The Circular Firing Squad of the Party formerly known as Republican is Getting Exponentially Ugly

It can’t happen here? It’s happening everywhere.

In the Senate came Tuesday’s conflict between a Senator and the General President of the Teamsters, via The Daily Beast:

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The drunken frat boy exchange began when Mullin read a trash talking tweet of O’Brien’s from June (yes, June).

“You want to run your mouth? We can be two consenting adults, we can finish it here," Mullin said.

"OK, that's fine, perfect," O'Brien replied. "I'd love to do it right now."

"Then stand your butt up then," Mullin said back.

"You stand your butt up," O'Brien said.

And that’s exactly what Sen. Mullin did. He shot out of his seat, puffed out his chest, and began to remove his wedding ring, and things looked for a hot second there like shit was about to go down. The staffers were wide-eyed and people were gasping and chaos ensued, until Bernie Sanders, the 82-year-old senator from Vermont, banged his gavel, and admonished his colleague by saying, “Sit down, you’re a United States Senator! Sit down!”

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One minute video of the exchange here.

Afterward, Senator Markwayne Mullin defended his threat of physical violence on performance artist Sean Hannity’s program as part of ‘Oklahoma values’. Mullin used to be a mixed martial artist fighter.

Why was Mullin mad at the guy? Because the Teamster chief posted this last June 21st.

Five months is a long time for a politician to bear a grudge towards a critic and I really don’t think being thin-skinned is an Oklahoma value.

Meanwhile, in the House, ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) allegedly delivered a kidney punch to one of the Crazy 8s who ousted him per Tim Burchett (R-TN):

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Burchett was so taken aback by what he later described to CNN as “a clean shot to the kidneys” that he yelled down the Capitol halls to a fleeing McCarthy, asking why he felt the need to assault him from behind. When dissatisfied with the former speaker’s non-answer, like a scene out of a Roadrunner episode of Looney Tunes, Burchett chased his alleged assailant down the hall until he got an answer, which Burchett said was a mumbled denial delivered with “that high pitched kind of thing.”

“Now he’s the type of guy that when you’re a kid would throw a rock over the fence and run home and hide behind his mama’s skirt,” Rep. Burchett added.

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Details of both fights here.


Politico weighed in too.

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Republicans cannot agree on basic policy priorities or even fund the government without a majority of Democratic votes. Individual lawmakers are going rogue on the House floor with theatrical efforts to censure colleagues and impeach members of the Biden administration. A growing number of lawmakers are choosing to retire because they feel it’s impossible to get anything done.

Amid months of intra-GOP drama, this week stands out: Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy was accused of kidney-punching one of his detractors. House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) lashed out at a Democratic colleague, calling him a “liar” and a “smurf.” Then on Wednesday, conservatives blocked another GOP spending bill, forcing Speaker Mike Johnson to send members home early on a losing note.

Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.), who compared Republicans’ infighting to grade school bullying, said Johnson was doing his best with the party’s slim margins, but the party is still a mess.

“It’s the same clown car with a different driver,” Armstrong said. And unless the GOP could figure out a way to regain control of the floor, he warned: “We essentially don’t have the majority.”

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Politico link.

Also Tuesday conservative Ben Shapiro invited employee Candace Owens to leave the conservative media outlet, The Daily Wire, because of things she’s tweeted about the HAMAS- Israel war.

Owens followed up with a number of pro-Israel statements in response to claims that she’s anti-Semitic. The first three brief videos may startle.

And the infighting’s even happening in the Conservative Political Action Conference too, with its chairman the catalyst.

Details at the Washington Post

Such a testy bunch…

This has been your reminder about whose houses you don’t want to go to for turkey.

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Addendum:

Here’s 2 minutes of videoed testimony at a Virginia school board meeting about book banning that was really spot on.

Known mostly for his blazing guitar work, Albert Lee, from England, came to the US in 1974 at the age of 28. He’ll turn 80 in 5 weeks and is still touring as Albert Lee & His Electric Band.

He’s performed many times as a member of EmmyLou Harris’ Hot Band, and with Eric Clapton, and the Everly Brothers. In later years, he fronted his own band, Albert Lee & Hogan’s Heroes, touring till 2015. Often called ‘the guitar player’s guitar player’ and defined as “a complete gentleman who does not know the meaning of the word ego” , his band has drawn numerous musicians to play with them, including Eric Clapton, Tommy Emmanuel, Lonnie Donegan, Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe, Marty Wilde, Willie Nelson, Nanci Griffith, Don Everly, Emmylou Harris, Vince Gill, Sonny Curtis and Rodney Crowell, Ry Cooder … and others.

Without great commercial success, he’s best known as a performer, sideman and studio musician. EmmyLou Harris called him "a brilliant guitar player. His sound is unmistakable—often emulated, never equaled. When Saint Peter asks me to chronicle my time down here on earth, I'll be able to say (with pride if that's allowed) that for a while I played rhythm guitar in a band with Albert Lee.”

Here’s a rare occasion with him singing lead, accompanied by the also great piano work of Jim Cox.