CHRIS CRUCIAL: The ongoing Republican 💩 Show

PLUS: Democrats' dumb AOC move

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1. The GOP’s Circular Firing Squad 🔫

(AI Image created by Grok)

Doing little to reassure, well, anyone, that they are ready, willing and able to lead the country come 2025, Congressional Republicans are currently engaging in a circular firing squad as they try to pass a bill to fund the government before Friday.

Speaker Mike Johnson spent much of the past 96 hours assuring his colleagues that really, really soon — like any minute now — they would get to see the 1,500+ page bill that would keep the government open until March.

When he finally unveiled the bill on Tuesday night, he probably wished he hadn’t. It was met with immediate resistance from lots and lots of places within the GOP.

There were the usual suspects — deficit hawks who demand that this sort of spending be matched with offsetting cuts.

“[My] Republican colleagues who would rather run over their own mother with a car than cut spending,” Kentucky Rep. Tom Massie said. (Massie has also said he will oppose the renomination of Johnson as Speaker next year.)

Which Johnson could have withstood. Those folks are NEVER happy about any government spending. And a fair number of Democrats would have voted for the legislation — allowing Johnson to lose a few Republicans.

Enter Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, who is also a close (but informal) adviser to the incoming president and owns the political town square (X).

Musk began his assault on the bill with this tweet:

And he has kept up the drumbeat — to his 207.7 million X followers — over the past 24 hours.

Donald Trump Jr. got in on the act on Wednesday afternoon — citing a provision in the bill that allegedly would block subpoenas of House data.

The rout was on by Wednesday night, with Trump himself telling Fox News’ Lawrence Jones III that he is “totally against” the legislation as proposed.

Quick reminder here: The federal government will shutdown on Friday night if Congress doesn’t act. And NONE of these elected officials want to spend Christmas week negotiating a way to re-open the government.

Johnson and his allies in GOP leadership are trying to find some way out. My guess is that they do — mostly because, well, NONE of these elected officials want to spend Christmas week negotiating a way to re-open the government. (Best option? A “clean CR” — meaning they simply extend funding at last year’s level with no additional spending or changes.)

But the very fact that the House Republican majority can’t pass a piece of legislation to keep the government open until Trump takes office is, uh, worrisome. As is the fact that outside actors empowered by Trump — led by Musk but also including former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy — are exerting their influence to pressure GOP lawmakers into doing what they want.

This episode (further) raises questions about Johnson’s ability to lead the GOP in the 119th Congress. While Massie is the only GOPer to come out publicly against returning Johnson to the Speakership, it seems unlikely he will be alone in that stance come January. (Read Paul Kane on whether Johnson can survive.)

But, even if Johnson does get reelected as Speaker….to what end? What this episode has proven is a) Johnson doesn’t have a good barometer on his conference and b) Musk, Trump Jr. and Ramaswamy — among others — have more influence within the GOP hive-mind than he does.

And, to be clear, I don’t think that is unique to Johnson! Is is possible a Speaker Jim Jordan, a decidedly Trump-y sort, might have a bit more success? I mean, maybe? But even Jordan wouldn’t be able to fix the fissures within the party,

It’s a very, very tough situation for Republicans — and further proof that winning is one thing while governing is quite another.

2. Democrats’ short-sighted move

(AI image created via Grok)

Earlier this week, House Democrats chose Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly over New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as the highest ranking member of the Oversight Committee.

This was a colossally dumb move, politically speaking.

Here were Democrats’ options:

a) A 35-year old, Latino woman who has repeatedly shown her ability to perform under the brightest possible lights and, not for nothing, is a beloved figure among young people and the left. And did I mention she is a prolific fundraiser?

b) A 74-year old white man who was diagnosed with esophageal cancer last month.

Like, what?

I mean, I get how it happened. Connolly has seniority, which matters — still — in Congress. He also had Nancy Pelosi’s support, which matters — still — in Congress.

But on its face this looks like a massive missed opportunity for the party to elevate one of its bright young stars to a role where she would have been a high-profile foil to incoming president Donald Trump.

And, honestly, the reasons given — always without names attached to them — for not choosing AOC convince me that some large part of Democratic elected officials simply (still) do not get it.

She’s too liberal! She’s too much of a lightning rod! She’s not loyal enough!

This is an insane argument to make in the face of the party’s defeat in 2024 at the hands of a candidate who is wildly unpredictable, attracts massive amounts of attention (mostly negative) and is incredibly disloyal!

People — Democrats, Republicans and independents — want elected officials who SEE them. Who fight for them. Who seem real. AOC, like Donald Trump, is perceived to be one of those people.

I loved the nomination speech that New York Rep. Pat Ryan delivered for Ocasio-Cortez in her ultimately unsuccessful bid to be the top Democrat on Oversight. It’s worth reading the whole thing.

3. Joe Biden’s final presidential days

(AI image created by Grok)

The New York Times published a deeply researched piece on President Joe Biden’s final days in the White House — and it is, well, a tough read.

Here’s the key bit (bolding is mine):

It was a long day in Angola. President Biden had already visited a port facility bracketed with cranes and toured a factory filled with conveyor belts. So by the time he sat down at a large wooden circular table in a warm, stuffy room with African leaders, he put his head in his hand and briefly closed his eyes as the speeches droned on.

Flying across the world would have tired even a president younger than 82. But the point, as he saw it, was that he came. He traveled thousands of miles to highlight a new U.S.-backed railway that could transform the economies of Africa and supply resources for America. He came. He did not have to. He insisted on it and was proud to be the first president to come.

This is the twilight of Mr. Biden’s presidency, the final days of the final chapter of an epic half-century political journey that has had more than its share of twists and turns. Time is catching up with Mr. Biden. He looks a little older and a little slower with each passing day. Aides say he remains plenty sharp in the Situation Room, calling world leaders to broker a cease-fire in Lebanon or deal with the chaos of Syria’s rebellion. But it is hard to imagine that he seriously thought he could do the world’s most stressful job for another four years.

I feel the same way. How the heck did Biden — and those around him — not realize that the rigors of running for president again much less being president again were well beyond his capacity?

It seems crazy to me.

As I noted earlier this week, the end of the Biden presidency hasn’t occasioned any bump in positive sentiment for him. Quite the opposite, actually.

In the 538 running average of Biden approval, the president now stands at 36.7% — the lowest he has been at any point of his four years in office.

NOTABLE QUOTABLE

“They are salivating for the opportunity to prosecute journalists.” — Former Washington Post executive editor Marty Baron on the incoming Trump administration

ONE GOOD CHART

There are LOTS of different grocery stores. The same five-ish companies own ALL of them. (Via Flowing Data)

SONG OF THE DAY

Shout out to the always-excellent Amplifier newsletter at the New York Times for this terrific collab between Julien Baker and TORRES. It’s called “Sugar in the Tank.”

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