The House of Horrors

Week 2

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N.B. It appears a troll visited us earlier. Thank you to Maureen, Roslyn, and E. Jean for the heads-up. Substack seems to have taken care of the problem although there have been some other odd things going on. It’s been a busy week with some travel, having to prepare for an event, dealing with a couple of deadlines, as well as being drawn into an unanticipated five hour and forty-five minute—and impossible-to-turn-off—epic tennis match between Andy Murray and Thanassi Kokkinakis. In preparation, I scheduled a couple of posts in advance but when I logged into Substack tonight to find out what was going on with the trolls, I realized nothing actually got published. So, there will be more posts than usual this week in order to get caught up.

By the way, during that extraordinary tennis match, I learned that Linden has a really good forehand as well as very impressive racket-head speed:

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[Below the video, I’ve provided the transcript, edited for clarity and flow, of Friday’s “House of Horrors” with Danielle Moodie, Jen Taub, and me if you prefer reading.]

Mary

It is day 18 of the 118th Congress--kind of, because it took the spineless Kevin McCarthy a few days to get the job he has so coveted. And we are here with you, as we will be every Friday for the duration, to tease out what are the most horrific things that this House of Representatives, led by said McCarthy, have committed against the American people, common sense, and human decency in the last seven days. And Jen, there is no shortage of things, is there? It's just incredible.

Jen

Mary, before I answer your question, I want to alert you to the fact that Sebastian is in the room with you. You know this, okay?

Mary

No, don't worry. I am aware because he has a tendency to jump on the floor and nip at my Achilles tendon, which as you can imagine, is a little unnerving.

Jen

So, if you grimace, it might not be about what I'm saying.

Mary

Yeah, don't take it personally, because it just may be that I'm being hobbled. Hi, Danielle.

Jen

Hey Danielle.

Danielle

Hi.

Mary

I think this should be the place where we start—there's so much horror going on, let's just narrow it down to our top three worst. We each have our own list of three, there might be overlap, that's okay, and then once we've all said what our top three are, we'll start to break it all down. So, Jen, let's start with you.

Jen

Okay. My top three are:

1.     Having Kevin McCarthy put on any congressional committee, but really important ones, actual insurrectionists, in particular, Scott Perry, who is named in the January 6th Committee report. And in fact, in the criminal referral section, the committee makes note that [Perry] probably has information related to the crime committed by Donald Trump, related to the obstruction of the congressional proceedings.

2.     The House Republicans allowing George Santos, or whatever his name is, a con artist, Ponzi-schemer, dog killer, we could go on, the only good thing about him is drag show performer, but stealer, thief, all this stuff, seating him on committees, but also pretending that they're like John Roberts at the Supreme Court: "We can't figure out how to do anything about this. He was elected." As if they don't have the power to have an investigation. All they need to do is hold one hearing, have him at the hearing, put him under oath-

3.     The third thing is the House voting on something else related to taxes this week, which is to abolish the IRS and add a national sales tax on top of what people are paying, of essentially 30%, and pretending it's 23%. Those are my three.

Mary

Okay, excellent. Danielle.

Danielle

So, we have some overlap, because some of mine are the same.

1.     One, for me, is George Santos, slash Kitara, slash whatever the hell his name is, Brazilian mistress.

2.     And the other is the fact that we have insurrectionists serving in our government. Just like the fact Brazil is better than us. They actually arrest people. And we don't, we just elect them to office and to serve.

3.     And then third is Marjorie Taylor Greene being on anyone's committee, number one, but Homeland Security, because immigration is her top issue. You mean, being a white supremacist? So, I'm just outdone, I'm disgusted, so that's where I am.

Mary

Okay, my top three are.

1.     I think from now on, until George Santos is either in an American prison or has been extradited to Brazil, we should just assume that he's on the list. But again, it's less about him than the fact that, despite all of the revelations, and I mean seriously, how many more can there be? The Republicans aren't doing anything about it and have put him on committees.

2.     The second is similar to both of yours—that the composition of the oversight committee is such a kick in the teeth to due process, and legitimate investigations, and people who think that being pro-insurrection is a bad thing in America.

3.     And three is the refusal of McCarthy to allow Adam Schiff, Eric Swalwell, and Ilhan Omar to be seated on any committees. And in the process, of course, he basically defames Eric Swalwell, but using the excuse the fact that Greene and Gosar were removed from committee.

