With House of Representative members taking the Thanksgiving holidays off, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is the recipient of a brief reprieve as his honeymoon following his election to replace Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) appears to have come to an end.
Speaking with MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart, analyst Kurt Bardella agreed that not only is the newly elected speaker on "thin ice," that will be a continual state of affairs for him and those who follow him because anyone could also meet McCarthy's fate.
Discussing Johnson pushing through a temporary budget deal with the help of Democrats, Bardella suggested Johnson made a mistake by leaving in place the "trigger' that unsurprisingly doomed McCarthy's speakership.
"'The speaker is on thin ice" might as well be the ongoing theme song of the speaker of the House under Republican rule," Bardella stated. "It is never going to change as long as they keep this ridiculous and insane trigger of a handful of guys who can say, 'We don't like what you're doing here, you're out.'"
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With host Capehart pointing out, "It just takes one with the motion to vacate," Bardella exclaimed, "How that wasn't the first order of business for the new speaker to say, 'Okay, if I'm going to take this terrible job, I'm changing that rule right now'?"
"Why would anyone accept this job under such a terrible condition of having a one-vote guy saying, 'You know what? I don't like you, you are out' — this is insane!"
"And nothing has changed from when Kevin McCarthy was speaker to where we are now in terms of the dynamics in the caucus when it comes to these shutdown showdowns," he explained. "They feel the same way. They aren't happy just passing this two-tiered approach. And let's be clear here: they couldn't get the job done when there was just one deadline. Why does anyone think they can do it when there is two?"
Watch below or at the link:
MSNBC 11 18 2023 09 11 39youtu.be
