The Speaker of the House vote is just one giant meme at this point

Congress is gridlocked. The memes are great.
 By 
Tim Marcin
 on 
kevin mccarthy making sour face with screenshot of tweet about him failing to get speaker votes
Not a good time for Kevin McCarthy. Credit: Alex Wong / Getty Images / Screenshot: Twitter / @holy_schnitt

Congress is a mess. But at least the memes are good.

If you're not up on your political news, Republicans have thrown business in the House of Representatives to a halt with their inability to elect a Speaker. The GOP holds a slim majority in the House, which usually means the vote for a Speaker is a predetermined formality. But amid infighting, there have been six votes, and we're no closer to a consensus. A handful of rightwing holdouts don't want nominee Kevin McCarthy, which has thrown a wrench in Republicans' plans. He's nowhere near the required 218 votes to win a majority.

Heading into Thursday there wasn't any clear indication a resolution was any closer. Democrats, obviously, don't have the votes to elect their nominee, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries. McCarthy doesn't appear to have the votes and isn't budging. Congress is one big shrug emoji right now.


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But the jokes about it are pretty great. There's a fair bit of schadenfreude from Democrats, especially considering McCarthy has courted the very folks now blocking his leadership. And the memes didn't disappoint.

There were jokes about it being like the NFL playoffs.

Honestly, a simple screenshot of the gridlock is funny.

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi probably does feel pretty good right now, if we're being honest.

It is true, while sad, the our government basically does function off drama.

Chief Twit Elon Musk even threw his two cents in, which, shocker, resulted in jokes.

Seriously, the memes went on and on.

There has been absolutely no news of any kind of breakthrough on Thursday. So...look forward to even more memes of this mess.

Topics X/Twitter

close-up of man's face
Tim Marcin
Associate Editor, Culture

Tim Marcin is an Associate Editor on the culture team at Mashable, where he mostly digs into the weird parts of the internet. You'll also see some coverage of memes, tech, sports, trends, and the occasional hot take. You can find him on Bluesky (sometimes), Instagram (infrequently), or eating Buffalo wings (as often as possible).

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