A petite Black woman presiding over the sixth ballot to determine the new Speaker of the US House of Representatives hammered the gavel to close the count results late yesterday afternoon with GOP Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy unable to secure the magic number (218) to win the position.
The 118th. Republican-led Congress that began two days ago has already made history: the last time multiple votes were needed to elect a Speaker was in 1923. That’s right, numbers people. 100 years ago.
My friend Bervin and I were talking early this morning about the optics of the cluster in the House, and he told me two pieces of advice his African American grandmother gave him when he was a young man – he thought they would work well for McCarthy today when the House convenes for the seventh ballot at noon.
“If you feel like you’re catching hell, let it go.”
and then there’s this one
“When the Devil is coming after you, step aside.”
Regardless of how today unfolds in the ongoing battle for House Speaker, the American people have had a front row seat in the dismantling of what was once the party of Abraham Lincoln.
Where to? What next? You got me.
I'll Call It Like I See It 