When The ‘Ish’ Hits The Fan
By
A.H. Scott, Copyright 2023
.
“He’s as blind as he can be
Just sees what he wants to see
Nowhere man, can you see me at all” – “Nowhere Man”, lyrics by John Lennon/Paul McCartney[1]
Kevin McCarthy holds the speaker’s gavel in one hand and members of his rabid Republican Caucus holds his whittled weed in the other.
Well, well, you’ve heard about a RINO (Republican In Name Only) and a DINO (Democrat In Name Only); it’s now time for the third.
McCarthy is SINO, Speaker In Name Only. Oh, of course, he gets to be called that title is under that blind man’s folly of thinking he’s in charge. But, that’s only in this man’s mind of delusion.
Having been a long-term Congressman from California’s 20th Congressional District which covers Bakersfield, Ridgecrest, and Clovis; Kevin McCarthy has waited for this shining moment in his political career. It’s a long way from making toasted submarine sandwiches[2] to his present position of power.
But, here he is, and this is his time to bask in the glow of Speakership.
“As Speaker of the House, my ultimate responsibility is not to my party, my conference, or even our Congress. My responsibility – our responsibility is to our country. Two months ago, you voted for a new direction for our country. You embraced our commitment to America. And, now we’re going to keep our commitment to you. It’s a commitment for an economy that’s strong. Where you can fill up a tank of gas and feed your family. We’re paychecks grow and not shrink. It’s a commitment for a nation that is safe. Where communities are protected and law enforcement is respected. And, criminals are prosecuted. A commitment for the future, that’s built on freedom. Where children come first and are taught to dream big; because in America, dreams can still come true. A commitment for a government that is held accountable. Where Americans get the answers they want, need, and deserve. Our system based on checks and balances. It’s time for us to be a check and provide some balance to the President’s policies.” – Speaker Kevin McCarthy, January 7th 2023[3]
Speaker Kevin has cut so many deals, that even he has probably forgot how many were dealt away in a flurry of wheeling n’ dealing in those many hours of the 118th Congress session began from January 3rd, 2023 until the waning hours past midnight of January 6th, 2023.
He was elected speaker on the FIFTEENTH ballot!!
“But, I do want to especially thank President Trump. I don’t think anybody should doubt his influence. He was with me from the beginning. Somebody wrote the doubt of whether he was there…and, he was all in. He would call me and he would call others. And, he really was – I was just talking to him tonight, um – helping get those final votes. What he was really saying for the party and the country; that we have to come together. We’ve got to focus on the economy. We have to focus on – to make our border secure. We’ve got to do so much work to do. And, he was a great influence to make that all happen. So, thank you, President Trump.” – Speaker Kevin McCarthy, January 7th, 2023, 2:10 am after 15th speakership vote[4]
Oh yes, former President of the United States Donald J. Trump is the man the freshly minted House Speaker is lavishing such great and grand words of gratitude upon. I mean, I guess the homage is well-deserved to a man who was the ignition for an insurrection upon that legislative complex to the exact date two years prior.
When California’s own Kevin McCarthy won his speakership on the 15th ballot, it was post-midnight on January 7th; 2023, as was the completion of the electoral certification for a new occupant of the White House on January 7th, 2021.
Seems like being history-adverse must come with the gavel that Speaker McCarthy now holds, as the optics of one congressman lunging at another on the floor of the House and the second anniversary of a chaotic coup attempt seemed to have a way of crystallizing a political party plunging into a quagmire of quirks and quackery.
By the way, a person does not have to be a standing member of the Congress to be elected to the role of House Speaker. There is no rule written in stone that it has to be someone from within that body that must have their name placed in nomination. Any name, from Frank Capra to John Ford can be tossed out into the ether by anyone in the House.
During the marathon votes for becoming House Speaker, no one was off the table for being nominated. This included the twice-impeached, former President Donald J. Trump; who got a full-throated shout-out of nomination to becoming Speaker of the House by one of his fellow Floridians, Matt Gaetz.
