"IT’S ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMINS"

C'mon, c'mon, uh-huh
(It's all about the Benjamins, baby) uh-huh, yeah
(It's all about the Benjamins, baby) uh-huh, yeah
(It's all about the Benjamins, baby) uh-huh, yeah
(It's all about the Benjamins, baby) uh-huh, yeah

Now, what y'all wanna do? (It's all about the Benjamins, baby)
Wanna be ballers, shot-callers (it's all about the Benjamins, baby)
Brawlers, who be dippin' in the Benz with the spoilers (it's all about the Benjamins, baby)
On the low from the Jake in the Taurus (uh, uh) (it's all about the Benjamins, baby)

                                                                                                                                 Puff Daddy

Last night some of us watched Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL, above) torch Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) claim to having earned the position of speaker of the House of Representatives, saying that claim was based solely on McCarthy’s fundraising prowess.  Rep. Mike Bost (R-IL) objected to his party’s dirty laundry being aired before millions of Americans and things got a little ugly.  Huff Post and all the major media caught the exchange, in  case you missed it:

In nominating Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) again as an alternative to McCarthy, Gaetz took issue with McCarthy’s belief he had earned the position of speaker and said McCarthy would not have the votes he needed Friday, Saturday or “next week, next month, next year.”

“One must wonder, Madam Clerk, is this an exercise in vanity? For someone who has done the math, taken the counts, and is putting this institution through something that absolutely is avoidable?”

Gaetz said McCarthy owed his support among his fellow Republicans to his fundraising prowess.

“They believe Mr. McCarthy has earned the position of speaker of the House because he raised half a billion dollars to get Republicans elected.”

At that point, Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.) stood up and began shouting at Gaetz that he was out of line. “That is not going to bring anyone” to Gaetz’s side, Bost shouted, waving a finger.

After Bost was gaveled down, Gaetz continued on, calling McCarthy “the LeBron James of special-interest fundraising in this town. There is nobody better.”

Gaetz's war with McCarthy isn't new.  He broke with the Republican leader over Trump on January 6, 2021 (below). 

And their relationship has gotten only more toxic since then.  As Business Insider reported in June of last year:

Rep. Matt Gaetz said it doesn't really matter if House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy misleads his fellow Republicans at times, because what the GOP really cares about is McCarthy's fundraising prowess.

"It is a covenant based on money," Gaetz, a Republican from Florida, told Time Magazine's Molly Ball. "Kevin McCarthy is the most elite fundraiser in the history of the Republican caucus. He is the LeBron James of lobbyist and PAC fundraising. And that is his covenant with the conference."

Gaetz’s characterization of McCarthy is not hyperbole, although it was a little rich, as you will see.  Here is what the Sacramento Bee had to say yesterday about McCarthy's importance to the party:

Thwarted by a far-right faction of his caucus, [McCarthy] is reportedly busy offering deals to appease his greatest critics. But across the country in his home state, Republicans have a more existential worry, which is losing what they have in McCarthy: an eight-term representative from the agricultural capital of the country, a deeply-networked politician and, according to one GOP consultant, their “financial spigot.”

“The Republican party is entirely dependent on him,” said Mike Madrid. “It will become a shell of a shell of a shell [without him].”

Gaetz’s characterization (or character assassination) may not have been hyperbole, but it was as I say, a little rich.  Turns out Gaetz—surprise, surprise—was fundraising from his rebellion against the wannabe speaker.  As  Fox News gleefully reported:

A Wisconsin Republican congressman-elect [Derrick Van Orden] blasted Rep.-elect Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., for "dragging" out the speaker fight to fundraise off of it.

"Gaetz has dumped Trump and moved on to Jordan who does not want the job and Gaetz knows it," Van Orden tweeted on Friday. "He is dragging this out to make money. What is more swampy than that?"

The Wisconsin congressman-elect shared screenshots of two fundraising pitches sent out by Gaetz: an email and a text message using the chaos on the House floor to fill his campaign coffers.

"Kevin McCarthy wants to fund an ‘endless war’ against me because I don’t support his coronation to speaker," Gaetz wrote in the fundraising text. "Kevin is owned by the lobbyists [and] has sold himself to the Swamp."

"He’s standing in the way of a true MAGA majority," Gaetz continued before asking for donations.

Business as usual in the People’s House.  It’s all about the Benjamins, but for them, not for you.

We all know that both parties engage in dialing for dollars and have, thanks to the Citizens United decision, made American representative democracy function more like a corporatocracy.  Rather than put in a five-day work week, like most working Americans, these elected officials fly into Washington on Monday and fly out again on Friday, spending much of their three whole days (!) in the capital looking for money so they can keep their bums in their chairs.  Note also that we pay these bums $170,000 per year for the privilege of watching them waste our time and our tax dollars.

But I digress.  Things on the House floor got even uglier as the night wore on, nearly erupting into a fist fight between Gaetz and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL, below).  It seems Rogers is slated to be Chair of the House Armed Services Committee and Gaetz is rumored to have extracted from McCarthy the sub-gavel position on that committee in exchange for voting “Present,” thereby assuring McCarthy of his must-have speakership. The Art of the Deal.  Rogers was blindsided, but he'll live with it, no doubt.  After all, it's all about the Benjamins.

Ironically if not tragically, we watched this sickening performative Circus Big Top event on the second anniversary of the January 6^th attempted coup that took place in the Capitol. Not far away, at the White House, President Biden was awarding the Presidential Citizens Medal to 14 people who had defended the Capitol and the democratic process that day, including some who died doing so.  Per the Guardian:

Biden described the honourees, who entered the room to standing ovations and cheers, as “a remarkable group of Americans who embodied the best before, during and after January 6, 2021”.

They included the former Arizona house speaker Rusty Bowers and the Michigan secretary of state, Jocelyn Benson, who resisted pressure to overturn the 2020 election results in their states. They also included Capitol police officer Eugene Goodman, who diverted rioters from the Senate floor while members were evacuating, and the Georgia election worker Ruby Freeman [and her daughter Shaye Moss, below], falsely accused by Trump of election fraud and forced to flee her home after death threats.

There were also awards for Capitol police officers Harry Dunn, Caroline Edwards and Sgt Aquilino Gonell; DC police officer Daniel Hodges; and former DC police officer Michael Fanone.

Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick was awarded a posthumous medal [above]. Washington’s chief medical examiner ruled that Sicknick died of natural causes following multiple strokes after the attack.

There were two late additions to Friday’s list: Capitol police officer Howard Liebengood and Washington DC police officer Jeffrey Smith, both of whom took their own lives in the aftermath of the insurrection.

There were other names read yesterday, on the House floor-- the names of some of the 139 GOP Representatives who voted not to certify the 2020 election results.  They still serve in the House and are dependent on McCarthy’s fundraising.  In the end, they elected him speaker and secured another two years of bum cushioning.  In case you have forgotten the names of these patriots, here is a reminder of their shame:  https://mkj-actually.blogspot.com/2021/01/say-their-names-part-two.html?m=1

Keep it real! 

Marilyn