CNN’s Republican analyst Scott Jennings had a slightly raunchy prediction for how the current debacle over the House speaker might end.
Anchor Dana Bash asked Jennings, a former aide in the George W. Bush administration, whether the House might increase the temporary power of Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), the interim speaker pro tempore, to ensure Congress fulfills its duties if Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) can’t find enough votes to secure the seat.
Jennings noted that McHenry was one of the “top guys” for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and helped him get the speakership.
“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 or circles, or jerks!” Jennings said, using both an “Office” reference and a sex act to make his point.
For those not in the know, the very NSFW origin for “circle jerk” is, according to Wikipedia, a sexual practice where a group of males masturbate together. More casually, the term has become shorthand for “self-congratulatory behavior or discussion among a group of people.”
Earlier in his answer, Jennings pointed out that it’s “not in the nature of the conservative wing of the conference to give up.”
“Their whole brand is ‘let’s fight,’” he said.
He then ridiculed the way the way members of the GOP “fight about everything, and even when we’ve gotten fewer votes, let’s keep fighting.”
Jennings added that the “chaos” will continue until the Republican members of the house “get tired of that show.”
One person found Jennings’ group masturbation description wonderfully appropriate, especially when paired with the comment made by Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) that party members “must all come together.”