Speaker of the House vote interrupted by ‘Leeroy Jenkins’ vote

If you aren’t familiar with the baked-in paralysis of American government — some of us slept through a lot of this in 9th grade — the significance of the current political moment may not land with you. At the time of writing, Congress 118 has not been able to choose a Speaker of House of Representatives. The Speaker of the House is typically the head of the largest party. And it’s almost always decided with a single vote — the last time it took multiple ballots was in 1923. As there are, effectively, only two parties in the United States, this year’s failure to follow through on what’s usually a fairly symbolic vote is a pretty pitiful display of a majority-elected government attempting to organize itself.

The House of Representatives is now through five votes to elect a speaker. None of these ballots have resulted in a winner with the majority of voting members. It’s a major embarrassment for the Republican Party, whose members hold a majority of seats in the house (222 of 435) after the 2022 elections. The Democrats appear to be content to wait this out and continue their adversaries’ self-ownage. They’ve been voting in unison for one man, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, a five-term incumbent representing Brooklyn’s Eighth District.

Jeffries has, technically, “won” five ballots (and counting!) While the GOP attempts to reach any sort of fundamental agreement, Jeffries is the Speaker of the House. Unfortunately, this process has forced 435 voting members of the House to convene and sit through a name-by-name roll call over and over again, like Dante’s Spelling Bee.

On the fourth call, Wednesday, Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) punctuated the farce by calling down a latter-day SHAZAM, in a tone video gamers have understood for almost 20 years now: “Hakeeeeeeeeem JEFFRIES!!!”

Yes, Huffman (who’s 58) was deliberately invoking one of video games’ oldest and grandest memes — LeeeeeeeeROY …. JNNNNkins. It was confirmed by the congressman via Twitter

I just hope they’re serving chicken in the House commissary.

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