GOP Congressman ‘Embarrassed’ By His Party’s Antics: ‘In 2024, We Will Get Pummeled’

After three days of chaotic public in-fighting by House Republicans, Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) has started telling reporters the absolute obvious: This will be bad for future Republican electoral chances. Turns out people don’t want to vote for incompetent dorks who keep owning themselves.

“If this remains the face of the GOP in 2024, we will get pummeled in the presidential and congressional elections,” Bacon told Politico reporter Olivia Beavers. “We would have won more seats in 2022 but too many feared the extremes in the GOP even before this.”

It’s true. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has been placating extremist Republican lawmakers for years in his quest to amass power. He’s also been trying to placate so-called centrists like Bacon. McCarthy is after power for power’s sake—but as we’ve seen this week, he clearly can’t have it both ways, which is why days of failed Speaker bids (11 as of this article’s publication) have yielded such incredible content.

Bacon added that if House Republicans can’t wrap up the speaker race soon—and there’s no indication it won’t go through next week—these record-setting votes will be a stain on the GOP. “The actions of a few that have shut down the House has embarrassed the GOP and our country,” he told Politico.

It’s pretty satisfying to watch elected Republicans slowly realize what they’re a part of, like frogs in boiling water. Although, while the last three days have certainly been dramatic, I do think Bacon may have taken the wrong lesson from all this. “Authoritarian regimes will point at this and say representative government doesn’t work anymore. President Xi from China has been saying this for years already,” the congressman said. Hm.

No, I don’t think this particular week of failed voting is the reason people don’t think American’s representative democracy doesn’t work anymore. If I had to venture a guess, I would bet on the reason being the January 6th insurrection that has yielded almost no punishment for high-ranking officials.

Can’t wait to see how Bacon and other McCarthy allies continue to debase themselves for the 12th, 13th, and more votes expected today, the second anniversary of a deadly coup attempt at the Capitol.