Sam SpeedJan 4, 2023
Tony Stark

A kakistocracy is a government run by the worst, least qualified, or most unscrupulous citizens.

The Republican Party has spent decades destroying the competence, character, principles, morals, ethics, and reliability of our government, which is really supposed to be there to do the people's work.

Kevin McCarthy, the great Republican empty suit with nary a thought in his mind, desperately seeks the Speakership and wants to be Lord of the GOP House Flies.

If Republicans bring this much chaos to even electing a speaker, they cannot be counted on to fulfill the body’s basic responsibilities let alone the more complex tasks. Kevin McCarthy has already promised to refuse to fulfill the body's basic responsibilities. He and his supporters seek to disrupt and defame, not govern.

This is what happens you vote Republican.

The real reason the chaos in the House should scare us-
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2023/1/4/23537063/kevin-mccarthy-house-speaker-debt-ceiling

Kevin McCarthy’s speaker election struggles point toward a chaotic House year

Can this Congress actually pass a debt ceiling increase?

Vox
Jan 4, 2023 at 5:04pmWeb
Show threadIjio NanoJan 4, 2023
@TonyStark You'd think Americans would have learned by now. We sure haven't. Why do we keep voting these clowns into office?
Show threadOtownKimJan 4, 2023
@Ijio @TonyStark In Florida DeathSantis gerrymandered so much we are doomed!
Show threadGrandpa DonJan 5, 2023
@Ijio because roughly 20% of Americans are deplorables, and another 30% are fools
Show threadTergenev has movedJan 4, 2023
@TonyStark Hee hee hee . . . “Lord of the House flies”
Show threadtoxtethogradyJan 9, 2023
@Tergenev @TonyStark
Mike Pence wants his pet fly back...
Show threadPepper PottsJan 4, 2023

@TonyStark
McCarthy does not have the leadership skills or intellectual skills to be Speaker of the House.

He’s not respected. His attempts to make a deal with Republican radicals demonstrate his inability to be respected for his leadership. They can’t keep the loopy Freedom Caucus in line. They can’t govern.

Show threadNlroundaboutJan 4, 2023
@Pepper @TonyStark I don’t think intellect is high on the GOP priority list.
Show threadNasty NanaJan 4, 2023

@roundabout

Neither is logic.

Show threadJazzyGirlJan 4, 2023
@Pepper @TonyStark plus, they’re psycho perverts
Show threadNasty NanaJan 4, 2023

@Pepper

OTOH, when Nancy Pelosi faced a similar challenge two years ago, she had the skill and strength to come to a consensus within her caucus and avoid an unseemly airing of dirty laundry on the House floor. Just sayin'

Show threadPepper PottsJan 5, 2023

@nastynana16 You are right.

She knew how to bring people along, how to herd the cats and keep business moving forward.

Show threadUnixornJan 6, 2023

@nastynana16 @Pepper

I don't want McCarthy as Speaker, and by no means am I putting down Pelosi's skill at building a consensus, but she was dealing with people way less batshit than the MAGA traitors blocking the Speaker votes.

Show threadNasty NanaJan 6, 2023

@unixorn @Pepper

And she has the spine McCarthy lacks that would allow her to stand up to those lunatics and neutralize their impact.

Show threadaheffneJan 6, 2023
@nastynana16 @Pepper but then, Nancy has brains and class, two things sadly in very low supply in the GQP
Show threadtoxtethogradyJan 9, 2023
@nastynana16 @Pepper And they ran over the Republicans again and again. (Mitch, too)
Show threadtoxtethogradyJan 9, 2023
@Pepper But we can watch him fail again and again...
Show threadStatmonkey 🙊Jan 4, 2023

@TonyStark Sadly those who need to read this will never make the effort. They just don't care enough. They scream about all politicians being "bad."

I usually respond that all take the side that doesn't want to take away my social security and Medicare.

Show threadTony StarkJan 4, 2023
@statmonkey Probably true but I like talking to people who share my views like yourself. I think sometimes these exchanges can help others with talking points and they do keep me going when I’m out doing the more up close GOTV work.
Show threadStatmonkey 🙊Jan 5, 2023
@TonyStark I agree it's reaffirming. Sanity is in short supply in Arkansas
Show threadauchterturraJan 4, 2023

@TonyStark

Sounds like @conservatives to me.

Show threadkimJan 4, 2023

@TonyStark

UK: hold my beer!

