shut it shuts down the entire legislative branch, right because you can't get anything passed with the Senate without also getting ratified in the House.
And this has just shut down effectively, like most of the American government outside of the like you know, I mean, so the executive branch and all the departments of stuff are self functioning, but there is no legislative branch right now, effectively, is what has happened, right. I think maybe subcommittee meetings are still running, but they can't pass any bills. And this is both a blessing and a curse. Normally, this I think would just be a curse. I don't know.
Maybe right now this is probably the best possible time this could have happened, because the consequence of this has been the US has been unable to follow through on its most sort of just rapidly genocidal impulses about Palestine because again, the House literally cannot pass any bills until they figure this shit out. So we haven't been able
to send money to it. Laziel, we haven't been able to send like God forbid, like we have been able to plenty troops, which I don't know if they I don't know if there was actually the political desire to do that anyways, but you know, the fact, the fact that there was no speaker in the immediate wake of the stuff that's been happening in Palestine means that you know, they've they've been restrained from just like glassing the entire
Middle East, which is which is good. The downside is that again, we have until November seventeenth to pass a funding bill to avert the government shutdown, and not only is there like no progress on a deal about that bill, like the American legislature is currently incapable of passing any bill, much less the spending bill. So things are going great in the American political system. And okay, so we should
we should ask the question why is this happening? And there are both sort of short and long answers to this question. Both of them effectively have the same route, which is that the Republican Party is a coalition. It's one that usually has pretty broadly compatible politics. But it
is a coalition between different sectors of capital. So think, for example, you know, you have your different right wing like tech moogul billionaires, right like Elon Musk, like Peter thel But these people align on a lot of stuff, but they don't necessarily have the same interests as like a weapons manufacturer or like coke industries or I mean just like you know, like one of the big sort of tensions, for example, is that the Republican Party has
a lot of backing among the financial sector. The financial sector has very little interest in conflict with China because they have an enormous amount of capital like tied up
in Chinese firms. There are a lot of other like people who have a lot of like like even this, this is the thing between Elon Musk and Peter teel right or like Musk is kind of more pro China than like the average like Republican tech billionaire because he has a bunch of contracts in a giant factory in China and so so okay, So this is a coalition
between different segments of capital who disagree. This is also a coalition between different like right wing social movements who are also you know, a very powerful part of the party. You have the evangelical stuff. But I mean, you know, the consequence of this, and the consequence of the sort of shift right of American politics has been you now have this party where there are like libertarians alongside neocons, you have more moderate conservatives, and you have basic people
who are effectively neo Nazis. And the fact that the coalition is like this now, the fact that it is genuinely more so than it's been in a long time, a very broad and diverse coalition, this has made the House of Representatives effectively unmanageable. Okay, and this has been a real issue in the Republican Party for a while now actually because you know, and this is this is
why we're getting the government shutdown stuff. Like a big part of Republican strategy for the last decade, basically since Obama took office, has just been shutting down the government and doing arch obstructionism, so you know, nothing can get done. Wait, care, have you have you been? Do you remember the last government shut down? Yeah?
Yeah, yeah, it was only like two years ago. Yeah, it feels like maybe maybe it was longer. It feels like it was pretty recent. There was no it was it was in twenty eighteen. I think it was like, yeah, I see, because in my brain we're still in twenty twenty.
Oh yeah, they were actually funny.
So what I said when I say two years ago, what I mean is twenty eighteen.
Yeah, I mean, and it's that one was funny because that was a that was a Republican president. Yeah, yeah, which is very funny. But yeah, but you know, but back when Obama was in office, like this just happened all the fucking time, like every other week. There was like a threat of a government every single time a bill, like a funding bill was going to pass Congress, Like I had a bunch of family members get furloughed well at one point because the government actually did shut down
for a long time. But there's a real problem with this, which is that this political strategy encourages, effectively the it encourages creating chaos, right, and this is something that Trump has been very good at sort of exploiting. But it also means that there's now this like qudra of politicos who've come up who are like incredibly right wing, and effectively the only thing they know how to do is obstructing anything from functioning. And this is what McCarthy ran into.
He ran into Gates and his sort of like band of Mary. I don't know. I was gonna call him a band of Mary weirdos, but that's way too complimentary. His band of like absolute fanatics. And the real issue here is that, Okay, so there's currently two vacant seats in the House, So this means right now, to win a vote in the full House to become Speaker of the House, you need two hundred and seventeen votes. Sorry,
hold on, there's new shit happening, like right now. McCarthy thinks that Jim Jordan has two hundred and seventeen votes. I don't know if I believe him. I don't know. Well, I'll just explain what's happening now and then we'll put that at the end as like breaking news.
Insert that at the end, Daniel, thank you or keep it in right now is a funny bit, yes, because this situation is still developing as of time of recording.