It was during the eleventh vote for Speaker of the House, when Florida Representative Matt Gaetz made his pitch.
“This government for far too long has been deeply corrupt. This town has been deeply corrupt. The way people get leadership positions, and Chairmanships, and opportunities; to be able to morally preen. is by accepting lobbyist and special interest money – and, redistributing that money as currency for favors. And, that is not a criticism of either political party. It is a criticism of what we have allowed to happen in this place. And, if we just go next man up on our side of the aisle, we will re-apply that corrupt system and we will abandon the people that are expecting us to fight for them.” – Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-FL, January 2023[5]
(Bravo – applause!! Good words) Sounds good, but just know that as those words came from those lips of his, he was working on massaging a good concession or two, or more out of Kevin McCarthy for himself.
Oh, there he is, Representative Matt Gaetz – proud, preening, and cheeky as ever. With sly grin on his face for the whole world to see, he just says the thing that keeps the Maga-minions in an infinite tizzy of ecstasy.
Definitely, it is always different when it is the I-I or Me-Me and that hand is held out. It’s almost as if a certain person’s hand is pristine for its’ wanting of something, while another that is ideologically opposite is that of grimy intent. Cut the crap, Matt, you got your fingers in the pie for yourself, too.
What is public facing on C-Span is only public performance. The real performance is the dressing down and crawling around in the side-dealing darkness of private, backroom meetings. While a Congressman or Congresswoman gets up with the spotlight glaring on them and the feed from C-Span running hot, they do their dance of pretending they are ‘doing it for the little guy or little gal’, when in reality, they are just doing their thing for their own benefit and benefactors.
I’m not hating on that factor really hard; but, damn, must your performance be so transparent that I can see your lackadaisical lingerie showing every time you pretend to be standing forthright for smaller government, conservatism, traditional values, patriotism, apple pie, and blah-blah-blah?
Hypocrisy stinks and layering some hubris on top of that – and, that scent can be smelt far and wide from sea to shining sea. We all are getting a whiff of it right now, as the GOP is laying out their plans for the 118th Congressional session.
I would like to give kudos to The Honorable Cheryl L. Jackson, clerk of the House of Representatives[6] for keeping the procedures of the roll-call classy in the midst of such unprecedented days of January 2023. She was a graceful and calming force in the storms that were surging within the fiasco of that election wrangling between Kevin McCarthy and the ‘never-Kevin’ squad of whiny brats.
THE SHADY BUNCH
For me, I just have to snicker every time that these ultra-conservatives whine and ramble about poorer people in this country wanting some kind of perceived or illusionary hand-out; when in reality they are the ones who always have their hand out.
The quartet of Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, Jim Jordan[7] of Ohio, Andy Biggs[8] of Arizona, and Matt Gaetz[9] of Florida never shrink from scheming and dreaming, from election denying to conniving for committee chairmanships.
“The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.” – Edmund Burke
They have their hand outs, just scrapin’ n’ scratchin’ high and low for things such as pardons for underhanded plotting they’ve done in the past and continuing to this present day. They get their egos stroked by being assigned committee chairmanships.
And, finally, for Kevin McCarthy get over that finish line to that Speaker’s perch; they made sure there would be some sort of escalation of their pecuniary and political power. So, the swamp shall never be drained, because there is a forever abundance of greedy souls drooling for their piece of the pie.
So, the political dance is as it ever was. Just new dancers have taken the dance-floor is the only difference.
Whenever I hear any politician say these three words ‘cut wasteful spending’ or ‘practice fiscal responsibility, I roll my eyes, clean my teeth and know that they are just trying to find a way to screw over the people who are not as financially fortunate as they are.
Okay, let me just break it down – cutting any government programs that assist or just keep the heads of the poor above water is always in the bulls-eye. It’s like a reflex or red-flag waved before certain voting blocks that keep conservatives in office.
