Infighting Is Funny

“To catch everyone up, last week there were 36 votes against Kevin McCarthy in the Republican conference, and again, Kevin has had years to try to convince people of the worth of his candidacy. Since that time, zero of those 36 have come out to say, ‘You know what, I voted against McCarthy previously, but I’m now prepared to vote …

Congress Minutes reports: Kevin McCarthy’s Thanksgiving holiday has been far from relaxing, as his bid for speakership gets rockier by the day. Another House Freedom Caucus member announced he would not vote for the GOP leader for speaker next term, with Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) telling POLITICO in an interview on Tuesday that he will be another vote against McCarthy. …

Former AG Bill Barr writes for the New York Post: Trump isn’t really interested in broadening his appeal. Instead he is content to focus on intensifying his personal hold over a faction within the party — a group that is probably no larger than a quarter of the GOP, but which allows Trump to use it as leverage to extort …

Axios reports: Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R) blamed former President Trump for Republicans’ Senate loss in the midterm elections. “I was not a never-Trumper,” Ryan said on ABC’s This Week. “But I am a never-again Trumper. Why? Because I want to win. And we lose with Trump.” Ryan told ABC’s Jonathan Karl that Republicans could have won …

The Hill reports: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) on Saturday urged the Republican Party to move on from Donald Trump, just days after the former president announced his third bid for office. “It is time to stop whispering,” Christie said at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership meeting. “It is time to stop being afraid of any one …

The Kansas City Star reports: Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday fired a warning shot at former President Donald Trump, indicating he believed the former president was responsible for the Republican Party losing elections. “We were told we’d get tired of winning. But I’m tired of losing,” Pompeo wrote. “And so are most Republicans.” Though it did not …

Freedom Caucus Rep. Andy Biggs writes: During this midterm campaign, I attended hundreds of events in my district, around Arizona, and around the country. The issue I was asked about most often was whether I or the Republicans in the House, or the Republicans in the Senate, would keep the same leaders. Not only did my constituents want the “red …

From right wing commentator Erick Erickson: It is official. Republicans have taken back the House of Representatives. They gathered yesterday to announce their first official act: an investigation into Hunter Biden. Dumbasses. What a bunch of idiots. The American people just rejected the GOP “own the libs” strategy. They signaled they’d love to have responsible adult Republicans in charge. In …

The Hill reports: This week’s bruising leadership fight in the Senate exposed simmering tension between Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), former President Trump’s closest ally in the Senate. Graham, one of the Senate’s highest-profile Republicans, sharply criticized McConnell’s leadership of the Senate GOP conference during a private meeting this week. He then told reporters …

The Washington Post reports: A televangelist who served as a spiritual adviser to Donald Trump says the former president has the tendency to act “like a little elementary schoolchild” and suggests that Trump’s focus on minor spats was preventing progress on larger goals. “If Mr. Trump can’t stop his little petty issues, how does he expect people to stop major …

The Hill reports: An at-times nasty and personal discussion took place at the Senate GOP lunch, where Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who have been at odds for months, traded recriminations over who was to blame for the GOP’s failure to win back the Senate. McConnell accused Scott of mismanaging his job at the …

“I formally withdraw my Endorsement of Marjorie Taylor Greene for Congress from 2020. I now realize I never should have ever supported MTG or used my network to help her behind the scenes. Especially helping her clean up her ‘messes’ within the right wing Jewish community. I thought she was the real deal, but she has been nothing but a …

Mediaite reports: A pilot trolled former President Donald Trump at his South Florida residence and golf club Tuesday with a banner pushing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) as the 2024 Republican Party nominee. It is not clear who ordered the flight and banner, but Michael Bender of the New York Times shared a snap of it on Twitter just after …

“Donald Trump transformed the Republican Party from my perspective in many ways for the better. From the policy perspective side of things, he broke open, I think, an establishment agenda that needed to be broken open, that needed to consider a lot of different possibilities and to prioritize a different list of issues than in previous years. “He’s also, I …

Axios reports: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie received huge applause at an annual meeting of Republican governors Tuesday morning after blaming former President Trump for GOP failures in the last three elections, according to three sources in the room and a fourth person familiar with the speech. The chorus of Republican office-holders calling for the GOP to move on …

Newsweek reports: “Whatever Kevin has promised Marjorie Taylor Greene, I guarantee you this at the first opportunity, he will zap her faster than you can say Jewish space laser,” he said on FrankSpeech.com, referring to a conspiracy theory the congresswoman has promoted and been criticized for. Gaetz continued: “I wish that wasn’t the case, but it is the conduct, and …

“One of things I’ve learned in this job is that when you’re leading, when you’re getting things done, you take incoming fire. That’s just the nature of it. None of that stuff matters. All that’s just noise. We’ve focused on results and leadership. At the end of the day, I’ll just tell folks to go check out the scoreboard from …

From the Wall Street Journal editorial board: Donald Trump seems to be barreling ahead with an announcement Tuesday night that he plans to run for President again. The irony is that more Democrats than Republicans will be elated because they see him as the easiest candidate to beat one more time. The real restraint on Mr. Trump has been the …

Bloomberg News reports: Citadel’s billionaire founder, Ken Griffin, called Donald Trump a “three-time loser” and said he hoped the former president would “see the writing on the wall” and not run for the White House again, making way for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. “I’d like to think that the Republican party is ready to move on from somebody who has …

Politico reports: Trump is keeping a careful watch on who in GOP leadership has endorsed him, even before he has officially announced he is running for president again, which he’s expected to do on Tuesday night. But if he is expecting an avalanche of support, he’ll be waiting a while. Even his staunchest allies declined to offer an endorsement on …