Show threadTed_CvilleJan 4, 2023
@TonyStark Perfect. Exactly the point.
Show threadVox PopuliJan 4, 2023

@TonyStark 100%

The GOP chaos is terrifying to me & should be to everyone else. With the far right loonies obstructing at every turn, there can be no compromise. Government will screech to a halt.

Show threadLitzz11Jan 4, 2023
@vox_n_thecosmos @TonyStark This is their idea of “governing.”
Show threadSocialistStanJan 4, 2023
@TonyStark The government is a handful of oligarchs, it has nothing to do with the people.
Show threadHeimdall Jan 4, 2023

@TonyStark

In a better world, moderates in the Republican Party (if there are any of those left) would see this as an opportunity to leave the extremists high-and-dry by forming a coalition-of-the-reasonable with the Democrats.
.
That would do so much to heal America and to preserve democracy but I don’t expect it because, well, you can imagine.

Show threadJeffJan 4, 2023
@Heimdall @TonyStark time for a dual
Show threadDavePerrino ✅Jan 4, 2023
@Heimdall @TonyStark …there are none left.
Show threadWoodchazJan 5, 2023
@Heimdall @TonyStark
They already screwed themselves by not ending this BS sooner. Now if they try they just get primaried by someone crazier.
They don't really have any ideology except money and power for themselves. Most of them would probably claim to be communists if they thought it would achieve that.
Show threadOyVeidtJan 5, 2023
@Heimdall @TonyStark There is no such thing as a “moderate” Republican. They’re. Nazis.
Show threadMJ MuseJan 5, 2023
@Heimdall @TonyStark Moderate Repugnants had Trump handed to them to dispose of on a silver platter from the impeachment hearings. They bent over for Orange Mussolini. I don't see any of them jumping the Fascism ship now . They have zero integrity.
Show threadMeidasRomiJan 4, 2023
@TonyStark he does not need any help to be speaker from democrats. Ever. Not even after 133 rounds.
Show threadTony StarkJan 4, 2023
@MeidasRomi He won’t get any, either.
Show threadDennis DunbarJan 4, 2023
@TonyStark
When they want to take down government we need to understand this means ceding power to the giant corporations and the .01%.
Show threadDavid Rasmussen, aka RasamotoJan 4, 2023

@TonyStark House leadership has been determined by money (donors) since LBJ.

This current situation makes sense given the nihilism of libertarian donors. If authoritarian regimes finance Republicans, that would also make sense as US ineffectiveness benefits them. Though technically illegal, I'm not sure policing of finance is effective given Citizens United.

Someone likes McCarthy. His attribute is money (donors). But, perhaps, money (donors) are happy with failed US governance.

Show threadNihil CuritsJan 4, 2023
@TonyStark The same is true of the UK Conservative Party https://www.newsroom.co.nz/ideasroom/a-new-dawn-of-the-worst-and-most-injurious
A new dawn of the worst and most injurious

Informed commentary and debate on current affairs from New Zealand's top academics.

Newsroom
Show threadBellison22Jan 4, 2023
@TonyStark AMEN
Show threadStan FletcherJan 5, 2023
@TonyStark @stevesilberman Although it probably started before Reagan, he’s the one who famously uttered these fateful words during his inauguration: "Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem."
Show threadSteve SilbermanJan 5, 2023
@IrwinFletcher0 @TonyStark My husband @WardQNormal cites that Reagan quote as the beginning of the end.
Show threadStan FletcherJan 5, 2023
@stevesilberman @TonyStark @WardQNormal I cannot disagree with that.
Show threadJohn Philpin Ⓜ️Jan 5, 2023

@IrwinFletcher0 @TonyStark @stevesilberman

> "he’s the one who famously uttered"

... but probably not the one who wrote them.

Show threadAdam 🐭Jan 5, 2023

@TonyStark @stevesilberman

#funfact #kakistocracy is derived from two Greek words, kakistos (κάκιστος; worst) and kratos (κράτος; rule).

Kakistos is the superlative of κακός (kakós), “bad, evil, wicked”, which - in all probability - is etymologically connected with Proto-Indo-European root kakka, "to defecate”.