If you say we are going to cut wasteful spending and are going to be the exemplars of fiscal responsibility, then go after the mills’ and bills’ who play the tax code like John Coltrane and cut back on wasteful spending from those on the top rung of the economic ladder with the deft sweetness of Walter Peyton.
Millionaires and billionaires seem always placed first in line to give comfort to. Yet, as for those who aren’t in either of those brackets, well, hold onto some bootstraps, even if you don’t have boots.
Yet, when whatever program they want to put on the chopping block is done, it always seems to be things such as programs to blunt childhood poverty, food insecurity, home energy assistance, housing assistance, environmental disparities, small business support, or technological research. And, in this current batch of members of Congress, they don’t hold back with their eyes set upon reconfiguring Social Security and Medicare benefits.
Not just erasing progress on the domestic policy front is what the Republican conference is gearing up to do, but to also do a bit of abracadabra to benefit the vanity of the vainest former occupant of the White House.
On Thursday, January 12th, 2023, during a press conference, Speaker Kevin McCarthy mused on considering expunging the impeachments of former President Donald Trump.
“Make the world go away
And get it off my shoulders
Say the things you used to say
And make the world go away” – “Make The World Go Away”, lyrics by Hank Cochran[10]
Hearing wistful strains of Eddy Arnold’s tune, “Make the World Go Away” is what I heard from McCarthy’s devil-may-care attitude when responding to journalists’ inquiries. Speaker McCarthy knows he better keep on Trump’s good side before he’ll be demoted back into a position as Donnie’s candy[11] whisperer with those red and pink Starbursts.
Yeah, let’s just put the blinders on and get that amnesia over what has happened in the last two years. Let’s not remember what Donald Trump wrought and the impenetrable rot that is evident daily in the words and proposed investigative and legislative actions from that cast of characters running the House of Representatives.
“It is past time to expunge Democrats’ sham smear against not only President Trump’s name, but against millions of patriots across the country” – Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-NY, Republican Conference Chairwoman[12]
Being part of House leadership, directly behind Majority Leader Steve Scalise, the congresswoman from New York has definitely made herself completely amenable to anything and everything for the behest of the former President of the United States.
“Power-lust is a weed that grows only in the vacant lots of an abandoned mind.” – Ayn Rand
She attained this Republican Conference Chair position after Wyoming’s Liz Cheney was voted out of leadership over her criticism of Trump’s skirting of the constitution during the insurrection. It shows that when a person wants power, they’ll kneel low and ascend high.
As the weeks, months, and years go by, there is one thing I’ve come to terms with for sure; the ethos and essence of MAGA is not South and West or East or North. It is a mindset that has roots wider than a specific space on a national map. Taking Elise Stefanik’s political transformation as an example of moderation shifted into the vein of extremism, shows that the turgid tide can reside on either side of the Mason/Dixon line.
For the Republican Party that was once so full of patriotic righteousness whenever they would reference their love for the Constitution, it nowadays seems that the affection for aspects of that document have gone cold.
In the United States Constitution, there is a constant elevation of the ceiling for the debt limit. From both political parties in office throughout the years, it gets taken care of with little pushback or disagreement in allowing it to occur.
The last increase of the debt ceiling came on December 16th, 2021 and on January 19th, 2023 it will be on the agenda to be raised once more. Legal obligations which are authorized include Social Security and Medicare benefits, salaries for the military, tax refunds and interest on the national debt.
In a January 13th, 2023 letter[13] sent to Congressional leaders on this impending event, United States Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen laid out the anticipated situation that will come to pass in stark terms below:
‘The two extraordinary measures Treasury anticipates implementing this month are (1) redeeming existing, and suspending new, investments of the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund (CSRDF) and the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund (Postal Fund), and (2) suspending reinvestment of the Government Securities Investment Fund (G Fund) of the Federal Employees Retirement System Thrift Savings Plan. Congress has expressly provided Treasury with authority to take these actions, and prior Treasury Secretaries have used these measures, which will reduce the amount of outstanding debt subject to the limit and temporarily provide additional capacity for Treasury to continue financing the operations of the federal government.[1] After the debt limit impasse has ended, the CSRDF, Postal Fund, and G Fund will be made whole.[2]’
House Republicans want to play fast and loose with the full faith and credit of the United States government, which will lead to a never before seen catastrophe.
