CNN’s GOP Analyst Lampoons Republican Speaker Drama: ‘The Biggest Circle Jerk in the History of Circles, or Jerks!’

GOP commentator Scott Jennings used some colorful language to describe House Republicans’ ongoing struggles to elect a speaker, comparing it to monkeys getting frisky with a football and then escalating from there.

Republicans hold a very slim majority in the House, and it’s led to a nationally-televised dumpster fire as the party grapples with the demands from hardliners like Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and attempts to achieve unity on even the simplest procedural decisions.

Gaetz infamously helped derail Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) Speaker ambitions, forcing him to endure an excruciating fifteen rounds of voting and then initiating a motion to vacate that ousted McCarthy from his position on Oct 3. Since then, the GOP caucus has been unable to unify behind any one candidate.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) is the latest to attempt to win the gavel, but fell short in a vote Tuesday — even after some behind-the-scenes nudging from Fox News’ Sean Hannity — and then stumbled again in a Wednesday attempt.

CNN anchor Dana Bash introduced the segment, which aired just before the House took that second vote. Bash mentioned the situation had “grown even more to the point” that “they have to get things out of their system, they have to get to the point where they see no other road,” with Jordan once again looking like he was nowhere near getting enough votes, and asked Jennings for his analysis, including what he thought about the efforts to grant Speaker pro tempore Patrick McHenry (R-NC) some temporary power to help the House attempt to actually get some business done.

Jennings replied that it was “not in the nature of the conservative wing of the conference to give up.”

“Their whole brand is ‘let’s fight,'” he continued. “Let’s fight about everything, and even when we’ve gotten fewer votes, let’s keep fighting, and keep trying to deny the reality, and what you wind up with is just another episode of monkeys getting amorous with footballs starring the House Republicans, and until you get tired of that show — which is, I think, coming soon based on what I’m hearing — you will have to continue to go through this chaos.”

He described the situation with McHenry as “fascinating,” since the North Carolina Republican was “one of McCarthy’s top guys, helped him get the speakership, and if this whole thing winds up with him as being named assistant to the regional manager, whatever title they’re going to give him here, which is not in the Constitution, this will be like the biggest circle jerk in the history of circles, or jerks!”

The whole escapade, in Jenning’s view, showed that the Republicans who snatched the gavel from McCarthy “had no plan,” especially since it was increasingly looking like it would end up with “McCarthy’s guy back as temporary speaker.”

“They threw McCarthy overboard without any plan whatsoever of what to do next,” Jennings concluded, “and so if you think about this means with the conservative cause — how you gonna beat Joe Biden without a plan? They had no plan for this, let alone the broader issues.”

Watch above via CNN.

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