So yeah, like as yes, it's the only we should mention. You know, this process is complicated enough that like, yeah, as we are recording it, stuff is changing. Rapidly, like stuff has been news is coming in. So what's been making it hard is that in order to get two undred and seventeen votes right, the Republican majority is only they only have two hundred and twenty one votes. So if you want to become Speaker of the House, you
can only lose four total votes. And this means you have to win both the moderates and Matt Gates's coalition of fanatics. And this is effectively impossible. It is, it
is un believably difficult. McCarthy was able to do this because he pulled votes from the far right by like promising things like impeaching Biden and stuff like that, and also sort of cutting cutting his own deals with a lot of people like Marjorie Taylor Green who like and this is and this is the other thing about about this impeachment vote is that it's not actually a purely ideological lines like far right versus moderate vote, because.
No, like he he even split the more extreme contention of the Republican Party in Congress. It's it's it's really bizarre. Well it's not bizarre because you can't like understand it, but it is certainly interesting. Where where the dividing lines and ended up being for a lot of the people that we consider mostly being on the same side right because usually people imagine like Matt Gaet's and Marchie Taylor Green usually in the same kind of far right voting block.
And to see like divisions over over this vote is certainly an interesting aspect of you know, possible fractures within even the extreme contingent of the Republican Party.
Yeah, and this and this has been a really interesting dynamic, but it also makes it just like impossible, Like you have to in order to do this, you have to somehow appease the moderates and gates, like you're dealing with
multiple different right wing fringe factions. Yeah, and then and this is you know, we'll be talking more about the Freedom Caucus in a little bit, but you have to, like you're at a point where you're trying to appease so many different groups of people who all have kind of competing agendas, who also just have like personal beef with each other, And as of right now time of recording, which is two pm Pacific time on Friday, no one
has been able to actually pull together this vote. We're gonna take an ad break, and then we're.
Gonna do you know who else actually needs to be appeased by these same people?
Is is it the products and services that supporting it is podcast?
Ronald right Coin looks down upon Congress every single time that guy hits that little hammer, and Ronald Reagan coin also looks down upon all of you. I think I think I have a good idea where to put my new uh my new four oh one k investment in. I'm gonna do all all gold coin, move all that over to gold coin. It's stable, it's gonna be worth its it holds value, and that is that is definitely my plan. Oh we're back, Hello everybody. Sorry, did didn't
did not realize you were already back so soon. I was just talking with me about expanding my investment portfolio anyway, as you were saying.
So, what has happened after that? The answer is an absolute clown show. I mean, if this is this is one of the most like James.
Let's let's not disparage clowns, shall we. That's true, this is unfair to be We could have clowns in the audience, We could have closeted clowns in this phone call.
That's true. That's true, Okay, I I yes, I've been being unfair to clowns by comparing him to the Republican Party. This has been this has been one of the most pathetic displays of politics I've ever seen. And I have followed the political trajectory of Israeli labor like this is this has it's been truly awful. So all right, So so McCarthy is ousted. The problem immediately is that no one has anywhere close to enough votes to replace him, like like and when I say no one like mc
McCarthy went down by he lost eight votes from the Republicans. Yeah, yeah, no one else is within like sixty, right, Like what like.
This wasn't just a power move for Gates then? Like he he was like was was he looking to take the spot or no? No, get the gate. There's Gates has absolutely no shot of winning. He would get like
votes maybe like basically nothing. What he was trying to and this is this is kind of Gates is in this kind of obstructionism thing where he's trying the thing he's trying to do basically is he's trying to like he's trying to set up himself as a political flank of like the most Republicans, Republicans and everyone else, are these like sellouts to work with the Democrats. Yeah, and he's he's also been trying so so. Gates' preferred candidate
is a guy named Jim Jordan. Jim Jordan is the found he was the founding head of the powerful far far right Freedom Caucus. And he's a real he's a real piece of work.
He's mad.
I feel like Jim Jordan has been a recurring character on this show.
Yeah.
Sometimes he's not a he sucks, Like he's not quite like a full on neo Nazi in the way, like yeah, but like he's not good. He's he's he's from like the far right. He's what I guess you would call the like the more acceptable far right of the Republican Party. Like he's from the Freedom Caucus, like is is a like a very right wing organization even within the Republican Party. But they're not seen as like weird fringe fanatics in the way at the very least.
Hold the door open towards people that are even like like even way way more extreme.
Yeah. Yeah, and that's been true.
He's been serving in Congress since like twentus and seven.
Yeah, he's a very he's a very high He's one of the guys. He's he's been like the architect of a lot of well not the archetym, he's been one of the figures behind a lot of the sort of like government shutdown stuff. He's been, he's he's been one of the guys who's kind of like, I don't know, like he didn't he cause he didn't come in on the tea party wave. He came in before that. But he's been he's been a guy who's been pushing that kind of sort of like that kind of very very
rote with politics. His his original opponent was Steve Scalise, who is a kind of semi McCarthy ally kind of and you will see him described as being more moderate then than Jim Jordan, And that is maybe kind of true in the sense that like he's being back in the fact that like like Jim Jordan is being backed by like Marjorie Terry Green, Matt Gates and like Donald Trump. This is after Trump gave up his bid to like become speak of house himself.
He backs which would have been the funniest com.