If it does come to pass starting on January 19th, 2023, then the dominoes of calamity will begin to cascade. The international banking system[14] will be affected. Now, whether we like it or not, the credit of the United States is an integral part of the global economy and one of the foundations of the world banking system. We are not an island unto ourselves in the lane of solo superiority, as if the world doesn’t exist beyond our borders.
Okay, I am in no way an expert of even a person understanding the ins and outs of what goes on around the globe when it comes to money in any form; but, if the debt ceiling goes kaput, then the United States economy may become like Humpty Dumpty. Wow, and when we fall off the cliff of credit, it will be an abyss for which we cannot come back from in a snap of our fingers.
Yet, for the GOP it doesn’t end with playing games with the debt ceiling. Oh no, that is just the beginning of what they have planned ahead. Kevin McCarthy may have made the bargain to become Speaker; but, the American people are going to get the raw end of his deal.
“The object of power is power.” –George Orwell
With McCarthy negotiating with the holdout Republicans who weren’t going to vote for him to be Speaker of the House, he acquiesced to a deal that would result in more than 20% across the board cuts in domestic agency funding[15] and got the votes he needed to claim the gavel. Republicans want to advance 12 individual government spending bills[16], instead of one large omnibus package. In this framework that they are setting out, each domestic agency can be targeted for the spending cuts the GOP has in its’ sights.
PAGING NORMA DESMOND
When the camera is flipped on, it is the transparency of what’s really going on that is reborn.
C-SPAN unfiltered!
With so much to see and so much to hear during those four days and a few hours plus, the American public got the unvarnished view of the men and women who were to be sworn-in for the 118th Congress.
On Thursday, January 5th, 2023, I guess the people seated in that chamber were really starting to let their hair down in being comfortable in showing the world who they wanted to be seen as.
You see, in the usual event of televised things which occur on the floor of the House is controlled by the Speaker’s office. Yet, in the tussle and turmoil over Kevin McCarthy becoming speaker, there was no one in charge of the Speaker’s chair and duties, which included who had dominion[17] over the cameras that were filming the chamber.
With that extra bit of freedom, the camera operators were able to pick up visuals that gave more flavor[18] to the goings on in those first days of January.
Florida’s Matt Gaetz and Washington’s Pramila Jayapal seated next to one another just chatting and Arizona’s Paul Gossar and New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez having a mellow confab, was something which the American public would have never seen in the ordinary flow of how the C-Span cameras were usually operated.
And, then there’s George.
George Santos, that is. But, then again, his name might not even be George Santos. That factor of his identity is also up for debate.
Okay, okay, let’s do a little rewind on this once seemingly, rising star in the Republican Party.
With a biography that seems that of some kind of laudable Horatio Alger tale of reaching the pinnacle of educational and financial success through hard work and grit, 34-year old George Santos is the perfect exemplar that all should follow. But, then again, that would only be true if ANYTHING coming out of this person’s mouth were on the up and up.
I have got to put the number out here one more time – HE IS ONLY 34 YEARS OLD!!
Yep, he was born in 1988, but it seems like his lane of lies[19] has been going for centuries with the depth and breadth of them. This guy is tossing out Whoppers like he’s the freaking Burger King. Oops, I better not write that, or he’ll claim that crown is his too.
Okay, okay, but in all seriousness; George Santos’ ribbon of lies goes from prep school to prestigious collegian with top honors and a touch of being a sports phenom to the South tower of the World Trade Center and losing a quartet of employees during a mass shooting at an lgtbq nightclub in Orlando.
