From Nothing Speaker to Speaker Nothing

“I didn’t think Kevin McCarthy was going to be ousted from his position of speaker of the House. I believed you couldn’t beat something with nothing. … Well, right now, America has Speaker Nothing. Matt Gaetz cobbled together enough Republican votes with Democratic votes to get rid of McCarthy, but at least for now, no one knows who, if anyone, could garner enough votes to become the new speaker.”

Jim Geraghty

The Republican Clown Car Races On

“At every turn this past week, when the spotlight was on them, Republicans showed the public their worst: marching toward a government shutdown wholly of their own making; botching their first hearing in an impeachment inquiry into President Biden that was launched without serious forethought or evidence of criminal wrongdoing; squabbling and shouting by presidential candidates during a nationally televised debate that mostly ignored the elephant not onstage.”

Dan Balz

McConnell: GOP Could Still Lose Midterms

“From an atmospheric point of view, it’s a perfect storm of problems for the Democrats. How could you screw this up? It’s actually possible. And we’ve had some experience with that in the past. … In the Senate, if you look at where we have to compete in order to get into a majority, there are places that are competitive in the general election. So you can’t nominate somebody who’s just sort of unacceptable to a broader group of people and win. We had that experience in 2010 and 2012.”

— Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said the political atmosphere is good for Republicans heading into the midterms but warned that the party could bungle its chances if “unacceptable” candidates win their primaries but go on to lose in November, The Hill reports.

Pelosi Questions GOP’s Promotion of Greene

“What I’m concerned about is the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives, who was willing to overlook, ignore those statements … assigning her to the Education Committee when she has mocked the killing of little children at Sandy Hook Elementary School, when she has mocked the killing of teenagers in high school, at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. What could they be thinking? Or is thinking too generous a word for what they might be doing?”

— Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) denounced House Republican leaders for appointing Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) to the committee overseeing education after she has questioned the legitimacy of mass shootings and harassed student survivors, NBC News reports.

ABC/WaPo Poll: Trump Approval on Handling Pandemic Plummets

ABC News: “With COVID-19 cases soaring nationally, Americans by nearly a two to one margin distrust what President Donald Trump says about the pandemic, and six in 10 in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll disapprove of how he’s handling it, up steeply since the early days of the outbreak. Just 38 percent in the national survey now approve of Trump’s response, down from 46 percent in late May and a narrow majority, 51 percent, in late March, a 13-point drop. Disapproval gained 15 percent in the same period, to 60 percent.”

Full report here [PDF].

It’s Not the Corruption, It’s the Incompetence!

56%

First Read: “According to this month’s NBC/WSJ poll, a majority of Americans – 56% – said that Trump’s administration isn’t competent, including 39% who said it isn’t competent at all. By contrast, 43% said it was competent, including 16% who said ‘very competent.’ … To put those numbers into perspective, 50% of American said Barack Obama’s administration was competent in June 2014 (so after the Obamacare website crash during his second term), and 53% said George W. Bush’s administration was competent in March 2006 (after Hurricane Katrina).”