STOP THE STEAL!!!!!

cool story, but McCarthy voted to reject the election results and pushed the big lie for months https://t.co/xLhbQEHCr6

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 3, 2023

I especially like the chyron.

Dems sitting there thinking, this show is almost worth losing the election.

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) January 3, 2023

McCarthy tried to make a deal with a bunch of devils and they’ve come for his soul. He could have ended all of this two years ago post 1/6 but he didn’t. None of them did. Now, he’s on the edge of being the back bencher from Bakersfield. https://t.co/FLTcUezqhk

— Reed Galen (@reedgalen) January 3, 2023

Hakeem Jeffries wins the election twice. If he wins five times does Kevin McCarthy have to be his butler? I think probably so. Jeffries is the Speaker. End this charade. Winning is winning.

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) January 3, 2023

We have to admit that Jeffries is the winner. Two time winner. Two wins can't be wrong.

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) January 3, 2023

The plan was Team McCarthy wld just wear the Freedom Caucus down. Vote after vote. But that's much easier said than done. Not even through the second vote and you can see mood starts to shift that McCarthy will never happen. Hopelessness for McCarthy and rage agains the holdouts.

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) January 3, 2023

There are limits to blaming Democrats for everything. https://t.co/FIMI9xUBkO

— Schooley (@Rschooley) January 3, 2023

Well, it's true if the Democrats were that good, they couldn't do any better than the GOP is doing to itself right now.

They suddenly have a problem with liars? https://t.co/7xfJFBtGsU

— Schooley (@Rschooley) January 3, 2023

And that explains this:

scenes via Getty Images of George Santos's first day in DC pic.twitter.com/ZJ6aeaehjt

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 3, 2023

So Santos is radioactive? Enjoy your majority, GOP.

Today's spectacle is what happens when you give up compromise, cooperation, and solidarity in politics. This party, now wedded to authoritarian methods, can no longer manage democratic procedures. https://t.co/4TP3IC92Ul

— Ruth Ben-Ghiat (@ruthbenghiat) January 3, 2023

Well, except, in that clip at least, Gaetz is not wrong. Mind, it's not an argument for Gym Jordan, Speaker of the House (his first act will be to repeal the rule that gentlemen must wear coats on the House floor! FREEDUMB!!!!!)

Looking at the 19 GOP defections, 6 went with Jim Jordan, who is backing McCarthy and could potentially help win them over for McCarthy on the 2nd ballot.

But 10 went for Andy Biggs, who is vehemently anti-McCarthy. McCarthy somehow has to win over a bunch of these 10.

— Steve Kornacki (@SteveKornacki) January 3, 2023

It's past 4 p.m. in DeeCee. One wonders how many votes they want to take before it becomes clear nobody is really going to break for McCarthy, and it's time for horsetrading with the Democrats to get somebody closer to winning the position than Jeffries (although I wouldn't wish the job on my worst enemy. Ms. Pelosi might be able to handle it, but she deserves better, too.)

A few more timely details:

ALL 19 McCarthy defectors in the 1st ballot cast their vote for JORDAN on the 2nd ballot.

— Scott Wong (@scottwongDC) January 3, 2023

JUST IN via @mkraju: Conservatives will vote for Jim Jordan on third ballot too, per Rep Bob Good. He told me he expects Jordan’s support to grow and the fact that Jordan doesn’t want the gavel is “exactly” why they want him. #CNN

— lisa mirando (@LisaMirandoCNN) January 3, 2023

But will support for Jordan grow large enough to elect him? Seems dubious to me, since it would only take a few holdouts on the other end to deny him the victory. And all those Reps from "Biden districts" don't want Jordan in charge if they can't have McCarthy.

“16 of the 19 will be there until the cows come home,” per @PeteSessions. “I think this ends when someone grows weary… I think this costs us prestige. There’s an old saying that the whole world is watching. The whole world *is* watching.”

— Jacqueline Alemany (@JaxAlemany) January 3, 2023

McCarthy is now on the verge of losing for the third time today. Five Republicans have voted for Jordan. He can only lose four.

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 3, 2023

All part of the plan, right, Kev? https://t.co/1TORTaqRXB

— Jennifer Harris (@jwharris) January 3, 2023

Desperation is setting in as reality sets up like concrete around the feet of the GOP House members:

AOC tells @NRO that Gosar was asking about whether some Democrats would not vote in order to lower the threshold McCarthy needs to win.

“I said, absolutely not,” says @AOC https://t.co/zr7iQEyG2y

— John McCormack (@McCormackJohn) January 3, 2023

😂😂😂

Talk about a rigged election. My man Hakeem Jeffries has now won three times and he's STILL not Speaker. STOP THE STEAL!!!!

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) January 3, 2023

RIGGED ELECTION!!!! (That's not copyrighted, is it?)

A+ tweet https://t.co/iveOCbf69s

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) January 3, 2023

🤣🤣🤣