He didn’t go to Horace Mann Preparatory School. He didn’t earn an MBA at NYU or graduate sum cum laude from Baruch College with a strenuous position on the volleyball team that led him to later get a pair of knee replacements. His whiz kid jobs at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup were dust in the wind. His mother didn’t die in a job which she didn’t have at the World Trade Center in 2001. As for the deaths at Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016, those four employees for which Santos spoke of are made-up. All of it is made up.
Any person dragging the horrors of the Holocaust, September 11th, and Pulse into their narrative to gain some sort of sympathy from the public is of a mental state that is beyond what I can comprehend.
Santos even makes a mockery of calling himself ‘Jew-ish’. No, no – you didn’t misread what I just wrote. George Santos, whose family is not Jewish, and himself is not a practicing member of that community, has called himself ‘Jew-ish’[20]. Claiming he was a ‘proud American Jew’ in one of his interviews of fibbery, George Santos decided to play word games and make up himself being Jew-ish.
Now, that’s truly some nutty ‘ish’.
Yet, with all those provable lies and probably many, many more, George Santos keeps on keeping on in his mission to be a Congressman from New York.
Maybe Santos is just a jokester, pulling one over on the voters and the rest of us in the public. Or, there is a darker tableau this human being is about to reveal to us.
So, that was mistruths which occurred outside of the walls of Congress where his weirdness was unraveling. But, what was about to happen inside that closed chamber as the votes for speaker continued should be something that does not go without note. Of course, the historic nature of the multiple rounds of voting was in the foreground, but then again there is also what goes on the background which also matters.
Yet, Georgie, Georgie found a way to steal the show during the voting on the 10th ballot to elect the House Speaker. Most other members listened for the House reading clerk to call their names to vote and make their choice between Republican Kevin McCarthy and Democrat Hakeem Jeffries.
But, instead of focusing upon who he was going to say ‘yeah’ or ‘nay’ for, Mr. Santos decided on how he would call out the name McCarthy.
Situating himself in the aisle as the reading clerk was going through the alphabet and came to the name Sanchez which was directly before his to be called, he raised his right hand and then positioned his left with a trio of fingers sideways at his midsection.
Hmm, what kind of oddness is that? Was the man of provable lies sending out a message to those of like mind? Was George Santos trying to be too cute by half in truly not giving a flip about how vile he is in flashing a white power gesture[21] on the floor of the House of Representatives? Bingo!
Now, that’s the ‘ish’ hitting the fan – big time!!
There are 435 total members of Congress; as the Republican caucus has 222 in the majority and the Democratic caucus has 213 in the minority. To get anything passed on the House floor, the number that must be met is always 218 votes. So, Speaker McCarthy only has the slimmest of wiggle room to have a consistent 218 being met when 4 members of his own caucus can vote against any bill.
Kevin’s undeniable scent of desperation can be smelt by everyone in his caucus, which has led even the stench of subterfuge which is the newly-elected George Santos to dissipate for the sake of keeping that single vote on the side of the Speaker.
Some within the Republican ranks of the new members of Congress have called for the disgraceful deceiver Santos to resign. Yet, Kevin isn’t one of them. He needs Santos’ thumbs up so his Speakership doesn’t go down the drain. Even if McCarthy has to lock Santos in a closet to evade the inquiring reporters about the latest exposed lie and take him out only to vote on the floor, he will go to that extreme to keep that cherished chair.
He lied his way into that Congressional seat and defiled it before he was even sworn in. So, flashing that sign of mythical supremacy was just the crass cherry atop this crappy sundae of shamelessness.
With one man showing his lack of shame in lying as he takes each breath, another man has revealed naked ambition in his pursuit of power. Kevin McCarthy has exposed who he is in not calling out Santos for lies about a biography that shifts with the wind and standing in the well of the House of Representatives signaling a white power sign.
Ironically, the word ‘power’ is just five letters positioned together, as Speaker Kevin can’t call out anybody because of his own shortcomings of perceived power have become oh so malleable beneath MAGA’s mallet.
Damn, and did I mention that George Santos is ONLY 34 years old! But, his lying, scamming, and conning ways goes like a marathon of days and years.
