(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Josh Marshall Is Correct. House Speakership Debacle Shows Election Denialism Has Rotted The GOP. [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-14 Josh Marshall has zeroed in on another “norm” that Republicans — especially House Republicans — have shattered or shredded. Basically, majority rule and elections are for suckers. In the not so distant past, a vote among members of a caucus was BINDING. Democrats still practice this basic norm or principle. But election denialism has infected the House GOP, and caucus votes are no longer binding. And it is something that most of the media is simply refusing to see. I had a conversation this evening that allowed me to clarify some of my own thinking about these developments. After Scalise won the caucus Speakership vote you had a slow trickle of members saying “I’m still for Jim Jordan.” Then later you had news reports asking, “Can Steve Scalise get to 217?” There’s a category, conceptual breakdown here that is kind of hiding in plain view. What do these members mean they’re still for Jim Jordan? He lost. It’s over. Scalise is the Republican Speaker candidate. End of story. Hopefully it’s clear that I’m not making a case for Steve Scalise. I’m certainly not making a case for Jim Jordan. But there’s an elemental breakdown here that transcends the individuals involved. Participating in a majority organizational vote means, if sometimes only implicitly, abiding by its results. The caucus vote wasn’t a straw poll or an advisory opinion. It’s binding. It’s over. And yet it was treated as basically a given, in the GOP caucus and in the press coverage, that Scalise, having won the vote, then had to build from the 113 he got in the caucus vote to 217. You’re probably saying: We know this Josh. They’re a mess. But we know this. But I think that’s only a measure of how much this has been normalized when it’s actually completely abnormal. The literal definition of a caucus in American political usage is a defined group that collectively decides on actions by majority vote and then acts in unison in a parliamentary context. Anyone ever hear of a Democratic caucus not supporting their leaders after a vote was taken? Yes, there were lots of gripes and throwing of fits in closed door meetings, and word would leak that congressman or senator X attacked the current leaders. Or there would be posturing before the caucus meeting. But once the vote happened, Democrats accepted the results. But now, Republicans whose leading candidate loses in a closed door meeting can keep on fighting this on the House floor. Look at what has happened. Most of the GOP caucus wanted McCarthy, but a few rebels who refuse to accept caucus votes prevented McCarthy from becoming speaker in January. To gain the position, McCarthy had to give in and fritter away his power to the nihilists in the GOP who simply cannot accept caucus votes that they lose. Then, the same nihilist were able to decapitate McCarthy when he tried to make a deal with Democrats on some bipartisan legislation. This has NEVER happened before in the House, but the media still clings to the fiction that it is Democrats who are the party of disarray. However, the House GOP is not done yet showing the rest of us how broken they really are. The caucus election denialism has now been embraced by others outside of the nihilist group led by Matt Gaetz. Scalise wins the nomination, but Jordan and his supporters insist that Scalise has one chance to get all the caucus behind him before going to the House floor. After that, Scalise must endorse Jordan and his supporters have to fall in line! That’s not the way that speaker elections are supposed to be held. What we see is that election denialism is now present among the House GOP caucus. And if you don’t believe that, look at what happened to Scalise. Both McCarthy and his supporters and Jordan’s refused to back Scalise in a floor vote. It’s one thing for election deniers to say that the opposition party cheated. But now, elections don’t matter among their own group. And now the House ring leader for election denialism, Jordan, will get GOP caucus election denialism shoved down his throat. Jordan needs 65 votes to become speaker, and I don’t think those 55 who voted against Jordan on the second ballot during the caucus meeting are going to change their minds. If the nihilists can be inflexible, why can’t those other 55 members do the same? As many others have stated time and again, House Republicans are dealing with a power dynamic they created with their rules that empower the tyranny of the minority. Eventually, others were bound to use those rules for all kinds of shitty reasons. The accelerant for the current political fire in the House GOP is the acceptance that democracy does not matter. Elections are for chumps, and only a fool would accept losing. And this goes for elections within the Republican Party. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/14/2199392/-Josh-Marshall-Is-Correct-House-Speakership-Debacle-Shows-Election-Denialism-Has-Rotted-The-GOP?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/