So, we're going to get to all that, but let's start with the most obvious one and that's what's his name. I don't really know what his name is. Is it Anthony Devalder? Is it Kitara? Which by the way, is the only thing he denies. The only good thing he's done in his life is something he denies. But he's all in on DeSantis' Don't Say Gay bill. Jen, you started to talk about why it's problematic and why it's infuriating, so just elaborate a little more. What is the danger not just having George [Santos] in Congress sitting on committees but that the party is totally refusing--and why are they refusing to do anything about it?

Jen

So, they, as we all know, have a very slim majority in the House, and every seat counts. I think they don't want him kicked out because it's a district that a Democrat would win and that's a seat they would lose. It's just that. Even so, they're following your uncle, who is also as much of, if not more of, a con artist, so there's that. If you're a Republican, you can shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and they'll sit you on a committee and they don't even know who this guy is. I mean, he is a complete con artist. He's a complete lying thief. That's it. And they're seating him. And what bothers me the most is that I don't see a lot of folks calling this out. They could do something. To say, well, he was elected—his lies were elected, but technically speaking, his name was on the ballot. His candidacy resulted in a victory. But they could do something, as I said. They could hold a hearing and put him under oath. They don't have to seat him on any committees.

Mary

Right.

Jen

Right? Are they afraid he's going to switch over to the Democratic Party? If he did, the Democrats would kick him off somehow, find a way. But all of this, all of the lying about like, “Oh, I'm powerless,” It's the same thing as the report that John Roberts's Supreme Court put out yesterday saying, “We interviewed everybody except the Supreme Court justices and their spouses, and we can't figure out how the leak happened.” And it's like, you are full of it. You lose your credibility when you pretend you have no power and that's what they're doing. I've never been as shocked as I am about the Santos thing. It'd be so easy just to get rid of him and he's a joke.

Mary

Yeah, Danielle, that's really interesting. It doesn't shock me at all. And maybe that's because I've become so incredibly jaded and I should probably do more therapy. But it's certainly yet another condemnation of and commentary about this Republican House under the most vile speaker. Well, that's Denny Hastert. But who will go down in history certainly as the worst Republican Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy. And now, just a quick note, I apologize if I seem a little distracted. My internet is out, so I'm on my phone and I don't know where to look and I'm very distracted, so I'll do my best to refocus. Sorry, Danielle, go ahead.

Danielle

I would say a couple of things. First, I've been referring to Kevin McCarthy as the Fisher Price Speaker of the House. His gavel is so hollow, it's a toy at this point, so there's that. Two, I think that everything that Jen said was correct. They're not going to remove Santos because they have a four-vote majority right now and you would bring that down to three. And whatever sliver of hope they have for doing anything other than gutting any progress and rolling back proper legislation that was put forth by the previous House, they won't be able to do. Right? Because he already is trying to lasso Gaetz and Bobert and others who don't want him there simply for the fact that they don't like him. So, I think that George Santos is emblematic and the epitome of the Republican Party. And what I would love to continue to see is the Democrats wrap Santos around the party like a fucking anchor, like an albatross.

That's what he is. The other thing, too, is just like, how do you decipher between whose lies are okay and whose lies aren't? Whose grift needs to be investigated and whose grift doesn't? Because they're all a bunch of fucking grifting liars led by Donald Trump. So, to me, it's like, yeah, every day is going to be a new lie, every day is going to be a new shock, but I'm like you, Mary, I've run out of the ability to be shocked. There's nothing that can be broken about a George Santo right now where I would be like, oh my God, could you imagine? It's like, what else? Do you know what I'm saying? What else is there?

Mary

Yeah, I mean, as Jen alluded to earlier, he's directly responsible for killing a sick dog and stealing the money that was meant for the dog's surgery, a dog who's owned by a United States veteran for God's sake.

Jen

He might even have lied in order to get citizenship here. Right?

Mary

Yeah.

Jen

And we've got cheating veterans, killing dogs, lying about your citizenship, drag shows. I'm into the drag show, that's not the point. But the point is, all of these things are supposedly things Republicans care about.