From his cuckoo cash shenanigans[22] of almost a million dollars loaned to his own campaign to being the lowest form of humanity in absconding with donations to a GoFundMe page for a cancer-stricken patient named Sapphire. Poor girl had a stomach tumor. Oh, by the way, Sapphire was a dog[23] owned by a homeless veteran. Even a dog isn’t safe to the putrid plotting of Santos!!
Oh, this man’s misdeeds of human indecency have been on a consistent roll of disclosure, as his tissue of lies seems unending.
This….guy – is definitely a King of ‘ish’.
Thief of truth for both human and animal is what George Santos or whatever he wants to call himself is, as now he also is the man who holds the seat from the Empire State of New York.
Hence, just like the myth of a Horatio Alger character, now is in the existence of the culmination of George Santos in the flesh. The American Dream for this man from the Third Congressional District is the American Scheme.
“George is an experienced businessman, financier and investor, with extensive work in capital introduction, real estate, capital markets, bio-tech and M&A. He has experience delivering results in the world of business and now he will take that same drive to Washington to deliver results for New York’s Third Congressional District.” – George (Santos) For New York[24]
But, he fits in to the 118th Congress with all the others of questionable ilk, from Marjorie Taylor Greene[25] and her former best buddy, Lauren Boebert[26] to Matt Gaetz[27] and the newly installed chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Jim Jordan.
Those who seemed to be outsiders or oddballs in the past sessions of Congress are now as inside as being an insider gets. And, it’s all abided and shepherded forth by one man, Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
ON VIRTUE
Anyone who is anyone in modern-day conservatism has their bona fides punched with a gold-star for attending any conference held by CPAC[28]. President Donald Trump, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Senator Ted Cruz, Governor Ron DeSantis, Matt Gaetz, and even Hungary’s Viktor Orban have made their pilgrimage to speak at these high profile events to extol the traditional values that make the ultra-right swoon with glory over hearth, heritage and home.
In the conservative’s self-made conundrum of stupendous hypocrisy, another example is Matt Schlapp whose last name gives me a giggle and a transformation from a noun to a verb whenever I may think of him at any time forward. This upright, uptight man of such high virtue lets his intentions take hold and his hands do the walking. While lending a hand in the campaign season for candidate Herschel Walker in Georgia’s race in 2022, a staffer driving this prominent man around Atlanta had far more than just his attention grabbed[29] by Mr. Schlapp.
This man who is head of the American Conservative Union and chair of the Conservative Political Action Coalition is one who projects the sterling image of faith, family and freedom from any type of vice. Yet, his handsy ways definitely are far from being nice.
Of course, the straight-laced, married man of morality denies the he could possibly let his own hands do a little exploring. As for the young, male campaign staffer who was put upon so shabbily, he is the one who has provided the goods in the form of a text[30] and call log from a message that Schlapp had contacted him after a harrowing event.
For Mr. Matt Schlapp, he should live by the motto we all learn as children – keep your hands to yourself.
Schlapp’s actions are just another in a line of doing exactly the opposite of which is berated publicly in the policy sphere. Behind closed doors or in a car where it is in a one on one situation, everything is on the table of temptation. Yet, when you get out before the cameras vociferously advocating against laws and policies supporting freedom and equality for others, it is another story all together.
Campaign in and campaign out through the last election cycle, the two-faces keep on shifting morality onto others comes to be the reason why I as a liberal roll my eyes and start to shrug in the reality of how up is down, in is out, and virtue signaling of one’s own persona is truly hidden about.
“I’m expecting CPAC Florida to be a packed house because America is experiencing a great Un-Wokening.” – Matt Schlapp, American Conservative Union Chair
Maybe the only Un-Wokening is the one that’s stirring below your belt, Schlappy Happy!
Schlapp it REAL GOOD!!
A TALE OF McCARTHY
A tale of McCarthy has become a representation upon an unveiled trio of parallels, as two of them being of the past and the third being presently.
