Weekly News Recap
From the growing GOP civil war to Mitch McConnell admitting his only goal is obstruction, this was the week in news.
Hey all, so for the second week in a row, I’ve decided to do a weekly news wrap-up/recap, since a number of folks found it interesting and helpful. So here goes….
Liz Cheney Under Fire
The big story this week was the growing revolt among House Republicans against Liz Cheney, who holds the #3 House leadership spot.
Since mom asked how this works, I figured I’d explain for all of you. After a new House is elected every two years — remember, Senators have six year terms, but House members’ terms are only two years — the members of each party hold votes on various leadership positions (e.g., Majority Leader, Minority Leader, Whip). Liz Cheney’s leadership position is House Republican Conference chair. (The Speaker is chosen in a slightly different manner.)
House Republicans — read: Donald Trump — are upset with Cheney for refusing to embrace the Big Lie, aka that Donald Trump won the election. Trump is demanding that Cheney be kicked out of her leadership post and replaced with someone more Trumpy, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is complying like a good dog.
The person Trump wants to replace Cheney is New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who worked in the George W. Bush White House, ran as a compassionate conservative, and then took a hard turn towards Trump in 2019, and now claims she’s a Trumper extraordinaire. In fact, Stefanik has a pretty poor pro-Trump voting record (in the mid 70 percentile) as compared to Liz Cheney (low 90 percentile).
A number of House Republicans are now voicing concerns about Stefanik, but it’s unclear if they think she’s insufficiently Trumpy, or whether they’re concerned that she’s actually a liberal Republican, which she was only two years ago.
At this point, it seems like a done-deal that Liz Cheney will be ousted shortly. The only remaining question is whether Stefanik replaces her, or whether House Republicans demand someone either more MAGA, more conservative, or both.
PS Jake Tapper’s comment yesterday about Stefanik was priceless:
Guess What? Liz Cheney is a Republican!
I posted earlier this week about a growing chorus of concern that Liz Cheney is no hero for taking on Trump, because she’s voting for really really really bad things in the past. Here’s what I had to say about that:
And this guy made the point best:
Look, no one is clamoring for Liz Cheney to be the next Democratic Speaker. But it is possible for us to welcome any Republican — particularly a super-duper conservative Republican who’s the #3 GOP leader in the House — who publicly condemns Trump and the Big Lie. As I’ve said repeatedly, it’s not news when Bernie Sanders or AOC condemn Trump. It is news when a conservative Republican member of the House leadership does. That doesn’t mean that Liz is going to single-handedly tame the Republican party. In fact, former Congressman Joe Walsh, who we had on our podcast yesterday, thinks Cheney will fail and that the GOP will eventually splinter into a third party. In the meantime, I’d rather have a GOP civil war than GOP unity. So, Liz, atta girl, and keep it coming.
Mitch McConnell Says the Quiet Part Out Loud
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell admitted this week that his only goal for the next four years is “stopping” Joe Biden. So much for bipartisanship. It will die at the hands of Republicans. Hopefully the media, who keep blaming Biden for GOP intransigence, will take note.
New Jobs Numbers are Lousy
This morning, the latest figures were released for how many new jobs our economy created in April. Economists expected 1 million new jobs. We only added 266,000, and unemployment rose to 6.1%. The problem? Businesses are saying they can’t find enough workers.
The Wall Street Journal offered an explanation as to why employers are having a hard time filling jobs when millions are still unemployed:
There are several factors keeping potential workers on the sidelines. Many Americans aren’t working for fear of getting or spreading Covid-19. Businesses are reopening ahead of schools, leaving some parents without child care. Some people are receiving more in unemployment benefits than they would earn in the available jobs.
Republicans, unsurprisingly, are claiming that unemployment benefits are too large, and Americans, being the lazy Fs we apparently are, according to Republicans, are refusing to work.
Note the child care reference in the WSJ article. President Biden included child care as part of his infrastructure bill, and some people mocked it as not being actual infrastructure. But if infrastructure is defined as things that help the economy function, in part by helping people work, then child care is a no-brainer.
Florida GOP Single-Handedly Threatens to Kill the State’s Cruise Industry
Florida may lose Norwegian cruises as a result of an executive order issued by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, a Trumper, which prohibits businesses from checking your vaccine status. On cruise ships, proven to be floating petri dishes, such a prohibition could be deadly. Norwegian Cruise Line is now threatening to dock in nearby states, rather than Florida, which would suck a lot of money out of that state.
Oh well. Live by the Trump, die by the Trump. Florida Republicans wanted to prove how Trumpy and anti-vaxx they are, so now they’re going to pay it in jobs and money. Sad!
Time for Justice Breyer to Go
Among my occasionally unpopular-but-we-know-I’m-right opinions….
Fox’s Tucker Carlson is Mad that Kamala Loves Her Hubbie
In all fairness to Tucker, imagine how confusing it must be for Republicans to see someone in the White House who actually loves their spouse.
Baby Duck is Adorable
And Sasha Wishes You All a Glorious Weekend:
JOHN
I think your comments on Breyer are VERY popular. It's a shame to treat a seat on the Supreme Court strategically, but that's the world we live in. P.S. The duck was indeed adorable.