Mary

His employment history, his education history, his mother's history, lies about how she died and where. So again, though, that part almost doesn't matter anymore because what McCarthy's saying, everybody fudges their resume. Alright? If you think that's embellishing, then you need a dictionary or you're telling us something about your party that's very damning. And I want briefly to tease out the slim majority issue because remember, very sadly, a Democratic representative died in the transition period. So, he will, I believe, be replaced by a Democrat, so that increases the Democrat's numbers by one. And I believe he's going to be okay, but a Republican representative was in the ICU because he fell off his roof doing home repairs. And I don't know anything about the man, I believe that he's on the mend and that's great, but it just shows you how little room there is.

Somebody gets sick, somebody gets long COVID and can't show up, because Kevin McCarthy insists everybody be there in person. I think that's going to come back to bite him when it comes to votes. And if Santos is imprisoned or sent to Brazil, it is almost certain that a Democrat will win his seat because a Democrat held his seat before. It's just that people on Long Island and Queens apparently are very fickle. So, there's no room for error. And I think one thing that Democrats need to start doing is appealing to those, I think it's 15 to 18 Republicans who won in swing districts that Biden won in 2020. And just say, hey guys, if you want to get reelected, you need to work with us. And what's fascinating is that Santos, as I just said, is in one of those districts and every Republican in New York wants him to quit.

Danielle

I wouldn't appeal to them though. You're nicer than me because I wouldn't appeal to them, to the 15 or so that are in swing districts. I would run campaigns against them. I would run the media campaign and hold up every single vote that they make, put that against who their constituents are, and just air them out. These people are existing in a bubble in districts that Biden won by a sizable number, which means that the people in their districts have fucking sense. So, I'm not trying to be a Democrat and saying, "Hey, come over to our side," because they won't. I love shame. Do you know what I'm saying? I love the idea of the media exposure, and threat, and being able to run things on social media and on television that airs out who these people are and puts their constituents on alert.

Mary

Yeah, I'm all for shaming them. They're horrible. I can't remember her name, but I think she's in North Carolina or something, she's pretending to be a moderate. Come on, she voted for the rules package, she voted for McCarthy. There are no moderates here. I mean for the purposes of getting anything accomplished, like don't vote to raise the sales tax by whatever. So, I just mean whatever it takes to get Democrats either stopping the most egregious of the Republican's bills or maybe getting some positive things accomplished. We literally need four people and we have the majority, so whatever works. They are shameful and they should be shamed. It's just strategically, when does that happen? Do we shame them into working with us? Do we shame them if they don't work with us. I don't know.

Jen

I think you just sit back and wait for your moment. There's a hurricane, there's the flu, and you get in there and you strike.

Mary

Yeah, it's early days and as we know, so much can go wrong. Oh boy. All right, so let's go next, because we spent a lot of time on that because again, it's not about Santos, it's about the entire mechanism of this House. Let's go on to I think something we all had different versions of and it’s: who’s getting on committees? So, Danielle, talk to us about what to you is the most troubling of the committee assignment issues.

Danielle

I think that the most troubling is that we know that Republicans don't make decisions based on any type of facts or logic whatsoever, that everything is about being vindictive. So, you're going to remove three credible champions of patriotism and the Constitution because you don't like them, because they decided to not roll over and allow Donald Trump to run roughshod over the country. And then you want to make the comparison and say, well, we're going to remove them. You're removing Ilhan Omar because you are a fucking racist. Right? So that's number one. And she is Muslim and you're an Islamaphobe. So, what I want to see is the Democrats circle around her in particular because you know that that's why she's being targeted, so that's number one. Swalwell and Schiff, I mean, we know that Schiff is exemplary, just bar none. I think that that man is just incredible. And Swalwell is a fighter. Right? He went out and decided that he was going to issue a lawsuit against Donald Trump. Right? So, I think that to me, Kevin McCarthy is just so fucking petty. He is a petty, small, small man-ish, small man boy. Right?

Mary

Yep.

Danielle

And I think that those removals are disgusting. And then the placement of Marjorie Taylor Greene, who somehow became his fucking cheerleader that we watched them on the House floor for his shameful last 15 votes that it took him to get the fucking job in the first place. Marjorie Taylor Greene harassed children who were traumatized as victims of a school shooting. Marjorie Taylor Greene is an anti-Semite, right? Marjorie Taylor Green is a white nationalist that loves to go on stages with other white nationalists and talk about a white Christian Nationalist Doctrine of America. She's a fucking Nazi.

