Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) will soon be chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and a former GOP adviser has some advice for him: Shut the hell up.
Tara Setmayer made her remarks during an appearance on MSNBC Sunday, telling host Jonathan Capehart:
“I want to remind people who Jim Jordan is. Jim Jordan is potentially under investigation by the Department of Justice. He is now about to become the chairman of the Judiciary Committee which has direct oversight of the Department of Justice; there’s something incredibly wrong with that.”
Setmayer added:
“Jim Jordan was an insurrectionist. He was one the people in those backdoor deals with Rudy Giuliani and all those others to overturn the fair election in this country. He now has the power of the gavel, of the oversight committee for the Department of Justice. This is what people have voted into power.”
But that was just the beginning of what Setmayer had to say about Jordan and his GOP allies who are about to take control of the House:
“I think it is a responsibility for all of us who have a platform to remind the American people that elections have consequences. We cannot ignore the role that they played in almost losing our democracy on January sixth, they should all be held accountable and asked questions about.”
Setmayer said she has one message for Jordan, and she wishes he would heed her instructions:
“Jim Jordan really needs to shut the hell up with the righteous indignation about anything. Because he has not been held accountable for his own transgressions and I think that they should come sooner rather than later.”
Now that the most extreme members of the House Republican caucus have gotten major concessions from Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, you can expect the far right of the right-wing (a.k.a. the MAGA wing) of the GOP to pursue an agenda that will hurt most Americans and weaken the country.
The Lincoln Project is fond of calling these MAGA Republicans (think Reps. Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz, and Jim Jordan) the American Taliban, and released an ad in November giving them that title.
With McCarthy beholden to this American Taliban, the Lincoln Project has released their ad again, along with this updated message:
When we released this ad in November, we told you there would be no compromise with the Ultra-MAGA if they won. This week they showed a willingness to take the nation hostage to further their own corrupt ambitions.
They aren’t interested in policy debates or real governance, only implementing their culture war to roll back individual rights, crush dissent, eliminate fair elections, and destroy our democratic institutions.
For those who need supporting evidence to bolster the ad’s message, we brought the receipts that prove what the House GOP majority has planned for the next two years.
Tackling inflation (Though they have no written plan)
Dealing with crime (Again, no plan)
Border security (They want President Biden to visit the border, but have no ideas beyond that)
Impeachment of Biden and Biden administration officials (Payback for Trump’s TWO impeachments)
Investigations of Hunter Biden (who holds no office or position of power), the FBI (for daring to serve a search warrant on Mar-a-Lago), the Justice Department (because they’re afraid of accountability for criminal behavior), and the origins of COVID-19 (because they hate Anthony Fauci and cannot admit Donald Trump screwed up the American response to the virus)
Can you say clusterfuck? That’s what we can look forward to for the next 22 months.
Oh, and there’s also hints that House Republicans will refuse to raise the debt ceiling unless President Biden agrees to massive cuts in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid).
Buckle up, gang. It’s going to be one hell of ride, and the GOP is hoping to inflict as much pain as possible on anyone who didn’t vote for them.
Now that Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has finally been elected Speaker of the House, what will become of the breakaway faction of Republicans who refused to support him and made the entire GOP caucus look like a clown car for 96 hours?
According to a former Republican strategist, members of Congress such as Reps. Lauren Boebert (CO) and Matt Gaetz (FL) can expect to pay a heavy price that may contribute to them not getting reelected in 2024.
Conservative campaign consultant Alice Stewart said Saturday on CNN that the first punishment for renegade members who wouldn’t support McCarthy will be less prestigious committee assignments.
“I don’t think there’s going to be as much under the Christmas tree for them in that regard as they seem to think. Speaking with a lot of members of the rational Republican group throughout the weekend, specifically late into the night last night, they were frustrated. They were angry. They felt this was completely unnecessary given the fact that every concession they had requested had been met and this was not a matter of policy, this was just about personality conflicts with Kevin McCarthy.”
She added:
“Here these people have gone in day-in and day-out for all the right reasons for the party and for policies, and you have people like [Rep. Matt] Gaetz and [Rep. Lauren] Boebert who are in a vanity project to raise money for the future. They do have the opportunity to decide who gets on which committee and where and, I can guarantee you, Alex, that they’re going to be quite selective in who gets on which committee.