“The measure of a man is what he does with power.”- Plato
For me, it has manifested into something to think about.
You, Kevin McCarthy, are this humble man just wanting to meet the moment for the sake of improving the lives of Americans and servicing the public who have entrusted him to the highest position in his chamber of Congress. Could that be so?
Or, has the Freedom Caucus reconfigured itself as Edgar Bergen and you its’ Charlie McCarthy. Kevin’s lips may the ones that are moving, as the hand of command plays your spine like Lionel Hampton working his vibes.
Another man with the name McCarthy in decades’ past also thrived on the addictive adoration of an inebriation of power. The more that is had, the more that is wanted. Have no doubts that today’s McCarthy, formerly of the 20th Congressional district will sink to any depths of degradation of himself or accelerate any disparaged act or word that needs to go forth to keep him in that chair which he now covets.
As Matt Gaetz was running circles around Kevin McCarthy until he squeezed what he needed out of him during those uncertain hours of voting victory, the Florida politico made the most honest statement that aptly fits the now Speaker of the House.
“If Kevin McCarthy doesn’t bow out, he will have to live the entirety of his speakership in a straight-jacket constructed by these rules we are working on now” – Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-FL[31]
And, those rules that Gaetz broadly touched upon are the ones that have the now Speaker holding his tiny nuggets of power and a big gavel right now.
In the case of this McCarthy, the jacket definitely fits him snugly and deservedly.
A key rule that was conceded by McCarthy and adopted ever so quickly by the Republican conference was the motion to vacate. In this rule, it’s simple – only one member of Congress is needed to call for a new Speaker to be elected and remove Kevin McCarthy from his prized perch. No longer will the rule be as it was in needing five members to get this action done.
So, when I call Kevin a SINO (Speaker In Name Only), it is oh so true. He may be the man who holds the gavel, but he no longer has the stones to bargain away with anymore.
“Power lacks moral or principles. It only has interests.” – Horacio Castellanos Moya
A person thinks just because they may be seated atop the tiger, that they are riding it forward in their journey to the victorious cheers of those allied and acquainted.
But, Speaker Kevin McCarthy is not riding the tiger of that slim margin of four votes in his voting majority. He’s been granted a not so permanent plateau by the beast. In the end, with all that glad-handing, back-slapping, committee-chairperson granting, financial fluffing, and promising of the moon and stars won’t mean a speck of allegiance, for the tiger will forever be what it always has been; untamable and unquenchable in its’ appetite.
Might not be today, might not be tomorrow; but, the tiger will devour a man who is so blind to thinking he’s a conqueror of festering factions and agitated agendas – so hollow of principle that any wayward breeze can twist his trajectory like a pretzel – so nowhere of a man sensing a growl of hunger that has already begun for his political demise.
When the tiger pounces, it won’t be a surprise!
And, that is the ‘ISH’!!!
.