Yeah, would have been very funny. But however, we don't. We don't live in the funniest off possible timeline, satur we live in the worst one. Yeah yeah, so that didn't happen. So the problem is the other guy is is again this is Steve Scalise, and again he's called him moderate. Scalise also wants there there is a report of him calling himself and I quote David Duke without the baggage, and in in in the early two thousands, he spoke at a David at at a rally for
a group founded by David Duke. Mm hmmm, what without the baggage? What is left of David Dude?
Like?
How what is what does actually mean? Like we should I guess we should have mentioned so David Duke if people don't remember David Duke was the Grand Wizard. Yes, yeah, So when he says David Duke without the baggage, what he means is that he he has David Duke's politics, but he doesn't have the immediate what the fuck association you get when you mentioned the head of the fucking KKK that that that's what he was going for, right,
So this is not a good guy. He's being presented as and again, this is what passes for like a moderate.
I mean, he's kind of in the modern right of the part, but like, this is what passes for a fucking moderate Republican in twenty twenty three, right, Like these people have always sucked, They've always fucking been like this, and you know the problem, Yeah, yeah, it's it's it's it's a real issue that again, like this guy who is like speaking at like it should like in any even remotely normal political system, having given a speech at a rally for an organization ran by David Duke would
immediately be disqualifying. But you know, no, like you can just do that. You can do that and you get to be a moderate in twenty twenty three. But the problem with the problem Scalise has is that Sclee's problem
isn't that again like clan bullshit. It's the fact that the way that votes for the Speaker of the House work is that so there's an internal blind vote inside of the inside of the Republican Party where each each each representative gets to anonymously vote, like each Republican representative
gets to a anonymously vote for their preferred candidates. So Jim Jordan like kind of narrowly loses out to Scalise in the first rounte in the first vote, So he loses one hundred and thirteen to ninety nine, and so Scalise comes out as the guy who's the nominee for the Republicans.
Right.
Problem is, Scalise lasts one day as that guy because the problem is to actually become a speaker, you need to win a vote on the House floor, and the vote on the House floor with everyone in the House, including the Democrats, that's where he needs to win two hundred seventeen votes. He did not have it. He so incredibly did not have it. That again, within a day of him winning this vote, he is out. So Scalice
is now out of the race. What has been so the developments Literally as we are recording this, Jim Jordan has won a vote to become like the next uh, he's the next person to win a vote because he was running against just a fucking clown. Sorry I'm being offensive to clowns. He's just like a nobody, like just
like some dipshit the Republicans like picked off off the street. Right, Like this is where we're at, Like there's no one like if if Jim, if Jim Jordan can't do this, like there's like I don't know, like you would like bring McCarthy back, Like there's nothing he like Jordan. Jim Jordan's like the last even semi serious political figure the
Republican Party who could even conceivably do this. Jim Jordan has won the vote inside the Republican Party, however, come and and also the other important thing that happened literally as we were recording, is that he's been endorsed by McCarthy now, which is kind of a big deal. McCarthy has said publicly that he thinks that Jim Jordan has the votes. I don't believe him, and I don't believe him because immediately after he said that, it came out that Jim Jordan is sixty vote short on the floor
of the House, sixty six zero. He is screwed. There's no way, like he has to get through sixty sixty votes and there's no way. I don't see a path for him to do this, even even with McCarthy's support, Like, I don't think it's way for him to do this.
As of time of recording. The thing that has happened is that the Republicans have all gone home because they get out at five, and he's going to try to spend the weekends like building up support, trying to build up enough votes in the House to like win speakership.
But yeah, this has not seen where it seems like it's it seems like a pretty uh pretty chance.
It's it's possible that like on like Monday or Tuesday or something when they're like when this comes out, I'll be eating crow and I'll have to record like it that's true because it's his date.
But yes, because this does come out after the weekend, so yeah, but we will.
I don't buy this. I I absolutely just do not buy that Jim Jordan has enough votes. This is this is this is this is this is my analysis. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, but guessing get sixty votes and like there's no way, there's no way. So this is this is this is a fact. This is the current state of Congress right now, Like we don't we don't have a legislave branch. Everything everything is in chaos, nothing
but down. Two more to go. We're almost there, fellas. Yeah, well, the executives, if it cannot come, the executive if we can not go be executive, the judiciary will fall by itself. Yeah.
So that's that is certainly certainly exciting. There's always always good things to look forward to.
Yeah, But you know, I think I think a closing note on this is that the fact that the US effectively can't do anything right now, while it's in the middle of a pretty serious like a couple of well likee one is in the middle of like several very very serious international political crises and wars, is has I don't know, it's it's it's been the thing right now that has been restraining the US from just like really going all out and trying to get it when a
Palestine killed So I guess there's that, But I don't know. Our government is a joke, yeah, and like and I guess I guess. The last thing I want to say is I want to invite all of you, everyone is listening to this, to look at these absolute numb skills, Like look at what they're doing right now. They can't even pick the one guy who is necessary for the entire letislative branch to function. And I want you to
ask yourself, could we do this? Could like any of you and like your neighbors and your friends run a political system better than this, Because I bet the answer is yes.
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