“Certainly Matt Gaetz has his eye on the prize for a key committee assignment, but they’re going to be in for a rude awakening because their colleagues are frustrated with the fact that they have a job to do.”
If indeed Boebert and Gaetz do lose in the next election, all of the chaos they’ve cause might just have been worthwhile. And the fewer Republicans there are in Congress, the better off the country will be.
On Friday evening, minutes after Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) had again denied House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA) the votes he needed in order to be elected Speaker of the House, another GOP congressman confronted Gaetz and had to be physically restrained, according to Mediaite.
With one vote to decide McCarthy’s fate, Gaetz could not bring himself to vote for the GOP leader after having spent all of two months campaigning for someone else to lead the 118th Congress.
Gaetz left the room when his name was called the first time around, and when he had a chance to vote for McCarthy when his name was called again, he shouted, “Present!”
The vote denied the California Republican the gavel and the GOP side of the House floor devolved into chaos. McCarthy charged up an aisle where he confronted Gaetz. The two exchanged words for several moments before McCarthy walked away.
McCarthy was finally elected Speaker on the 15th ballot, which suggests he will be the weakest House leader since the Civil War.
After video of Rogers confronting Gaetz hit social media, comments proliferated regarding what had just transpired.
The insanity on the floor of the House illustrate it once again: Republicans are incapable and unworthy of governing. They don't belong in power.
A male staffer for the 2022 Herschel Walker Senate campaign says that CPAC chairman and longtime conservative activist Matt Schlapp sexually assaulted him as he was driving Schlapp back from a bar in October.
The Daily Beast reports that Schlapp is accused of groping and fondling the staffer’s crotch.
The staffer described Schlapp, who had traveled to Georgia for a Walker campaign event, as inappropriately and repeatedly intruding into his personal space at the bars. He said he was also keenly aware of his “power dynamic” with Schlapp, widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in national conservative politics.
Schlapp, the staffer recalled, said he had wanted to spend the evening discussing the staffer’s professional future.
“It was a public space, and I was thinking that he got the hint. I did not want to embarrass him,” he said. “But it escalated.”
The staffer, who is in his thirties, recalled the incident in great detail.
Schlapp put his hand on his leg, then reached over and “fondled” his crotch at length while he was frozen in shock, calling it “scarring” and “humiliating.” When they arrived at the hotel, the staffer said Schlapp invited him to his room. The staffer said he declined and left “as quickly as I could.”
He informed the campaign about the incident the next morning.
When the staffer got home that night, he received a call from Schlapp—shortly after midnight, according to call records the staffer shared with The Daily Beast—to confirm that the staffer would still chauffeur him to an event in Macon the next day. The staffer described the call as “short and perfunctory,” but after confirming he would drive him, the staffer “broke down.” He then recorded a series of tearful video accounts detailing the evening, which he shared with The Daily Beast as well as with two people close to him, including the staffer’s wife.
In one of the videos he recorded, the staffer says:
“Matt Schlapp of the CPAC grabbed my junk and pummeled it at length, and I’m sitting there thinking what the hell is going on, that this person is literally doing this to me.
“From the bar to the Hilton Garden Inn, he has his hands on me. And I feel so fucking dirty. I feel so fucking dirty.
“I’m supposed to pick this motherfucker up in the morning and just pretend like nothing happened. This is what I’m dealing with. This is what I got to do.”
The staffer also sent Schlapp a text message to let him know someone else would be driving him in the morning.
“I did want to say I was uncomfortable with what happened last night. The campaign does have a driver who is available to get you to Macon and back to the airport.”
Schlapp replied with texts of his own that sound like something from a lovesick teen:
“Pls give me a call.”
“If you could see it in your heart to call me at the end of day. I would appreciate it. If not I wish you luck on the campaign and hope you keep up the good work.”
A attorney for Schlapp denied the allegations, “This appears to be now the twelfth Daily Beast piece with personal attacks on Matt Schlapp and his family. The attack is false and Mr. Schlapp denies any improper behavior. We are evaluating legal options for response.”