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When The ‘Ish’ Hits The Fan – FOOTNOTES:
1.-The Beatles – “Nowhere Man Lyrics” – Genius
https://genius.com/The-beatles-nowhere-man-lyrics
2.-Who Is Kevin McCarthy? Narrated by Michael Wolf – NowThis
3.-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy Opening Remarks – C-SPAN
4.-Dana Bash Reacts To McCarthy Thanking Trump For Speaker Role – CNN
5.-Matt Gaetz Nominates Donald Trump for Speaker of the House – C-SPAN
6.-The Honorable Cheryl L. Johnson – Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives
https://clerk.house.gov/About#OverviewContact
7.-Who Is Jim Jordan? Narrated by Sean Patton – NowThis
8.-GOP Congressman Unleashes Bizarre Rant: Jill Biden is ‘Compromised’ and ‘Must Be Investigated’- Raw Story
https://www.rawstory.com/gop-congressman-unleashes-bizarre-rant-jill-biden-is-compromised-and-must-be-investigated/
9.-Gaetz Sought Pardon From Trump Over DOJ Probe Into Sex Trafficking Allegations – The Hill
Gaetz sought pardon from Trump over DOJ probe into sex trafficking allegations: report
10.-Make The World Go Away – Genius Lyrics
https://genius.com/Eddy-arnold-make-the-world-go-away-lyrics
11.-How Red and Pink Starburst Might Make Kevin McCarthy The Next House Speaker
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/12/politics/kevin-mccarthy-donald-trump-steve-scalise/index.html
12.-“Not sure that’s how it works”: Experts mock Kevin McCarthy’s plan to “expunge” Trump impeachment – Salon
https://www.salon.com/2023/01/13/not-sure-thats-how-it-works-experts-mock-kevin-mccarthys-plan-to-expunge-impeachment/
13.-Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen Sends Letter to Congressional Leadership on the Debt Limit – U.S. Treasury Department
https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy1188
14.-Why Kevin McCarthy’s Debt Ceiling Showdown Will Start Sooner Than You Might Think – The Street
https://www.thestreet.com/politics/debt-ceiling-debate-starts-sooner-than-you-might-think
15.-McCarthy’s Deal to Secure the House Speakership Puts Agencies at Risk of Severe Budget Cuts – GOV EXEC
https://www.govexec.com/management/2023/01/mccarthys-deal-secure-speakership-puts-agencies-risk-severe-budget-cuts/381600/
16.-What We Know About The Deal That Won Kevin McCarthy the Speakership – Oregon Public Broadcasting
https://www.opb.org/article/2023/01/09/what-we-know-about-the-deal-that-won-kevin-mccarthy-the-speakership/
17.-C-SPAN Asks McCarthy To Permanently Allow Its Own Cameras On The House Floor – Huff Post
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cspan-cameras-house-chamber_n_63bea26fe4b0d6724fc9290b/amp
18.-‘C-SPAN Gone Wild’: Cameras Giving Viewers a Rare Look Inside House Chamber – MSNBC
19.-A Running List of George Santos’ Apparent Lies – The Week
https://theweek.com/us/1019843/a-running-list-of-apparent-lies-by-george-santos
20.-‘I Said I Was `Jew-ish”: Rep.-Elect Santos Admits To Lying About His Background – MSNBC
21.-George Santos Appears to Flash White Power Symbol on House Floor
https://www.advocate.com/politics/2023/1/06/george-santos-appears-flash-white-power-symbol-house-floor
22.-Embattled Rep. George Santos Has Ties to a Powerful Russian Oligarch, Campaign Filings Reveal – People
https://people.com/politics/george-santos-campaign-ties-russian-oligarch/
23.-Disabled Veteran: George Santos Took $3K From Dying Dog’s GoFundMe – PATCH
https://patch.com/new-york/oysterbay/disabled-veteran-george-santos-took-3k-dying-dogs-gofundme
24.-About George – George Santos For NY Campaign
25.-Every New GOP Congresswoman, Explained In One Sentence Each – Bustle
https://www.bustle.com/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-lauren-boebert-republican-women-in-congress
26.-Lauren Boebert Tears Into ‘Unhinged’ Marjorie Taylor Greene – Mediate
27. Who Is Matt Gaetz? – NowThis
28.-What We Believe – Conservative Political Action Coalition
29.-Male Herschel Walker Staffer Accuses Major Republican Activist Matt Schlapp of Groping Him – LGBTQ Nation
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/01/male-herschel-walker-staffer-accuses-major-republican-activist-matt-schlapp-groping/
30.-‘What a F**king Creep’ -Text Substantiates Sexual Assault Claim Against Matt Schlapp – Edge Media Network
https://www.edgemedianetwork.com/story.php?322028
31.-Matt Gaetz: Trump is wrong to support McCarthy – Fox News
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: A.H. Scott is a poet and essayist based in New York City and is a veteran contributor to this blog. To access additional articles by A.H. Scott, click here: https://tonyward.com/a-h-scott-man-of-the-ages/