Friends & Enemies

One of the truths of democratic politics is that enemies tend to be forever, while friends tend to be temporary. The reason is politics is personal. When someone does something to harm you in politics, you take it personally. You remember it long after the harm has been forgotten. When someone does you a favor, in contrast, it tends to be transactional, as the person doing the favor is acting from self-interest. Favors are impersonal, while harms are always personal.

This is something Kevin McCarthy is learning right now. His climb to the speaker’s chair has been sidetracked by a small group of malcontents. They oppose him becoming the next Speaker of the House because they do not like him. More important, they think he is a shameless liar, so they do not trust him. The reason they think this is that Kevin McCarthy is a shameless liar. To get where he is he had to knife people in the back, because he has no other qualifications for the job.

It will never be said publicly, but his role in knifing Congressman Steve King in the back, at the behest of the donor class, burned up his capital. If he is willing to work with the New York Times to ruin a Steve King, how can anyone in the caucus be sure he will not do the same trick to them? Politics is a sleazy business, but the reason to be in a party is to have the protection of the party. McCarthy broke an important rule so he is a man with few friends, only money to spread around.

Another truth of politics is that when you take a shot at the king you better not miss, which is where the anti-McCarthy forces are right now. They have to hang together or they will hang alone. Just in case that is not clear, the self-aggrandizing sociopath from Texas, Dan Crenshaw, gave one of his typical tantrums to the press, calling the holdouts forever enemies of the uniparty. In Hell right now, Stalin is slapping John McCain on the back why saying, “That’s your boy!”

The unspoken truth of this fiasco is that this would not be possible if the FBI had allowed the Republicans to sweep the midterms. If it had been a red wave, McCarthy would have had no trouble getting the votes from all of those newly minted House members excited to be in Washington. Instead, the FBI only allowed the GOP to gain a small majority to keep up appearances. That gives this small band of holdouts the chance to throw a wrench in the works of the uniparty.

This brings up the question that no one in the media dares ask. That is, why is it just fifteen members of the party opposing this oleaginous snake? For a long time, we have been told that most of the party is conservative, but the leadership is the problem, always cutting deals with the Democrats. If the conservatives could get control of the leadership, then things would change. It turns out that conservatives are as rare as hen’s teeth in the Republican Party.

The truth is, George Washington was right. No man is so virtuous as to resist the highest bidder and that is axiomatically true in politics. Marjorie Taylor Greene switched teams for the promise of some legitimacy. The party promised to let he pretend to be a serious person in exchange for her support of the uniparty. It turns out that those stories about old Marge being a cheap date were true. It is a good reminder that character is your best guide, even in the sleazy world of politics.

Of course, this whole affair is shining light on a truth about our politics. Democracy is just a show to conceal the real power in society. The holdouts know that they will get nothing from this, even if McCarthy steps aside. The guy who takes his place will be dancing the tune the donors call. Again, for the holdouts, this is not really about principle. They just hate Kevin McCarthy so they are taking their shot. In the end they know the Speaker will be a puppet of the donors.

This affair also suggests that the donors and their puppets in the two parties are tiring of the game of make believe. Once it was clear that the people are too docile to push back against things like lockdowns and mask wearing, no one in charge had any reason to worry about fooling the people with the democracy show. They can have this embarrassing food fight in public, because who cares about the public? Certainly, no one in either party or the pirates that control them.

It is why the right way to view it is as just another carny act on the stage that is liberal democratic politics. It is all sound and fury signifying nothing, but there is no harm in enjoying the suffering of the people made to perform on the stage. Given the age in which we live, expect the holdouts to be bought off or threatened by the FBI and this whole thing comes to end today. McCarthy is human filth, but he does what he is told, so the donors will probably save him.

Even so, there is a lesson for dissidents. Politics is always about friends and enemies, not abstract ideas. The goal is to increase your pool of friends, while limiting the pool of enemies you create in the process. Politics is always personal. Those who go out of their way to create drama and stir up conflict are always bad for your politics, so the best course is to avoid those people. You may not always be able to count on your friends, but you can always count on your enemies.


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Kralizec
Kralizec
1 year ago

If getting McCarthy into the Speaker’s chair (he’s already in the Speaker’s office!) is so goshdarn important, then why don’t 20+ Democrats vote for him on the next ballot?

eah
eah
1 year ago

OT About something you posted on Gab: These two idiots tried to get the coach of the soccer teams fired over something that happened thirty years ago. Yes, the incident they apparently tattled about happened a long time ago — but the reason for the tattling, i.e. trying to get the coach fired, was much more recent: their son plays on the US national team, and for some reason landed in in Berhalter’s doghouse; he got very little playing time at the recent 2022 World Cup in Qatar — if you believe the story making the rounds, the reason the… Read more »

JR Wirth
JR Wirth
1 year ago

All True.

I’m not a fan of Gaetz, but I really enjoyed his letter to the Capitol Architect inquiring why a squatter was in the Speaker’s Office. He was another one hung out to dry. The media had him in their sights and McCarthy was nowhere to be found. He only survived by basically getting a junk yard dog lawyer and saying “no I won’t resign and you have no crime.”

McCarthy is a snake, and Fresno is a snake hole.

JR Wirth
JR Wirth
Reply to  JR Wirth
1 year ago

Notice how the dissenting vote is coal burning for a FL black guy. The GOP is most at home worshiping blacks. I guess it all started around black people, so they’re reverting to tradition.

The GOP is going to its grave how it started, worshiping N- words who’ll never do anything for them.

