In case you missed it, newly-appointed, controversy-ridden Republican Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy made quite a public spectacle out of apparently rewarding equally controversial Georgia Republican House Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for her blindly devout loyalty to him when he officially appointed the QAnon congresswoman as his House Speaker understudy yesterday morning.
From the House floor yesterday, House Reading Clerk Susan Cole recited prepared remarks from Speaker McCarthy to the House of Representatives:
The Speaker’s Rooms, Washington, DC, March 8th, 2023. I hereby appoint the Honorable Marjorie Taylor Greene to act as Speaker pro tempore on this day. Signed, Kevin McCarthy, speaker of the House of Representatives.”
One year ago, Marjorie Taylor Greene spoke at a conference run by well-known white supremacists.
Today, Kevin McCarthy gave her the Speaker’s gavel.
MAGA extremism is the Republican mainstream. pic.twitter.com/T7nzuNlam4
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— Katherine Clark (@WhipKClark) March 8, 2023
The Speaker pro tempore position is described as a delegation of the Speaker’s “powers to a member of the House to act as speaker pro tempore and to preside over the House in the speaker’s absence; when this has occurred the delegation has always been to a member of the same party.”
Marjorie unsurprisingly made quite the show out of making her way to the Speaker podium and giving her newly-acquired gavel a good slam before going on to declare to the House, following Cole’s remarks:
Pursuant to the order of the House of January 9th, 2023, the chair will now recognize members from the list submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour debate. The Chair will alternate recognition between the parties, with time equally allocated between the parties and each Member other than the majority and minority leaders and the minority whip limited to 5 minutes, but in no event shall debate continue beyond 11:50 a.m.”
Suffice it to say, social media users were absolutely horrified by this pandering move on McCarthy’s part:
Marjorie Taylor Greene sitting in the House speaker’s chair. This ought to scare the shit out of all of us. https://t.co/GFLCr9mtBk
— Mark Jacob (@MarkJacob16) March 8, 2023
Kevin McCarthy just appointed the real Speaker of the House.
Absolutely despicable to reward her.
— Aaron Parnas (@AaronParnas) March 8, 2023
This is fucking terrifying.
— Jo 🌻 (@JoJoFromJerz) March 8, 2023
The sight of Marjorie Taylor Greene taking the Speaker’s gavel to call the chamber to order as Speaker pro tempore on March 8 was nausea inducing and totally emblematic of McCarthy’s deal to hand off power to the fanatical right for their votes. Truly shameful. https://t.co/9KeBvl2G7Y
— Deeds (@Deeds1000) March 9, 2023
If the @HouseGOP wasn’t already a clown show, the weakest-speaker-in-history, @SpeakerMcCarthy, made Marjorie Taylor Greene Speaker pro tempore.
Beyond a travesty and attack on the Congress’ reputation, Kev’s move proves he is little more than a prostitute to the Radical Right
— Lawrence Lambert – text ACT to 644-33 (@LawrenceBKLYNNY) March 9, 2023
Kevin McCarthy continues to insult Congress and the American people by anointing an insurrectionist to act as Speaker. This is vile.
— Jen Psaki’s Head Tilt (@bidonkules) March 8, 2023
So yesterday, the temporary speaker of the House of Representatives was Marjorie Taylor Greene. How fucked up is fucked up? There’s exhibit A right there.
— geoff hicks (@gman4252) March 9, 2023
This is what happens when there aren’t any consequences for sedition, or anything.
— Jen Resisted (@JenResistedAGN) March 8, 2023
“The honorable” Marjorie Taylor Greene, said no one sane
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) March 8, 2023
This is the worst horror movie of all times. pic.twitter.com/11fYaOvbW3
— Jamie Schler (@lifesafeast) March 8, 2023
Fire all the script-writers. The story has become unbelievable.
— Brett Pransky (@BrettPransky) March 8, 2023
The Republican Party is just so broken.
— Em 🌻🌊🇺🇸💪🏼 (@EloolyM) March 8, 2023
Frankly, we knew McCarthy’s speakership would be a clown show, at best, but this honestly exceeds all expectations.
Featured image via screen capture
