Only an Incompetent Leader Like Mike Johnson Could Cause Republicans to Fight Over—Wait for It—a Tax Cut

2 min readSpeaker Moses wants to suspend the gas tax, probably as a way to camouflage the effects at the pump of the president's wretched war of choice with Iran. So, he called a late-night meeting of the important members of his caucus to discuss the idea. And, according to The Washington Sun, it was Anything Can Happen Day in the Reptile House.The speaker wanted to discuss a bill to suspend the gas tax through the election, an effort spearheaded by House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Maryland). Harris agreed to vote with leaders on a procedural measure in exchange for a commitment. Leaders promised him they would convene a meeting to discuss the possibility of suspending the gas tax.But the meeting quickly devolved into chaos, according to five sources in the room and another briefed on the meeting. Rep. Sam Graves (R-Missouri), chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, brought in a printed post on X from 2022 in which Harris criticized then-President Joe Biden’s efforts to suspend the gas tax. “Suspending the federal gas tax is just another Biden Administration stunt to distract from their self-inflicted crisis,” Harris said in the post. Graves, who sits on a committee of jurisdiction for the gas tax, was opposed to the bill being moved to the floor—outside of regular order—and cited Harris’ previous comments.Mmmmmm, chaos.Harris got livid and began banging the desk, yelling, “This is fucking war! This is war!” according to sources in the room. He was starting to storm out of the room when the speaker attempted to stop him by telling him to stay and “talk this out.” But Rep. Clay Higgins (R-Louisiana), an ally of Harris’, started to berate Graves.“Why do you have to come at him personally?” Higgins said. “You disrespectful fool!” He stormed out of the room along with Harris.Everything is coming unglued. The president is in a state of inchoate rage. Speaker Moses needs a whip and a chair. The Republican party has obviously reached a critical mass of nutballs. Clay Higgins is the guy who believes that the FBI trucked in provocateurs on "ghost buses" to participate in the insurrection in 2021. Harris, meanwhile, is a career climate denialist. And Speaker Moses, who could not organize a one-car funeral if you spotted him the hearse, is supposed to wrangle anything out of this Legion of Superdunces? He can't even get Republicans together on a proposal to eliminate a tax, albeit temporarily. Never thought I'd see the day.