Götterdamn-it-all
Götterdamn-it-all
Reply to  JR Wirth
1 year ago

Sir, you win the internet today.

usNthem
usNthem
Reply to  JR Wirth
1 year ago

I can hardly even believe I was born there. What were the damn odds? The old man going through a medical residency – wrong place at the wrong time I guess…

LineInTheSand
LineInTheSand
1 year ago

I read that McCarthy just lost his fifth vote. Perhaps I am not cynical enough but I feel some admiration for the dissenters holding out against enormous pressure, including Trump. This admiration is what I feel for anyone fighting valiantly for a foolish cause, but it is still admiration.

Apparently, these dissenters believe strongly in their conservative values. Am I wrong?

LineInTheSand
LineInTheSand
Reply to  LineInTheSand
1 year ago

I forgot about Z Man’s judgment: “Again, for the holdouts, this is not really about principle. They just hate Kevin McCarthy so they are taking their shot.”

We’re up to six votes that McCarthy lost.

trackback
1 year ago

[…] ZMan totes up the score. […]

Whiskey
Whiskey
1 year ago

Even the Harlem Globetrotters had to lose occasionally to the Washington Generals. The revolt we are seeing is led by ambition thwarted as much as animosity. Cocaine Mitch and McCarthy threw the election, which means a narrow Republican majority unable to do anything in the House and Dem dominance in the Senate. Which means in turn, corporate donors ignoring Republicans, and just assuming the Democratic Eternal Majority has arrived. That’s fine for Cocaine Mitch. He’s in his eighties, he won’t even serve out his term. Its not fine for those with ambition who have the misfortune of being born straight… Read more »

RoBG
RoBG
Reply to  Whiskey
1 year ago

From the inauguration (Jan, ’17) to the midterms the “R” team held the House/Senate/Presidency. McCarthy was speaker when they *cut* funding for immigration enforcement and again when they put language in the “cromnibus” explicitly prohibiting any of the wall prototypes from being built. Yet Trump supports him. (Of course that was nothing compared to the bill they just voted for which prohibits any monies from being spent “to acquire, maintain, or extend border security technology and cababilities.”) It’s all by design. It’s what they want.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  Whiskey
1 year ago

trump just keeps digging…

Memebro
Memebro
1 year ago

So apparently some black guy named Byron Donalds is the guy who us peeling off McCarthy’s votes?

McCarthy needs to go, but….

Bartleby the Scrivner
Bartleby the Scrivner
Reply to  Memebro
1 year ago

The Redingbats will have their own Magic Negro!!

Priceless.

Ploppy
Ploppy
1 year ago

“In Hell right now, Stalin is slapping John McCain on the back why saying, “That’s your boy!””

I laughed out loud on that one.

KGB
KGB
Reply to  Ploppy
1 year ago

Okay, as an aside, here’s a bit of harmless anti-Semitic humor:

Why are Germans so obsessed with the idea of getting into heaven? You’d be worried too if there were 6 million Jews waiting for you in hell!

EastboundAndClown
EastboundAndClown
1 year ago

Z, you might be interested in this book reviewed in the WSJ op-ed page today, called “Data Driven.” It’s about longhaulers being hassled ostensibly by government regulation but actually more by their panopticon managerial overlords (who happily leap beyond the gov’s minimal required tracking, treating is a pretext/excuse really). This part in particular evoked the way-we-live-now class-war feel of it: “A dispatcher sitting far away with ELD data on the screen and the Weather Channel on the television may override a trucker’s judgment that the weather is too rough to drive through and order him or her to get on… Read more »

Apex Predator
Apex Predator
1 year ago

This party is done, put a fork in it. I was just watching Fox News and they are now nominating Byron Donalds as Speaker. Who is that you ask? Good question! He is a numinous negro who is a freshman Congressman. But being the Party of Lincoln™, of course they have to show their non-rayciss cred to their Masters, the Democrats. So they are actually nominating a freshman congress critter with NO experience based on no other credentials than he is a negro. Hakeem Jeffries, the democrat, has the most votes, McCarthy, and then this new magic negro are the… Read more »

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  Apex Predator
1 year ago

“always look, on the bright side of life”. Monty Python

trumpton
trumpton
Reply to  Apex Predator
1 year ago

little by little you are replaced in all positions with fake narratives to drive it as the NPCs are positioned to clamor for their own annihilation.

Ostei Kozelskii
Member
Reply to  Apex Predator
1 year ago

I’m voting Comet and Asteroid in ’24.

Vegetius
Vegetius
Reply to  Apex Predator
1 year ago

Easy. Nothing is fucked. You’re being very un-Apex.

It’s like Lenin said: the worse, the better.

Having a dual-leadership deal with not one but two Urban Achievers in the top spots, what could be worse-r than that?

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  Vegetius
1 year ago

“Easy. Nothing is fucked. You’re being very un-Apex.” omg i can’t stop laughing…

Gman
Gman
Member
Reply to  Vegetius
1 year ago

They threw out a ringer for a ringer!! !!

LineInTheSand
LineInTheSand
Reply to  Apex Predator
1 year ago

Cheer up, Apex. Byron and Hakeem can decide our nation’s pressing issues with a rap contest.

Former Wise Man
Former Wise Man
Reply to  LineInTheSand
1 year ago

The Speakership will come in a plain brown rapper.

Igor Yugore
Igor Yugore
Reply to  Apex Predator
1 year ago

Putin for Speaker! He’s great at speeches.

Severian
Reply to  Apex Predator
1 year ago

I must say, this Byron Donalds character has my full support. Aside from the hilarity that will no doubt ensue under his “leadership,” do y’all realize what this means? They could literally do the meme! When the Donalds-led GOP fails to oppose one single item on the Democrats’ wish list, the Donks can say, with full justification: “He a good boy! He dindu nuffin!”