You have these people and you're going to put her on Homeland Security. To make sure that she keeps what? The brown people out of this country? Mary—sometimes I run out of words, which is very odd for me. But at this stage, it's just like if the mainstream media continues to talk about this party like they are fucking normal and that they are not the white supremacist nationalist party, that they're not the white citizens council party. They're doing Americans a disservice because the moves that they're making are only to uphold fascism, white supremacy, and usher in authoritarianism. There's no way around it. You can't say, well, we are not sure what's in their hearts. Look at what's in their face. Look at what's in their legislation.

Mary

Yeah. We know. We know who these people are and Jen. Well, first, I just want to say this doesn't have to do with the people he's putting on the committees, but I want to point out that an additional way McCarthy is making his life harder for himself is that he's dissing a lot of senior people who should have, by rights, at least in their view, gotten to chair certain committees and he's bypassing them to put the worst of the worst. And I know that's an almost meaningless distinction because they're all horrible but some of them are active insurrectionists and some of them aren't.

Jen

Yeah, I want to go back to what Danielle said, and this is important to me, and you might see today, I haven't worn this in a long time, I'm wearing a Star of David and I'm going to start wearing that. I don't want to pass anymore as just a white Christian lady, which I walk around the world as. I'm going to wear Jew right up here because when you mention Marjorie Taylor Greene and how she's a white supremacist, an anti-Semite, and who she hangs out with—I just want to be clear about that. One person, for example, is Nick Fuentes. She has been on stage with him and now he is saying, "Well, she's sold out," but he's this dude who a lot of the Republicans support. And just the other day he said Jews are really good at conjuring up fantasies and that we are spell-casters or wizards.

I laugh about that because it's so fucking funny but, yeah, it's really dangerous because it's part of this bigger anti-Semitism, white replacement theory. And these are the people, Paul Gosar is one of them, you've mentioned him. So when we say, yeah, there are no moderate Republicans, but there are Republicans who are willing to participate in a system of white supremacist patriarchy because they get benefits from it. But then there are others who, in addition to that, because we all get benefits or hurt by that system but the Republicans generally want to hold up and enforce that system. But then we have this other portion of them who also have racial animus, who actually hate people. And I think it's important to draw this distinction because it's the difference between a system that's oppressive and moving into the dangers of genocide and it's fucking scary.

Mary

I have to be honest with you, I'm becoming less and less willing to make the distinction.

Danielle

Yeah. Yep.

Mary

In fact, I'm not willing to make that distinction. They are all part of the system. They all uphold the system—I don't care what their reasons are. You're voting for Kevin McCarthy, also an insurrectionist. He supports these white-supremacist, anti-Semites, who by the way, want to destroy American democracy. So, unless they decide to create a coalition that votes with Democrats all the time, then we can revisit them. But it's not going to happen because they still think that's their best path to hang on to power.

Danielle

Yeah, I think that the desire for us to part and parcel at times is to believe that there is some level of humanness, some level of morality that is still attached to these people. And the reality is that whether you are an active insurrectionist, giving reconnaissance tours, wearing a bulletproof vest as you're at the Stop the Steal rally, whether you are giving the fist up in the air, or you are sitting on the sidelines allowing for it to happen, we shouldn't be making a distinction at all. Because there is not one member of the Republican Party, whether they're in the House or not, that has stood up and said, this is not who we are. And when they were, right? Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, they're gone.

So, if you are not going to stand up to racism, to anti-Semitism, to bigotry, to political violence, which is the bare fucking minimum; if you can't even come out and say that people shooting up your democratic opponents, this is not who we are. Right? You can't do the bare minimum, then we need to stop saying the moderate Republicans and the this, that, and the other thing. They're one and the same.

Mary

Yeah, there's no conservative, there's no moderate anything. They're all extremists and anti-American. Jen-

Jen

Thank you. I mean, it's hard to face that because I keep thinking people like Kinzinger and people like Cheney who I don't agree with their policies, I keep thinking they're still there and they have been expelled from the party.

Mary

But even if they were, Liz Cheney, really her only break with the party was Donald. So, if you ever hear her speak about abortion, my God, it's insanity. All right, we're almost out of time, but I did really briefly want to talk about the tax issue because it's insane and it's just another instance of the mainstream media failing us. They keep talking about these Republican legislations as if they're, well, it's just they're in charge so they get to craft legislation. It's completely—I don't even know what the word is. Jen, can you walk us through it quickly? And then I want to ask you guys one last question.

