@TwShiloh I don't think Jeffries would agree to the committee assignments that moderate Republicans would require for that vote.

That Jeffries voted to oust McCarthy and close the House shows that he's not particularly interested in working with moderate Republicans.

I imagine his own caucus would refuse to accept that arrangement, as they'd lose power they think they'd deserve.

@volkris Gotta break the MAGA stranglehold on the Republic somehow...Legitimizing insurrectionists in the hopes they'll govern seems counter to evidence and history.

@TwShiloh sure, but that's a pretty tall order when the entire Democratic voting block is supporting the stranglehold.

Republicans voted overwhelmingly to marginalize the MAGA faction, but at the moment they just don't have the votes to overcome Democratic backing of the extremists.

Until there's a new election and we can replace some of these politicians, we are stuck with this unfortunate math.

@volkris

"Republicans voted overwhelmingly to marginalize the MAGA faction"

What?

"overcome Democratic backing of the extremists."

I'm not sure you're using the word "extremist" correctly.

@TwShiloh

Here, for example. A vote of 208 to 11 is a pretty decisive rejection of the extremists in my book.

https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2023518?Page=2

@volkris We have very different definitions of "extremist".

But, using your definition, it appears there's been a LOT of backsliding as Republicans coalesce around Jordan. They could pick a moderate candidate (McCarthy was not moderate...at all. He just wasn't totally insane). They could be willing to negotiate with Democrats. They choose not to...to defer to the very folks you say are extremists.

@TwShiloh again, that's not a practical option because Democrats would refuse to negotiate.

I see zero chance that Democrats would allow Republicans to hold committee power in exchange for a Democrat speaker.

So long as Democrats wouldn't make that deal, Republicans wouldn't go that direction, and so it's just a non-starter.

Remember, the House is not controlled by just a Speaker, but under the rules of the House there's a whole set of offices that matter a whole lot.

So given those realities, moderates don't have the numbers to pick a moderate candidate. So long as Democrats are effectively blocking a moderate candidate, they're stuck with this.

@volkris I just disagree with that assessment.

Why not let the Republicans put forth a moderate candidate...If you only had 11 crazy Republicans hold out (which seems to be your theory that there's just a handful of extremists), I bet pressure to negotiate on the Democrats would be intense.

But the truth is there just isn't much support on the Republican side for a moderate (maybe 2 dozen votes? 3 dozen?). The rest are stuck in MAGA.

@TwShiloh but we don't have to guess, we can look at the voting rolls and see that hundreds of GOP representatives voted against the MAGA members.

Political reality is that Democrats control the narrative here, so they don't feel any pressure to negotiate.

I mean just look around social media at the number of people who say Republicans shut down the House.

Democrats don't feel any pressure because they correctly know the American public doesn't really understand what's going on in the parliamentary procedure.

Heck, How many Americans can even name the majority leader? Americans just aren't very aware of the details of how the government works.

@volkris I think we have to agree to disagree. One vote doesn't constitutes a rejection of MAGA at all (especially given all the extremist rhetoric and votes the HAVE made...Including by McCarthy). The idea that somehow the Democrats (minority party) should take the primary blame/responsibility for Republicans not being able to achieve their agenda is...a novel one.

Have a nice day

@TwShiloh I don't claim Democrats should take the primary blame/responsibility for Republicans not being able to achieve their agenda, though.

That's obviously not the case.

BUT Democrats do stand to be held responsible for the votes that they submitted especially because those votes were part of a larger political strategy.

Maybe a person likes the position the House is in, likes it being shut down. Maybe a person even thinks it's better to have it shut down to avoid evil GOP action.

Either way, we need to hold Democratic and Republican representatives accountable for each vote that they make.

Personally I do go a step farther and blame them for what might come next, but at the least we need to state clearly what they directly voted for.