And I’m pretty sure one of them actually would, because in my darker moments I’m convinced they’re just openly trolling us now.

PeriheliusLux
PeriheliusLux
1 year ago

I followed that link to Eyepatch Dan. Here is what is interesting to me. What I saw there is something you see more and more of. Maybe it was a coincidence. You have Crenshaw and his size 1, snow white assistant, and then from the reporters to the security guards you have Haiti and Bangalore. It is an apt visual. The radical transformation is well advanced. What is interesting is how this shows how disposable people in the system are. The Hive wants to change color, the order goes out, and faces and the color of them change. Crenshaw is… Read more »

Jack Dobson
Jack Dobson
Reply to  PeriheliusLux
1 year ago

One green shoot is Eyepatch McCain was outed as a fraud and Deep State shill fairly quickly. The downside is he did get re-elected, but his national prospects are nil.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  Jack Dobson
1 year ago

and that says a lot about Texas. just like McConnell’s re-elections say a lot about Kentucky. nothing truly revelatory, just un-needed confirmation of how things really are.

Jeffrey Zoar
Jeffrey Zoar
Reply to  karl von hungus
1 year ago

The normiecons I encounter with their slava ukraini attitudes give me regular reminders

george 1
george 1
Reply to  Jeffrey Zoar
1 year ago

Ain’t that the truth. Most of them could not immediately find Ukraine on a map however they are sure that Putin is at fault.

Andy Texan
Reply to  karl von hungus
1 year ago

This Crenshaw cretin has the most republican district in the Houston area. Alas they are all civic nationalists and sports enthusiasts who lap up the MSM. His voters still think of him as a war hero and will never learn the truth no matter how often he outs himself as NWO flunky.

3g4me
3g4me
Reply to  Jack Dobson
1 year ago

Jack: Thing is people (not meaning you) need to bear Crenshaw and Cornyn (not to mention Abbott) in mind when they wax rhapsodic about Texas’ freedumbs. This state is demographic toast and we cannot wait to leave.

Bourbon
Bourbon
Reply to  PeriheliusLux
1 year ago

PeriheliusLux: “It is fitting that the boomers final act is just a re-enactment of the draft/responsible evading, flag burning, anti-American, self-indulgent hippie love fest having college tantrums that they ushered themselves onstage with 6 decades ago.” SILENT: Nancy Patricia Pelosi, née D’Alesandro, born March 26, 1940 SILENT: Addison Mitchell McConnell III, born February 20, 1942 SILENT: Joseph Robinette Biden Jr, born November 20, 1942 BOOMER: Charles Ellis Schumer, born November 23, 1950 BOOMER: Jerome Hayden “Jay” Powell, born February 4, 1953 BOOMER: John Glover Roberts Jr, born January 27, 1955 At the rate we’re going, the Silents might hang on… Read more »

Jeffrey Zoar
Jeffrey Zoar
Reply to  Bourbon
1 year ago

This is going a little overboard with the generational distinctions. People born within 15 yrs of each other, most of them less, are not that far apart, regardless of where one draws the generational line.

Steve
Steve
Reply to  Bourbon
1 year ago

Might do you some good to update your prejudices. Nearly half the USSC is already GenX. More than half of Congress. Most of the appellate branch. Most of the leaders of industry. But that’s to be expected when the leading edge of the Boomers are pushing 80.

No matter how evil Boomers are, they age at the rate of one year per year, too.

Bourbon
Bourbon
Reply to  Steve
1 year ago

Steve: “Might do you some good to update your prejudices.” Bro, I’m not sure what you mean about prejudices; I’m just describing what I’m seeing. And if the SILENTS are still running the show [which they are], then you’ve gotta acknowledge the fact. Heck, I didn’t even mention SILENT Charles Grassley [born September 17, 1933]. Do you think BOOMER Willard Mitt Romney [born March 12, 1947] has any intention of retiring in the next twelve or sixteen years? Do you think there’s any senator whom Willard would not character-assassinate [or ackshually violently-murder-assassinate, with the aid of the Deep State], in… Read more »

fakeemail
fakeemail
1 year ago

“Once it was clear that the people are too docile to push back against things like lockdowns. . .”

In some defense of the people, they were starting to push back on lockdowns and the “flatten the curve” nonsense.

But then the other hammer was dropped and the media/government unleashed the Floyd rights to smack them back down. Nothing less than ruthless state-sponsored terror. This is what we live under; it’s what we’ve *always* lived under.

Götterdamn-it-all
Götterdamn-it-all
1 year ago

Another in a long list of Brutal Truths by Z Man. What makes this current situation even more vitriolic than 1860 is the racial/ethnic stew that has been stirred up over the past 50 years. That guy you merely hated a hundred years ago is now someone you want buried alive. This is getting uglier by the day. The New Class don’t play by the old rules.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  Götterdamn-it-all
1 year ago

they might not play by the old rules, but is suspect they are going to be surprised when they get the old results.

Bartleby the Scrivner
Bartleby the Scrivner
Reply to  Götterdamn-it-all
1 year ago

There’s rules?

🙄

Jeffrey Zoar
Jeffrey Zoar
1 year ago

Progess is evident. The “risk” of the anti-McCarthy gambit is that some Republicans could be induced to defect and support Jefferies, and he becomes Speaker while there is an R majority. The progress is that the base and the GOP holdouts correctly recognize that this isn’t a risk at all. A mere 10 years ago, taking such a “risk” would have been unthinkable.

