It's like watching rats in a bucket

And the bucket is slooowly filling

When former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was removed from his post this week in what the papers were called a “historic” vote, North Carolina’s Patrick McHenry — he of the bow tie — stepped in as interim speaker.

As I write this, Rep. McHenry, a McCarthy ally, is still in the position, though as we can see, the current state of the House is chaotic, unpredictable, and dysfunctional. That’s what happens when you let the monkeys run the zoo. I’ll set me alarm to check the wires in the middle of the night, because I just don’t trust the Freedom Caucus to sleep like regular people.

McHenry worked to get George W. Bush elected president, and he just won his 10th term as a representative. He is a conservative’s conservative (which might be why Rep. McCarthy had him first on his list of potential replacements). In one of his first acts, he asked Rep. Nancy Pelosi to vacate her “hideaway” office, a leftover from when she was speaker, herself. Other than that, Speaker McHenry’s duties include (from the Washington Post):

He may call the House to order, make announcements, answer parliamentary inquiries, rule on points of order and designate another speaker pro tempore. But he may not administer the oath of office to a member-elect without unanimous consent or specific House approval, among other restrictions. By comparison, an elected speaker pro tempore has a greater scope of powers, including being able to preside at a joint session of Congress.

This is new Constitutional territory. McHenry is super-probably not in line for the presidency. The House may be limited in what legislation they can pass with an interim Speaker. And they just might cancel Saturdays.

I made that last one up. Chin up, everyone. Let the rats in the bucket have at it. We’ll all pay for it, but this seems like a bad drama that must play itself out.