The Very Online House Majority Logs On

Is politics about fan service or persuasion?

By
125
Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz discuss a resolution requesting information from the Biden administration on Ukraine funding. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images.)

Yesterday in the sanctum of the Dispatch Slack channel, a colleague flagged this tweet with the comment, “imagine seeing this if you aren’t terminally online.”

A normie voter, even a normie right-winger, would scratch their heads and wonder what it could mean. Was the official House Republican Twitter account praising Joe Biden? “BIG GUY” sounds like they’re calling him an alpha male. In isolation the tweet has an “O Captain, My Captain” vibe.

In context, less so.

Start a Free Trial
Get unlimited access to our 10 daily and weekly newsletters, Dispatch Live broadcasts, article comments and community events. Get Started ALREADY A PAID SUBSCRIBER? SIGN IN
125
By
Comments (125)
Join The Dispatch to participate in the comments.
 
  1. Avatar photo
    Ms. SSM

    ‘ Get as much as you can when you can because you’re apt to lose power anyway before you know it.’

    In policy terms I agree with this. Screw the next election. Do as much as you can while you can. Don’t wait for “mandates”. Enact policy. See if it sticks. All this election gamenship on trying to win the next election is foolishness and enraging to most voters. We don’t vote to give you power in perpetuity. Use that power to DO SOMETHING. and do it NOW.

    Collapse
  2. Belisarius.Aves

    And you are only working the keep in office piece. Add in either the in office monetary opportunities and definitely the greater out of office opportunities (books, speaking tours, podcasts, radio shows and the great goal of these people, a TV gig, the ability to break from the crowd and get likes, followers, clicks etc becomes all the more important. What isn't relevant to this world. Your name on a passed bill or you know, even passing any bill. The office is the media platform.

    Collapse
  3. Robert M Neil

    A naive question perhaps, but why can't the House Republicans pursue both agendas simultaneously? There are plenty of committees and there's plenty of interest in both agendas. Most MAGA types, at least the ones I know, are equally interested in securing the border, dealing with the fentanyl crisis, lowering gas prices, and curbing inflation. And, as a proud member of the pre-Trumpian Persuasion caucus, I think the corruption and hypocrisy of the president indicated by the Hunter laptop needs to be pursued, along with investigations into the Afghanistan withdrawal, the misuse of lockdowns and emergency power over-reach, the origins of the COVID virus (lotsa luck on that one, folks!), whip-gate, and the Dobbs leak, among other issues.

    Hopefully, House Republicans will be able to chew gum and walk at the same time.

    Collapse
  4. David Barkhausen

    I mostly disagree even though I believe that Trump has been harmful to the GOP/conservative brand. The fact that the DOJ and FBI are and have been highly politicized and the mainstream media has covered it up, most especially re. the laptop contents coming out just before the 2020 election needs to be exposed, not brushed off as of no concern just because the average voter may not care, mostly because they don't know about it because they don't watch FOX. For you to take the "nothing to see here" position of the mainstream media is disconcerting.

    Collapse
    1. Avatar photo
      Jconstantino199

      The laptop hard drive was in the possession of Rudy Giuliani (and therefore the White House) for a full year before they were revealed... and when the contents *were* revealed as an October Surprise, Giuliani gave the press images of an email that was supposed to verify the contents of the laptop were real, except that when examined showed that the email had visible metadata tags on it showing that it was written months after the laptop was supposedly dropped off (ie- it was a fake and/or doctored email).

      Don't blame the media for not falling for a badly produced, if not entirely manufactured October Surprise.

      Collapse
  5. Avatar photo
    George.Rozes

    The Biden laptop will lead to charges. Will it connect to Joe? Another one of those "what did he know and when did he know it" things. The reality is likely this. HB did some sketchy and illegal deals. JB didn't want to know. He may have suspected. Is that criminal? These hair on fire moments remind me of the Clintons. Lost in all the bs by the Progressives is that IN FACT HRC improperly and perhaps illegally kept an unsecured server in her house full stop. Bill Clinton lied under oath. Both managed to evade accountability by making it about an indiscretion (Bill) or"a dustup over emails" (HRC). None of this will result in anything. And color me suspicious of these pending indictments. With Trump dragging the process he will be dead before anything happens to him. Or a Republican president in 2025 will pardon him.