Compsci
Compsci
1 year ago

“ It is why the right way to view it is as just another carny act on the stage that is liberal democratic politics. It is all sound and fury signifying nothing,” Perhaps. No argument with your conclusions, but they seem a bit nihilistic. Andy Biggs is our Congress critter. He is often on the air here in the State. He was on the air here this morning. He was questioned as to the current situation. His answer was succinct and simple. He described the current problem with the Rep’s and especially the front runner for speaker McCarthy—basically that McCarthy… Read more »

Tars Tarkas
Tars Tarkas
Reply to  Compsci
1 year ago

Hopefully if Russia attacks us, the first nuke will land in DC and the second in Manhattan. Hopefully, I’ll live long enough to make some popcorn.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  Tars Tarkas
1 year ago

and the third in San Francisco (which with any look, will pick up a ‘spare’ and get Newsom in Sacramento).

Mike Austin
Reply to  Tars Tarkas
1 year ago

You forgot Boston.

Ostei Kozelskii
Member
Reply to  Mike Austin
1 year ago

Gospodin ICBM will be so spoiled for choice, that he might just spaz out and explode over Topeka.

c matt
c matt
Reply to  Compsci
1 year ago

Guess it depends on who is on the air. In my parts, it’s the opposite. The on-air ire is directed towards McCarthy and Crenshaw.

Ostei Kozelskii
Member
Reply to  Compsci
1 year ago

In the end, your Mr. Biggs will cuck just like they all do. Don’t believe a single word, including “if,” “and”, and “the,” that issues from the alimentary aperture of a politician in Our Democracy.

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  Ostei Kozelskii
1 year ago

Perhaps, but there are any number of those type in the “Freedom Caucus” and they’ve been fighting the good fight for years. They will never suit you because you won’t accept working within the process.

Losing the battle is not the same as surrendering. To paint 100% of anything with the same brush is perhaps too broad a stroke. It’s easy to sit on the sideline and scoff. My hopes are limited as well, but I wish all those who fight the good fight well.

Tired Citizen
Tired Citizen
1 year ago

I think all of this is theater. The holdouts will soon give in and McCarthy will be speaker. Business as usual in Washington.

Jeffrey Zoar
Jeffrey Zoar
Reply to  Tired Citizen
1 year ago

The holdouts have to be bought. It seems clear at this point they aren’t going to cave just from threats. The fact that this is the first time this has happened in 100 years is notable.

imbroglio
imbroglio
1 year ago

This friends/enemies distinction is only partially true. There’s got to be some glue to hold a dissident movement together. You mention forming local Jared Taylor/AmRen clubs similar to other such clubs that begin with fellowship but are then sustained by common values that transcend selling one’s soul to the highest bidder. The test is what happens to those values when these dissident groups begin to exercise some power however limited in scope.

KGB
KGB
Reply to  imbroglio
1 year ago

I just hope these clubs don’t have a ready-made association with names like Taylor or AmRen. Why add baggage right out of the gate?

What does an Elks Club or Moose Club stand for? Whatever the members decide. But the names themselves give no hints.

Ostei Kozelskii
Member
Reply to  KGB
1 year ago

Would the Screw the Hutus Club be a dead giveaway?

Bartleby the Scrivner
Bartleby the Scrivner
Reply to  Ostei Kozelskii
1 year ago

Where do I sign up!

KGB
KGB
Reply to  Ostei Kozelskii
1 year ago

I’d be willing to make an exception in that case.

TomA
TomA
1 year ago

Today’s post is a brutal expose´ of what ails us as a nation and a government. Yes, it’s bad and getting worse. Cocaine Mitch is back in business and proudly backstabbing the dirt people everywhere. Should McCarthy find a way to backstab his way to the Speakership, this will complete the doom cycle that began in 2020. So what is the silverlining in this fiasco? We get to the bottom faster. And that means less harm to innocents and a faster rebound. Soon politics will become a sideshow to the coming Russian Army offensive that will finally put an end… Read more »

Eloi
Eloi
Reply to  TomA
1 year ago

It seems to me that the destruction of the middle class has been continuing for decades, unabated. And 98 percent of the youth are happy (or their equivalent) to be locked in hovels, rent-slaves, owning nothing and caring even less. Inflation has been pernicious since the 60’s. People are not going to wake up. For most people, anyone who drops dead died of myocarditis, which (in their view) is perfectly natural for 20 year olds. There is not going to be a moment when 50 percent of the vaccinated drop dead. Simply, there will be some more death. As there… Read more »

Eloi
Eloi
Reply to  Eloi
1 year ago

Look at the crimes, openly bragged and aired, by our overlords. They reveal what they do – even including their child sacrifice and abuse rituals. Look into the Podesta emails and that recent Balenciaga. They rub this in our noses because we are so processed and overstimulated we do not care. They reveal their methods to us, and we are titillated for a moment, then we pass. Pure apathy. J. Alfred Prufrock. Dopamine addicts. Utter paralysis. That’s why they believe we are worthy of dying. They have initiated us into their belief system (seriously – think of the knowledge of… Read more »

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  Eloi
1 year ago

i don’t think the vaxx holocaust is frog boiling. it’s not a big kaboom either, but it is accelerating like a truck losing it’s brakes on a mountain road. and it is claiming plenty of cloud people along the way.

