Barely managing to limp across the line on a 13th or 14th ballot really isn't what I'd call "momentum."

So apparently Kevin did lose this round, despite many pickups from the tantruming maniacs (who he bought off by promising to give them disproportionate power in his tiny majority).

Rs are excited that they might be able to finish it on the 13th or 14th ballot. Losers.

Aw, nutjob thinks he's funny.

Kevin appears to be gaining the flippable holdouts Rs hoped to gain.

If that's enough, a feeble, bloodied Kevin staggers across the line as an ineffectual Speaker.

If it's not enough, WTF do they do next?

It remains utterly, desperately pathetic that it's a tense, knife-edge question whether Rs can *elect a fucking Speaker* four days into the new Congress.

Refusing to answer on specifics - a real sign that you've got it all under control.

Gee, other parts of the fractious GOP caucus aren't happy that Kevin is giving total power to the MAGA fringe.

The shitshow continues. Norman is one of the supposedly "gettable" holdouts, and he still isn't onboard.

If he comes over, there's a good chance they still don't have 218 because other holdouts are more hardline than he is.

They ARE in chaos. The media isn't maliciously making up the worst Speaker election since the mid-19th century.

This is not a functional caucus. You don't hash out policy disputes in choosing a fucking Speaker.

The great powerful leader who doesn't dare meet his own caucus face to face.

Still no deal, endless talk about how "good" things are, and McCarthy elevating the Nazi fringe to top positions across the board in order to MAYBE get them to JUST BARELY support him.

Beyond pathetic.

An effective leader is supposed to have, you know, some influence with his caucus.

This is just pathetic.

This pretty much sums it up, regardless of the outcome.

If you haven't gotten the bivalent booster... get the bivalent booster.

You DON'T say again.

You DON'T say.

More data on that terrible, awful Biden economy we kept hearing about until the midterms...

Tesla stock *almost* dropped below $100 this morning... though it has now "recovered" to ~106.

The fact that Matt Schlapp appears to have sexually harassed and groped a male Republican staffer is... something I feel I should really have seen coming.