Joe Biden Embarrasses GOP Over Their House Speaker Clown Show

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On Wednesday, President Joe Biden commented on Republicans’ difficulties in seating a choice for House Speaker, calling the unfolding situation “embarrassing.”

House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, who was hoping to secure the role, failed in three successive votes held on Tuesday, and early reports on Wednesday suggested the House might not be voting again that day, meaning the stand-off — during which the House is procedurally paralyzed — continues. About a dozen and a half Republicans were opposing McCarthy’s bid for Speaker, coalescing instead around Ohio Republican Jim Jordan. McCarthy would need a majority across the House as a whole, and with Republicans’ incoming majority slim, just a few party members could derail the whole thing — and did so. Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert were prominent names among Republicans opposing McCarthy’s Speaker bid.

“How do you think this looks to the rest of the world?” Biden asked reporters on Wednesday. “We’re finally coming out of — the first time we’re really getting through the whole history relating to January 6, things are settling out, and now for the first time in 100 years, we can’t move…  This is not a good look. It’s not a good thing. This is the United States of America, and I hope they get their act together.” The last time a race for Speaker went to more than one vote was 100 years ago, in 1923. In the same set of interactions with reporters, Biden also said the push for Speaker wasn’t his task with which to deal, although he added he finds it “a little embarrassing that it’s taking so long.” “What I’m focused on is getting things done,” he added. Biden was on the way to Kentucky to promote federally supported infrastructure projects alongside Mitch McConnell, the state’s senior Republican Senator and the Senate’s still-serving Republican leader.

Check out Biden’s statements below:

Donald Trump weighed in early Wednesday on Truth Social, his alternative social media platform, where he got behind Kevin, although it was unclear how much that would actually move the needle. That was hours before reports emerged pointing to the House potentially not voting again until at least the following day, so it doesn’t seem there was some kind of widespread change of heart. Trump isn’t the only voice. He might think he’s leading, but what about Ron DeSantis, who Republican primary voters increasingly seem to prefer? What about any Republican who actually holds an elected office, instead of just clinging to the vestiges of something that’s years in the past by now?