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  karl von hungus
1 year ago

I agree. The scamdemic and the medical “authorities” have suffered greatly. Perhaps the last bastion of government prestige has been lost/breached. Heretofore, we listened to the medical authorities–they were after all looking toward our best interest. Sure 50%+ of the populace still thinks they have our best interest at heart. But those are not pre-scamdemic levels. As the data rolls in, they will suffer even more loss of authority And as the CDC, HHS, NIH, WHO and the other involved alphabet health agencies fall, they’ll take with them others–like big pharma and the NEA. Anything that shakes the establishment and… Read more »

TomA
TomA
Reply to  Eloi
1 year ago

Venting/ranting is good for stress relief, so have at it. And there’s a lot of truth in what you’ve posted, but don’t allow yourself to give in to despair and defeatism. That is how they win. If nothing else, get a few #10 cans of pork & beans for the larder and sit by the front door with your Remington 700 at the ready. At the very least, you can give ’em Hell in your last stand.

Eloi
Eloi
Reply to  TomA
1 year ago

I have a front row seat to the future of America. I mourn for my daughters. I still live my life; it does not stress me. But I think most posters here are out of touch with the reality of the youth. I am excellent at my job and very well liked (“of the year” nominated every year). I like the young folks. But I have worked for long enough to see the trend, and I have worked in three distinct places across the country, and the trends are horrifying. And they are accelerating. And it is sad, as I… Read more »

Bartleby the Scrivner
Bartleby the Scrivner
Reply to  Eloi
1 year ago

Eloi

Good posts, but in the end, there are always options for the young. It all depends on how one wants to live.

theRussians
theRussians
Member
Reply to  TomA
1 year ago

important words,
Still, we need to walk in these areas to know (or imagine) how bad things can get in order to hopefully deal with them should they come to fruition. I am not the most empathetic person and I think this protects me from the gloom getting any significant hold on my morale… it’s more like I’ve noticed a new pattern in how the ants are organising. They might still consume me but at least I won’t be surprised and be out of supplies for the Remington.

Ostei Kozelskii
Member
Reply to  TomA
1 year ago

I’ve been hearing this “The-end-is-coming-soon!” talk for at least the last 10 years. I remain unconvinced.

Eloi
Eloi
Reply to  Ostei Kozelskii
1 year ago

This is exactly my point. The end is already here. It is either the end of the beginning, or the beginning of the end. But the downward slope has been occurring, and most do not notice.

Ostei Kozelskii
Member
Reply to  Eloi
1 year ago

Well, America formally ended directly Biden was inaugurated. I truly believe future historians–if literacy survives the looming apocalypse–will record that moment as the date of America’s death, just as July 4, 1776 was its birthdate. And, of course, America didn’t just suddenly up and die when Biden was sworn in. His inauguration simply punctuated a terminal process more than 50 years in the making. But the true collapse, the period in which society disintegrates and anarchy reigns, has yet to arrive and I really don’t think it’s just around the bend as many dissidents do. What passes for a semi-functional… Read more »

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  Ostei Kozelskii
1 year ago

for a start, once energy delivery is gone, most of the midwest, upper midwest, and new england become depopulated. a lot of the third worlders will walk back to their home countries once the carcass here is picked clean. and the nigs will be long gone too. guess which race is best cold adapted?

Captain Willard
Captain Willard
1 year ago

The most notable aspect of this clown show is the spectacular lack of talent among this generation of pols. The absolute sh*t has risen to the top. Say what you will about Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey, but you cannot compare McCarthy or any of these current GOP jokers with them in terms of brains and talent. It’s now blindingly obvious that the System doesn’t want anyone talented anywhere near the levers of power. McConnell has at least animal cunning, as did Pelosi, so they were kept in place since it was too much work to get rid of them… Read more »

Jack Dobson
Jack Dobson
Reply to  Captain Willard
1 year ago

I totally agree there is a spectacular lack of talent, but don’t think it matters at the moment. The need to keep up a good appearance has passed when the likes of Biden and Fetterman can be used as the face of the Regime. When the inevitable crisis comes and things implode, that may matter greatly, but at least for the present it does not. The oligarchs who control us are living in the moment now.

c matt
c matt
Reply to  Captain Willard
1 year ago

Does Joe Griller really believe Biden or McCarthy run the country? My assumption is J. Griller believes (or at least hopes) Biden and McCarthy have competent staffers somewhere. No sane person could honestly believe these clowns run anything – I thought that, at least, was common knowledge.

Xman
Xman
Reply to  c matt
1 year ago

I don’t think Joe Griller knows or give a fuck about who runs the country. All he cares about is his favorite sportsball Negro having a heart attack on the field.

He’s damn sure that the vaxx had nothing to do with it, though… only a nut would believe that

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  Xman
1 year ago

Joe Griller will care about such things as we do here when he can’t make the nut at the end of the month. What you decry is the Boomer generation that still has the wherewithal to survive in these times to a disproportional degree as compared to other cohorts.

There is a sea change coming. Boomers are dying off and their children are not doing as well are they did when taking over from the “Greatest Generation”. I see this with frequency. This–coupled with immigration of even less able people–and trouble lies down the road.

p
p
Reply to  Compsci
1 year ago

I am coining a new word “lessables”. The test is can they make change backwards in their heads.

theRussians
theRussians
Member
Reply to  Captain Willard
1 year ago

when money is literally free for the power mongers, paying off the likes of a pelosi comes at…zero cost.

B125
B125
1 year ago

Looks like pureblood non-citizens are banned from entering the US until at least April 2023. Novak Djokovic will miss another tournament.

The charade continues from the White House. All of Europe, and even most places in Asia allow purebloods, some with no restrictions, some with a negative test requirement.

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  B125
1 year ago

I thought we (USA) allow non-positives in at this time, but do no require vaccination. Can anyone clarify?