    Collapse
  6. Avatar photo
    Mike B

    I think the initial skepticism about the Hunter Biden laptop was entirely justified - I mean, it more or less fell from heaven into Rudy Giuliani's hands, of all people? I was frankly astonished to learn that it was really his. I don't think the House needs to be investigating it, it should be law enforcement. Actually I thought the FBI was investigating it.

    Collapse
  7. Mil001

    Just a thought on your phrase, "Very Online Caucus":

    Put me in mind of the term VOC, or Volatile Organic Compounds, the off-gassing of which from various paints, stains, household and industrial chemicals, cause serious and sometimes fatal health issues in those exposed to them.

    Hum.

    I'd also add that, if you leave a can of expensive marine spar varnish unsealed, it loses its effectiveness, consistency, and value.

    Collapse
    1. Avatar photo
      Mike B

      The two VOCs do appear to have much in common. I'm not sure which is more toxic, the off-gassing from marine spar varnish (MSV) or from Marjorie Taylor Greene (MTG).

      It also sounds like you have personal experience with leaving a can of expensive marine spar varnish unsealed.

      Collapse
  8. Avatar photo
    Scarlette Tarte

    Well, I for one, am glad they are doing it, just as I predicted they would. I said "all they will do if they win back power is open endless investigations into Hunter, try to impeach Biden, and go full tilt into "the FBI was behind 1/6" crazy."

    I was right. You were right, Nick. The cynics were, and usually are, right. You cannot be too cynical about today's GOP. They will never surprise you in a good way. In fact, shame on Erick Erickson and anyone who thought they would govern any differently. All these years of Republicans not offering any policy prescriptions, but running on culture war BS is what Erick and others should have seen.

    What is it with those who think a party will act any differently than what they have in the past? I say this all the time, ad nauseum..."when someone shows you who they are, believe them".

    Crazy is what the Republican party is today. It has been for at least the last 20 years. It is strictly a product of FOX News and hate radio now...just endless poo flinging. Every single time in the last 20 years that they have held power, the Dems have had to come in and "fix" things. The Dems have had to be the adults in the room.

    Please stop rewarding this party with ANY power, as long as Gaetz, Greene, Boebert, Cruz, Hawley, Elise Stefanie, Ron Johnson, Jim Jordan, Paul Gosar and all the others hold office.

    No, you can't vote for the "sane ones". Voters must step up and deliver this party back to sanity. The only way to do that is not to vote Republican at all. The party must lose and lose badly. It needs to spend some years in the political wilderness. If they hold 100 seats, in the house, but they are all nuts, so be it. Not holding power will make it dawn on them eventually that they need to stop acting that way.

    Please stop thinking "well, maybe this time will be better". It won't. Not until the Freedom Caucus types are gone. Not till the bomb throwers are gone, or at least reduced to a very small, inconsequential group...no more than 5 I should think...so their damage can be limited.

    Please remember the old adage "doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the definition of insanity". Stop voting for the GOP...until such time as someone like Kinzinger or Liz Cheney is who the party wants to reward the speaker's gavel to, not someone like McCarthy.

    Or don't. As a Democrat, it benefits me and my party when these crazies, well, act like what they are. So every two years we gain power, every other presidency, we win again.

    But it very bad for the country and for us citizens.

    Collapse
    1. Avatar photo
      George.Rozes

      Calling Republicans crazy based on the individuals you mention is off base. One can point to the Squad and other Progressives as crazy. If the Republicans reclaimed the levers of power, the Progressives would fit the definition. Have you forgotten "war criminal" George Bush and the cheering when American soldiers were killed? We are the EXHAUSTED middle.

      Collapse
    2. Johnsmk36

      Am I to understand that you’re happy to have these people in power, so long as it benefits your party? Isn’t that attitude maybe a little bad for the country?

      Collapse
  9. Sgruenwald730

    There is no DOJ politicization that the newly beclowned House of Representatives to investigate.

    Collapse
  10. Avatar photo
    5maralei

    Oh Lordy…here we go again! You’re right of course. It’s exactly what I was afraid they’d do and I’m completely disgusted by it! After the mess Trump and his crowd made of the midterms I had hoped they had the sense to adjust. File that under whistling into the wind…

    Collapse
Load More