Jen

Yeah. So very quickly, what is being proposed here is to completely abolish the federal income tax and replace it with something that would not actually be sufficient in terms of revenue and would also be incredibly harmful to poor, middle-class, upper middle-class, and help the super-rich.

Mary

You mean it would be regressive?

Jen

Yeah, that's the word I'm looking for, regressive.

Mary

Huh, weird.

Jen

And it would be a federal sales tax that the states would have to collect and then remit to the feds, and it's 30%. You may hear the 23%, here's why that's not the case. If you spend $100.00, you've got to pay $30.00. So, you and I would think that's 30%. But what they do is they go $130.00. They say, 30 divided by 130 is not 30%, it's 23%, so they're trying to fucking fool us.

Mary

Well, 23% is still in insane.

Jen

Okay, but still, it's actually 30%. And the thing is, where it's stupid is other countries have something called a value added tax, but that's not a sales tax that you see up front. It does affect the price of goods, but it's a value added tax paid by the businesses along the way on the production. And what the 30% sales tax, it's not going to pass, but what it would do is it would crush people struggling with inflation already and it would make it impossible for Democrats to win again. And then what they would do is they would get rid of it. Thank God they're not in power in this Senate right now.

Because I think they'll try to push it. But no President, no Republican President would go about things this way. There's a different way that you would move forward to something like a value added tax, but you can't get rid of the income tax on the super wealthy because we already have inequality as our biggest problem in this society.

Mary

Yeah. That extra seat in the Senate is something that we must never take for granted. We just need one more. Okay. Danielle, did anything good happen in the House of Representatives this week? Or I'm sorry, you're looking at me like I've lost my mind.

Danielle

Yeah, I'm looking at you like you're crazy, you said “something good.”

Mary

I'm sorry. Should I rephrase the question? And in all of the horrible things that happened, are there any silver linings?

Danielle

Again.

Mary

I'll start. I'll start. The week is over.

Danielle

Yeah, it's Friday. It's Friday, so we get two days to rest until the next round of crazy bullshit that comes out.

Jen

Well, somehing good is that, Danielle, are you wearing a sweater under a blazer like the Santos look? Is that what you're adopting?

Mary

Oh no.

Danielle

I am in Rhode Island and it is so damp and cold here, so I have on three shirts, I have on three sweatshirts. No, I am on a mini vacation, but I'm still working.

Jen

In the cold.

Mary

You picked a really good spot.

Jen

That's good for you.

Danielle

Yes.

Mary

I just drove through Rhode Island yesterday, it was very grim.

Danielle

Yeah, I mean but it's super quaint. Yeah.

Mary

Beautiful little state. So, all right, I'll go on. Jen, anything good?

Danielle

Anything good for you, Jen?

Mary

Anything? Anything?

Jen

I had a really nice conversation with my friend Danielle on a podcast called Woke AF.

Mary

That did not happen unless it happened in the House of Representatives.

Danielle

Unless it happened in the House of Representatives.

Jen

Oh.

Danielle

It should have happened on the floor.

Mary

I have a better question. My question should have been, are you guys okay? But if you want to find out if Danielle and Jen are okay, listen to Danielle's podcast, Woke As Fuck. I'm sorry. Woke AF.

Danielle

Yeah.

Jen

Oh, the other good thing that didn't happen in the House is I have this podcast, Mary, and it's called Booked Up with Jen Taub. And you're going to be a guest. Did you mark your calendar for March 2nd at 1:00 PM, Mary?

Mary

I told you I wrote it down in pencil because I have absolutely no faith.

Danielle

Sebastian wrote it down.

Jen

I have a producer who's amazing and he'll be in touch.

Mary

Yeah, I think I blocked his email address, so good luck with it.

Jen

Fuck that guy, whatever.

Mary

We keep this [show] short because it's a little hard to take, so going on and on about this. . . . No, I'm kidding. We just want to keep everybody up to date. I don't know that we've ever paid this much attention to the House of Representatives before because we are heading into pretty dangerous times with the debt ceiling. And I think we have for the first time in American history a majority in the House that actually would allow the United States to default on its debt, which would—we'll deal with that if we have to, but let's hope we don't. All right, Danielle Moodie, Jen Taub, thank you guys so much, my Nerds. We will see you next week. Everybody, thanks for being here, and have a great weekend. Stay safe and be kind.