B125
B125
Reply to  Compsci
1 year ago

Citizens are allowed in and out freely.

Non citizens must provide proof of full vaccination against COVID before boarding a plane, or while crossing a land border. Very limited exceptions apply. Testing is not accepted as an alternative.

It’s on the CBP and DHS websites. Most Americans have no idea this is still in place.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  B125
1 year ago

“Citizens are allowed in and out freely”. for now. i was wondering about this after i saw the notice of requiring vaxx to enter the country.

The Wild Geese Howard
The Wild Geese Howard
Reply to  B125
1 year ago

Indonesia continues to be dumb on jabs since their leader is a WEF-approved technocrat.

KGB
KGB
Reply to  The Wild Geese Howard
1 year ago

There are probably some good lessons for us from Indonesia. Even when they had one of their own, Suharto, ruling with an iron fist, he didn’t expell the moneyed foreigners (Han) who control much of the nation’s institutions and economy. What hope do we have that a modern Pinochet would adequately deal with the foreign tribe in our own lands?

Citizen of a Silly Country
Citizen of a Silly Country
1 year ago

Maybe we have reached our Crisis of the Third Century stage. Obviously, the voters are no longer in charge, if they ever were, but who wants to run the show and who do the other power players feel comfortable letting run the show. The interesting thing about the crisis period was that the system was falling apart, but there wasn’t really another system or group that everyone felt comfortable replacing the current system with, so it just staggered on. Quite obviously, looking at Biden’s cabinet, we know which group runs the show on topics which they care about, but I’m… Read more »

Jack Dobson
Jack Dobson
Reply to  Citizen of a Silly Country
1 year ago

This is pretty spot on. Every once in a while we get a whiff of internal divisions, but who is who and why is murky. The political/administrative figures are puppets and dutiful whores, obviously, but there seem to be divisions among the oligarchs who control them. For example, the small hats seem pissed that China won’t let them run the show, and the Bezos types want to make nice with the PRC. It cannot and will not hold like this, but that doesn’t mean one group doesn’t eventually get the upper hand. I hope to see Gulfstreams heading for Tel… Read more »

Citizen of a Silly Country
Citizen of a Silly Country
Reply to  Jack Dobson
1 year ago

The tribe cares about the Middle East, Israel, Russia, Wall Street, real estate, Hollywood and turning the US into a multi-everything bazaar where no group is powerful enough to threaten them. That’s pretty much it. Sure, they enjoy a good hate-whitey escapade here and there, but they still want to live around us. They have no grand plan for the US, so they’re happy to let other groups run the actual store outside of their areas of concern. I’m not even that sure that the tribe care about China outside of China threatening their stranglehold on global finance. You really… Read more »

Jack Dobson
Jack Dobson
Reply to  Citizen of a Silly Country
1 year ago

A couple of years back there was a shift in the Tribe’s attitude toward China. Whether correctly or not, that seems to have been the Tribe first felt that its stranglehold on the global banking system was imperiled. The propaganda organs went from Good China to Bad China overnight. Super junk peddlers like Bezos, though, are still on team Good China.

Citizen of a Silly Country
Citizen of a Silly Country
Reply to  Jack Dobson
1 year ago

I’m no China expert, but I’d guess that Xi taking full control and kicking out the pro-Western elements in the party. Before then, the hope was that China would join the global trade/banking system, much as Japan had done. No, the tribe doesn’t control Japan’s banks, but it control the dollar/treasury system that the Japanese banks rely upon. Xi made clear that China would not be controlled by “Western” powers. That’s why he’s trying to move toward a more domestic based economy and to have separate relations with energy producers. And, most importantly, break away from the dollar/treasury global banking/trade… Read more »

c matt
c matt
Reply to  Jack Dobson
1 year ago

Bezos gets his power from peddling China’s junk; other tribe members get their power from controlling world finance. Hence the rift: Merchants vs Bankers.

george 1
george 1
Reply to  Jack Dobson
1 year ago

The Tribe had been in the process of pivoting to China for at least 20 years. Remember when we loved us some China?
They were going to move in and take charge of China’s financial system. Remember the Potemkin Villages in China? Well Xi put a stop to that. So now the West is against China.

China is a vampire society anyway, as the Z Man pointed out previously. They should never have been permitted to join the WTO.

usNthem
usNthem
1 year ago

What’d really be hilarious is if the jogger hakeem jeffries somehow shucked and jived his way to the speakership. Don’t know if that’s actually possible, but a dem speaker with a gop/e house majority would probably be a s*** show.

3g4me
3g4me
Reply to  usNthem
1 year ago

usNthem: Absolutely. I cannot share anyone’s concern about anything in politics, because as Zman wisely notes, it’s all sound and fury signifying nothing. The moneymen and the string pullers will continue to do what they do in the concerns that matter to them, as Citizen has also noted. The rest is merely a tempest in a teapot, or a carny show, and I will take my sh*ts and giggles where I can find them. When I saw the headline about McCarthy losing the first and second ballot, I guffawed. Of course it changes nothing for the average person – and… Read more »

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  3g4me
1 year ago

the speaker vote is kind of like the 2023 version of Battle of The Alamo. the script almost writes itself.

Maxda
Maxda
1 year ago

McCarthy also backstabbed Madison Cawthorn for showing up in DC and talking in public about the place. I felt bad for the kid as they destroyed him.

Chet Rollins
Chet Rollins
Reply to  Maxda
1 year ago

It really was “Mr Smith goes to Washington”, without the happy ending.