The following also seems relevant when considering Republican government:

Σκῶρ ἀείνων, “ever-flowing shit” (Aristophanes, Frogs, 145-6)

ὁ τῆς διαροίας ποταμὸς, “river of diarrhea” (Aristophanes, Fr. 150.3)

https://sententiaeantiquae.com/2017/02/27/ancient-greek-words-for-excrement/

Ancient Greek Words for Excrement

These may or may not be useful in your daily life Σκῶρ ἀείνων, “ever-flowing shit” (Aristophanes, Frogs, 145-6) ὁ τῆς διαροίας ποταμὸς, “river of diarrhea” (Aristophanes, Fr. 150.3) &nb…

SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Show threadJeffJan 5, 2023
@TonyStark worst congress ever
Show threadBeardo The Bearded OdalisqueJan 5, 2023
@TonyStark when talking about recent Republican policy and action a common phrase is, "The cruelty is the point".
What if this is similar? The chaos is the point. There is a portion of the GOP that don't want to legislate, they want to rule. If they break the legislature, where does that leave any of the system? The GOP "majority" can claim whatever rules they want if they throw the game board on the floor and declare we have to play a new game where they make the rules by themselves.
Show threadTony StarkJan 5, 2023
@Bearded_Odalisque Breaking it is definitely their goal.
Show threadkwhJan 5, 2023

@Bearded_Odalisque @TonyStark that is absolutely the case. The Trump corporate tax cuts already set up a budget bomb that will blow up in the next term or two.

I have never been a subscriber to conspiracy theories but it’s increasingly obvious that we have a modern Business Plot that has been successful without a Smedley Butler.

Show threadkwhJan 5, 2023
@Bearded_Odalisque @TonyStark the fact that Leonard Leo got $1.6 billion from an anonymous donor is a major clue.
Show threadEl PresidenteJan 5, 2023

@Bearded_Odalisque @TonyStark they'll happily burn the country down so they can rule the ash heap.

They are a clear and present danger to liberty, and the country, and must be treated as such.

Show threadOops3Jan 5, 2023
@Bearded_Odalisque @ [email protected] It also appears they’re desperate for power(Freedom Caucus). but not willing to work. No responsibility. No agenda for the people to actually work on. And absolute crybabies
Show threadDidiQJan 5, 2023
@TonyStark You caused me to do a little research on kakistocracy. It’s amazing how frequently that word was used in reference to Trump’s presidency (governed by the worst). Of course, it’s also used to describe Putin, Bolsonaro, and others.
Show threadTony StarkJan 5, 2023
@DidiQ That’s why they put up such bad candidates. Destroy from within.
Show threadStatmonkey 🙊Jan 6, 2023
@DidiQ @TonyStark
That sounds like a group that deserves each other.
Show threadAgentCarter    💙💛Jan 5, 2023
@TonyStark
Usually, we say, 'the cruelty is the point' when the GQP does anything. In this case, the chaos is the point.
I heard someone compare this to a DoS attack on our Democracy, and it feels apt.
Republiqans will continue to hold the House hostage in this manner as long as they can, because they see McCarthy as not cruel enough, not destructive enough, and not beneficial enough to their corporate donors.
Show threadTony StarkJan 5, 2023

@AgentCarter_SSR

The Republican Party has no legislative agenda except obstruction and revenge. What is their plan to deal with the border crisis? Climate change? Healthcare costs? Investigating Hunter Biden will not address any problem. He is already under investigation by the DOJ anyway.

Show threadLeaBugJan 5, 2023
@TonyStark @AgentCarter_SSR we're still waiting for the healthcare plan he promised in two weeks. 😂😂🤣🤣
Show threadTody MotmotJan 5, 2023

@AgentCarter_SSR

@TonyStark

Agree except for the part about corporate donors. Corporate is McConnell.

GOP is divided into the crazies, and the corporations that introduced culture wars and cruelty to control the crazies and make big money.

Corporate can no longer tolerate the crazies that they created because debt ceiling... If the crazies succeed in burning down the global economy and ruining America's for generations, it's not good for business.

Show threadTony StarkJan 5, 2023
@AgentCarter_SSR @todymotmot Corporate hasn’t yet figured out how to deal with the crazies because they need them to win. They tolerate them. Hoisted something by your own something, something.
Show threadTody MotmotJan 5, 2023

@TonyStark

@AgentCarter_SSR

Agree, if tolerate = not openly booting the crazies from the party. But behind the scenes they're doing everything they can to mitigate and control them, and have been trying since before the midterms.

I think we need to understand how different the two camps are, and recognize that's where the fracture is bursting open, even though they still outwardly pretend this tiger is a great ride.

McConnell's camp is NOT pushing the crazies to be crazier right now.

Show threadArtemis PersistsJan 6, 2023
@AgentCarter_SSR @TonyStark They thrive on chaos. It makes them feel powerful. What really frustrates me is that the people who voted for them didn’t seem to care about anything other than that the candidate had an R after their name.