David AtkinsJan 4, 2023

This is all very amusing, but none of this chaos will have any effect on voters next November. Nobody will care or remember.

The test of whether the Chaos Caucus succeeds in its objectives will be if it extracts concessions with minimal punishment from GOP party honchos. /1

Show threadDavid AtkinsJan 4, 2023
If House progressives did anything close to this, cable news hosts would excoriate them, and leadership would make sure no one involved ever got a committee spot or job or any position in politics ever again. Any dirty laundry would be exposed. It would be scorched earth. /2
Show threadDavid AtkinsJan 4, 2023

It's not as if Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert aren't vulnerable if Fox News and GOP leaders wanted to destroy them. They just choose not to. In spite of all this.

And so far, I think Gaetz and Boebert are going to get what they want here, with minimal consequences. /3

Show threadDavid AtkinsJan 4, 2023

McCarthy won't be Speaker. Whoever becomes Speaker will probably be far more beholden to the Nihilists than McCarthy.

And much as Dems seem to think this all makes the GOP look ineffective/extreme/etc, I don't think voters will care one whit or remember come November. /4

Show threadDavid AtkinsJan 4, 2023
It's just interesting to see how power is wielded between the two parties, who gets punished for doing what, and the difference between what each party's leaders see as the electoral repercussions of infighting. /5
Show threadDavid AtkinsJan 4, 2023
To put it mildly, I think the House Progressive Caucus has a much better claim to electoral popularity and basic moral righteousness than the GOP Nihilist Caucus does. And yet they would face 100 times the punishment for this sort of behavior. Make of it what you will. /end
Show threadenmodo ⚛️ 🧬 🇺🇦 🍉

@DavidOAtkins the difference is destroying government is the prime directive of the GOP - drown it in a bath tub. So making it as dysfunctional as possible fits right in. To them it's just another way to get government shutdown.

I'd like to see Dems punking them by unanimously voting for alternate most moderate Rs they can find who are anti-insurrectionist and anti-chaos eg. Kenzinger. Get publicity for taking the lead in this shit-show. They do after all have almost as many votes.

Jan 5, 2023 at 5:22pmWeb