Jack Dobson
Jack Dobson
1 year ago

Something else this reveals is the end of the Republican Party even as controlled opposition. Something to bear in mind is the it already was dead at the conclusion of the George W. Bush administration. By sheer luck Trump kept the plug from being pulled.

The GOP will cease to exist as a national thing come 2024 despite the State’s best efforts to keep the controlled opposition intact. Will there be a rush to mandate voting? That could backfire spectacularly.

Chet Rollins
Chet Rollins
Reply to  Jack Dobson
1 year ago

Apparently McCarthy took the holdouts to a room after the first vote and read them the Riot Act, and got an additional defector for his troubles. The fact that clown thought he could intimidate the Reps shows his lack of anything resembling leadership.

For some reason the scene in Rocky where Creed’s trainer shouts “He doesn’t know it’s a damn show he thinks it’s a damn fight” comes to mind.

Jack Dobson
Jack Dobson
Reply to  Chet Rollins
1 year ago

McCarthy is stupid as well as sleazy. Regardless of how this shakes out, he’s toast.

ProZNoV
ProZNoV
Reply to  Chet Rollins
1 year ago

Rule #1 of leadership:

Never give an order that won’t be followed, or you can’t force someone to follow.

Member
Reply to  Jack Dobson
1 year ago

For dissident politics to make any headway, the Republican Party must destroy itself first. This shitshow in Tubman is showing how threadbare the Vichy Right is, and I applaud it.
At this point, I wouldn’t rule out a reprise of the threats and fistfights or a full on Preston Brooks style beatdown of the 1850s US Congress, only fake, gay and geriatric.

Jack Dobson
Jack Dobson
Reply to  Pickle Rick
1 year ago

These clowns are too old to wield a cane and too stupid to see it is coming. Win/win. The oligarchy needs younger and smarter help, but the oligarchy ain’t what it used to be, either.

It is remarkably similar to the 1850’s, and Z is onto something with the TR analogy, too.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  Pickle Rick
1 year ago

Scooter jousting is the only way forward

joeyjünger
joeyjünger
1 year ago

Even the most brutal dictator can’t rule by force alone. To use the phrase our rulers have been out there parroting, there needs to be a stochastic element. Too much killing and all of the generals band together out of fear of the randomness of the leader coming for them. Too little killing and they start to think it might be wise to take a shot at the king while he’s weak. Saddam’s Comrade’s Massacre/ Public Purge in 1979 was a pretty good example of letting the politicians know it could happen to you but didn’t have to. It was… Read more »

David Wright
Member
Reply to  joeyjünger
1 year ago

I still have visions like the Braveheart moment when the people storm the local governor’s stronghold. Not that it would be physical in nature but an “archers to the towers” moment on Capitol Hill would be quite pleasing.

Actually we should direct our attention more on the FBI headquarters.

Drew
Drew
Reply to  David Wright
1 year ago

The Taliban pretty much lost every battle they fought against the federal armed forces. Yet, the US government pulled it’s forces out of Afghanistan. The lesson is that you don’t fight the government where it’s strong, but where it’s weak. The contiguous US is huge, population density is low, and armed state and federal check-drawers are less than 2% of the population. As long as you reside away from the coasts, outside a major city, you can effectively ignore the federal government. The lowest-risk strategies for fighting the federal government are to reduce your federal tax load (i.e. make a… Read more »

Vegetius
Vegetius
Reply to  Drew
1 year ago

‘You know you never defeated us on the battlefield,’ said the American colonel.

The North Vietnamese colonel pondered this remark a moment. ‘That may be so,’ he replied, ‘but it is also irrelevant.’”

from On Strategy, by the American Colonel, Harry G. Summers Jr.

3g4me
3g4me
Reply to  joeyjünger
1 year ago

joeyjunger: Totally agree. What still gets me about the Jan 6 suckers, though, are reports that they patriotically sing the Anthem in their dindu-run prison. How are they any different than those who purchased Trump trading cards, or the average voter? Even after being unjustly imprisoned and sentenced and forgotten by the average ‘citizen,’ they still believe in the inherent ‘goodness’ and ‘justice’ of the system. Most people just shuffle through life on autopilot, and they always prefer fantasy to reality. “If the Tsar only knew . . . “

Severian
1 year ago

It’ll be interesting, watching the Uniparty sic the FBI on the malcontents. Wonder which page of the huge files of dirt they no doubt possess on everyone will be “leaked” first? I have a question for you; At what point do the security services start thinking they have the whip hand? America really has been exceptional in that our armed forces have been largely apolitical. Even Brazil’s military made some noises when Bolsonaro’s reelection was stolen — they might or might not have supported Bolsonaro, but they were flexing a bit. I’m amazed the AINO military hasn’t tried something similar,… Read more »

Jack Dobson
Jack Dobson
Reply to  thezman
1 year ago

We saw a DOJ/FBI schism with the raid on Mar-A-Lago. After Garland authorized the raid on Trump’s home, Wray just up and went on vacation while it took place. It’s not like Wray wouldn’t rape and murder a child and then take the pennies out of its eyes, but he understood that raid could come back to haunt him. After all, much of what is going down in the Speaker contest is the result of Wray and Garland going after Gaetz and coming up short. I suspect Garland was the top in that relationship and Wray didn’t enjoy it.

george 1
george 1
Reply to  Jack Dobson
1 year ago

Curiously one of the people involved in the Gaetz affaire was someone from the Israeli Embassy.

