In Snark We Trust: Speaker SNAFU

It’s an ill wind that blows no good, and if yesterday’s proceedings in the House were bad for now-former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, (and for any hoped-for stability in DC’s lower house) they were certainly a boon for the wits among the representative from Bakersfield’s enemies.

Comic fusillades came from McCarthy’s left and right flank on X – the social media platform generally still called “Twitter” – led by his onetime California GOP ally Mike Madrid:

“Kevin McCarthy looking for a fire alarm to pull right now.”

Democratic congressman Jamie Raskin dug in with a reference to the fanciful history of one New York congressman:

“Waiting for the vote and I reminded Jared Moskowitz that there was never so much chaos in the House when George Santos was Speaker.”

Minutes later, Santos shared Raskin’s post, adding “You damn right there wasn’t!”

And, speaking of other House members, user @BlackKnight10k tweeted, “Kevin McCarthy went down faster than Lauren Boebert at the theater.”

And, famously short-tenured former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci couldn’t resist inserting himself into the fray:

“@SpeakerMcCarthy lasted 24.5 Scaramuccis.”

Perhaps the most creative tweets of the day played on the multiple meanings of “Speaker.” Political scientist Lee Drutman wrote, “GOP learns the hard way: Turning the base up too high blows out your Speaker.”

And user @RK_Hayes went one better, posting a meme playing on a common security feature – a series of photos with the caption “Select all images with speakers” – with the audio components checked off, portraits of McCarthy not selected.

But no one topped Capitol Daybook, who posted a job listing from their @DaybookJobs account: “Job Opportunity! The U. S. House of Representatives seeks a Speaker of the House based in Washington D.C. Yearly Salary: $223,500.”