It’s time for recess, but clearly some House Republicans should have their outside time revoked.
1) House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is going to give himself whiplash with all the flipflopping he’s been doing. Back in June, McCarthy squashed Rep. Lauren Boebert’s impeachment temper tantrum. Then he suggested former President Trump wasn’t the “strongest” 2024 Republican presidential candidate. Then, he bent over backward in a cringe-inducing show of fealty to kiss the ring. Then, Politico reported that McCarthy made a secret pinky promise to Trump, that the House would vote to expunge his two impeachments, but McCarthy denies he made such a promise. Sure, Jan. Then this week, McCarthy claimed that House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer’s embarrassing performance was “rising to the level of impeachment inquiry.” Then just days later, McCarthy reportedly privately told his Caucus that they don’t have evidence to justify an impeachment inquiry. Oops.
2) Speaking of no evidence. The Comer/Grassley “my dad paid for this field, so I have to play” team was at work again. Completely ignoring federal law enforcement, Senator Chuck Grassley followed through on his obsession with publishing an FD-1023 form that contains unverified information, which led even one of his former staffers to express disappointment in the Senator. Flashback to when Grassley said Republicans did not care if the accusations in the form were true or not, they just wanted to publish them.
3) A more productive use of Grassley’s time might be helping Comer’s committee find UFOs. First, Comer admitted he didn’t know much about what his subcommittee Members were up to with their search for aliens. He’s clearly been too busy touting an alleged arms trafficker as a credible witness. Then, Rep. Tim Burchett who was doing all of the group project work said he was “upset” because Comer put the subcommittee Chair Glenn Grothman in charge of the hearing instead of him. Turns out even in Congress group projects are a bust.
4) Which brings us to the most dramatic group in Congress this session, the House Freedom Caucus. After kicking out one of its arguably most vocal and MAGA far-right members, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Freedom Caucus apparently still isn’t hardcore enough for some. There’s a new obstructionist group in town called The Twenty, which includes, you guessed it, insurrectionist Ken himself Rep. Matt Gaetz. They reportedly don’t take votes on what their official policy positions should be, they just make a scene. Who knew the Corrupt Bargain would result in The Twenty turning the U.S. House into its own Mojo Dojo Casa House.
5) Last, but certainly not least, in a move that surprised absolutely no one, Rep. Paul Gosar was caught sharing a link to a website that previously posted content denying the Holocaust…again. ICYMI, in May, Talking Points Memo wrote that Gosar’s digital director is a prominent follower of white nationalist Nick Fuentes. Clearly, it’s past time for Speaker McCarthy to look inward and at his own Conference.