Jack Dobson
Jack Dobson
Reply to  Severian
1 year ago

Something I find extraordinary is that the FBI/Deep State did take an unsuccessful kill shot at Matt Gaetz, who survived charges against him of banging teenagers. Gaetz is the ringleader in the movement against McCarthy, and the apparent reason is he wants a commitment to destroy the FBI and correctly feels ol’ Kevin ain’t up for it. It may be kabuki, but man it is unbelievable such could happen in this totalitarian age. As for the military, it is ready to roll the moment the State decides it is time for the Cossacks to ride. Remember, it was active in… Read more »

Happy Days
Happy Days
Reply to  Jack Dobson
1 year ago

Also the idea that the US military being not too political is unique to the US!

Netherlands,UK, Canada ,Australi,New Zealand, Scandinavians

AntiDem
AntiDem
Reply to  Severian
1 year ago

As Moldbug reminded us, Augustus didn’t say he was a king, but that’s what he was. Augustus allowed the Roman people the pretense that they still had a republic even after he had effectively demoted the Senate to an advisory board, and this arrangement proved so useful that it lasted over 500 years, until Justinian finally dispensed with the fiction around the time he opened Haghia Sophia. I’d imagine that’s more or less the plan for us. The people who are really in power are perfectly willing to pay 535 stooges a fat paycheck to be the ones to take… Read more »

Severian
Reply to  AntiDem
1 year ago

That seems like a good plan, but it wasn’t real smooth in the Roman case — for instance, that whole “century of nonstop civil war” thing in the 200s. And that’s exactly what precipitated the “Crisis of the Third Century” — the security forces asked themselves why they bothered with the “legitimate” succession procedure when they could just create the Emperor from among their own. It’s wiki, I know, but I’ll just leave this here: “The situation of the Roman Empire became dire in 235. Many Roman legions had been defeated during a previous campaign against Germanic peoples raiding across… Read more »

Jack Dobson
Jack Dobson
Reply to  Severian
1 year ago

“Fake and gay” wouldn’t even begin to describe an Emperor Lloyd Austin.

Mike
Mike
Reply to  Severian
1 year ago

Whoever, maybe Wray, is the Beria in that show should remember how it ended for him. You have to believe that eventually they will start eating each other.

Mike Austin
Reply to  Mike
1 year ago

Yep. “The Revolution eats her children.” A Robespierre awaits, as do the tools of his trade.

Evil Sandmich
Evil Sandmich
Reply to  Severian
1 year ago

The regime leadership is weak, relying on the self-defense mechanisms of it’s “blob” to keep everyone in line. That certainly isn’t “nothing”, but it doesn’t keep some faceless Putin-style GAE agent from pondering some interesting possibilities.

Of interest is the twenty guys the Germans thought might overthrow their government. On one hand it’s ridiculous to think that not even two dozen guys could overthrow a western government, but on the other hand, it kind of wouldn’t have been very surprising either.

Jack Dobson
Jack Dobson
Reply to  Evil Sandmich
1 year ago

I shamefully haven’t followed it closely, but was the alleged German coup attempt just another 1/6 puppet show or the real thing? I thought it was the former because of the humiliation the United States inflicted on Germany by blowing up NS II and the fuel and food shortages that will materialize over the Ukraine war.

Hemid
Hemid
Reply to  Jack Dobson
1 year ago

It’s a massive show of force against literally nothing, like sending a Panzerregiment to put down a veterans’ lodge. Every globohomo country seems obliged to do its own version of Trudeau’s out-of-uniform military attack on the truckers, the ’20-’21 US coup (fully uniformed), the French government cracking Yellow skulls, the Dutch shooting at the farmers, etc. Finland is late to its NATO initiation rite, and it’s hard to predict it. The only protest there, ever, is a state-sanctioned Muslim riot. The country’s leaders are threatening to starve the people, as is now standard, and the Finns shrug. They’ll *really* have… Read more »

Chet Rollins
Chet Rollins
1 year ago

Wondering if the attempts of the FBI to entrap Gaetz with a minor has something to do with this also. Rest assured, if McCarthy did what he did to King while sleeping well at night, I wouldn’t put it past McCarthy to be a part of that caper also. At that point, Burn It All down is the only reasonable option left. The reactions on the right have ben hilarious, the professional pundits are grasping their pearls complaining about all the great things a GOP house could do (lol), while normal people are just laughing at the chaos. They don’t… Read more »

Jack Dobson
Jack Dobson
Reply to  Chet Rollins
1 year ago

The FBI/DOJ attempt to frame Gaetz looms large here. Probably the worse thing that could happen to McCarthy is to somehow win.

3g4me
3g4me
Reply to  Chet Rollins
1 year ago

Chet: From your lips to God’s ears.

george 1
george 1
Reply to  Chet Rollins
1 year ago

Also the Senate Republicans passed the catastrophic Omnibus bill on their way out. That bill made this House irrelevant until October 1st.

So really why should we care about any of goings on in the House? It would probably be better if there was effectively no House for as long as possible.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
1 year ago

i can only imagine how aroused the civnats are, over this puppet show. high fives and hand jobs all around.

Marko
Marko
Reply to  karl von hungus
1 year ago

Yeah, first they get Roe v Wade overturned. Then the GOP barely won the Senate. Then they get Title 42 extended. Trump is running again. Elon is owning the libs. Now they got Kevin McCrappy on the skids! Yee-haw!

Brandon Lasko
Brandon Lasko
Reply to  Marko
1 year ago

GOP barely won the House and barely lost the Senate

Jack Dobson
Jack Dobson
Reply to  karl von hungus
1 year ago

I’m enjoying the hell out of this shitshow and I’m hardly a CivNat. It’s like opera for the mentally retarded.

Happy Days
Happy Days
Reply to  Jack Dobson
1 year ago

You are, of course, the exception.