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| Name this political philosopher |
Pay attention: Class is in session.
1) The first vote of the new House of Representatives is to elect a Speaker.
2) To get elected, one must win a simple majority of the members. That's 218.
3) That means whoever runs has to get every swinging Richard on the [R] side to win this time around. Having the most votes that is less than 218 won't get it done.
4) If the first ballot fails, there's a second. And a third. And so on, until they elect someone with a majority.
5) Historically, this can take from one ballot up to 133 ballots - which took two months.
6) Until there's a Speaker, the House cannot do anything else.
N-O-T-H-I-N-G.
7) Like certify the 2024 election.
8) Which means no inauguration until there's a Speaker, and said certification, possibly weeks after January 20th.
9) Meaning neither Trump nor Vance could be sworn in. Maybe for weeks and weeks. Yes, really.
10) And with no Speaker Of The House elected, that also takes out the 3rd person in the line of presidential succession.
11) Number Four is not the Senate Majority Leader, it's the President pro tempore, i.e. the Senator elected by the majority to that post in the new Senate.
12) So unless there's a quick and bloodless selection of the next Speaker Of The House, the Acting President, who will be sworn in at noon on January 20th, 2025, if the 2024 election has not been certified, could be someone like current pro tem Peppermint Patty Murray [D-Lunatic Fringe], or former pro tem Chuck Grassley [R - RINO Extraordinaire].
13) Which Acting President would have full authority to do all official acts of the President until such time as the House gets its collective crap in one bag. Like appoint Cabinet members, nominate judges for life, conclude treaties, sign legislation, approve 1500-page budgets, and do all the things involving monkeying with the levers of power upon which you really want some Senatorial shitbag not to ever, ever get their grubby little not-elected-by-the-whole-country hands. Capice?
14) OR, the president-elect could try and curry a little less jackassery from a shitbag like Johnson, by helping him stay in the Speaker's chair without any fuss, so the House could speedily confirm the 2024 election results.
So...you go figure out why Trump might throw a bone to a confirmed pork-barreling shitbag like Mike Johnson, rather than read the newspaper in Mar-A-Lago for a couple of weeks until the House can get itself together, while some greasy jackass jerks the country around some more after Mr. Fraudulent gets carted off to the funny farm.




























