(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Washington Post: While we wait for the vote for the Speakership, what about the line of succession? [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']
Date: 2023-01-05
The circus in the House has been entertaining for some, from all appearances (comments by media personalities, opinion pages, etc). But the Washington Post, in an otherwise somewhat bemusing framing of the situation as a living exercise in existential philosophy (“Does the House even exist right now?”), reminds us of this salient point:
This purgatory has left a hole in the presidential line of succession: The speaker is second in line, after the vice president. The House, unable to organize itself, can’t participate in the sharing of national security intelligence with the White House.
This is obviously a security flaw.
Does anyone else see this as . . . a hazard?
Truth be told, I never would have thought twice about this very pedestrian fact / fluke of our parliamentary system. But in another diary someone reminded the readership that the anniversary of January 6 is on the horizon. The group holding Kevin McCarthy’s feet to the fire is comprised of the same co-conspirators of Trump’s original self-coup.
This whole situation is odd, as we haven’t been in these waters Congressionally speaking since antebellum days. So it’s difficult to get a true bead on the situation, even though it’s unfolding live. Lots going on behind the scenes necessarily as the horse-trading (hostage-taking?) goes back and forth. It’s interesting for the novelty factor, if nothing else.
Novelty can be a distractor, though, as is the case with most circuses.
As it turns out, Trump weighed in to intensify McCarthy’s humiliation precisely by calling attention to it, while Mike Pence for his measure has thrown his weight from afar behind the nomination. How does that change the dynamics, if at all? Might we see a resolution to this impasse sooner than later?
The biggest problem I see here is that there is no incentive structure or provision for someone to be responsible. The Post article deftly notes that the “House [is] a headless body.”
Without House members able to receive classified information in this interim, I would think it would be most prudent to wrap this up by tomorrow. Just in general, you would want people who normally would receive these transmissions to be able to dip back into that flow at a timely juncture.
erstwhile Ichabod Crane fan Majorie Taylor Greene (GA-14)
Either way, I see Friday as a media day for the oxymoronic Freedom Caucus. They’ll be mugging the spotlight, no matter what. MTG is starting to get steamed, though. Who knows what will happen if she’s denied her chance to spring like a Crossfit jack-in-the-box? All this time she’s been waiting to come out of her enforced exile from any committees. McCarthy was even planning to eke out a brand new leadership position for her. (!!)
I must say, we live in historic times. We are in a moment of inherent uncertainty. No one knows how this will play out.
“[I]f there are no actual members,” the Washington Post article asks, “who is in charge on this side of the Capitol?”
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/5/2145469/-Washington-Post-While-we-wait-for-the-vote-for-the-Speakership-what-about-the-line-of-succession
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/
