Meyers and Kimmel take closer looks at Sidney Powell pleading guilty and Jim Jordan's 'Groundhog Day' of losing votes

I told my readers "Stay tuned" at the end of Rite Aid declares bankruptcy, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse and opioid crisis because "I plan on returning to Jim Jordan running for Speaker, which is turning into another Groundhog Day." I'm still doing that, but another story has bumped it down to second place. Watch Seth Meyers explain in Sidney Powell Flips on Trump, Pleads Guilty and Cooperates with Prosecutors: A Closer Look.

Seth takes a closer look at Trump's former election lawyer Sidney Powell pleading guilty to election interference while Jim Jordan still lacks the votes to become House speaker.

LOL, the Kraken kracked under pressure. This reminds me of what I wrote about Powell in Trump's lawyers face sanctions in Michigan over conduct during election lawsuits.

Powell shows that Trump's delusion is not just dangerous but contagious and when its believers said the suits were "releasing the Kraken," they were really releasing the Krak(pot)en(ing). I liked the Kraken better in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies.

Just as a reminder, Federal judge in Michigan sanctioned Powell and other Trump lawyers for abusing the legal process to undermine democracy.

This is exactly the outcome I was hoping for and that I thought the Kraken-shot lawyers deserved. May the ruling for sanctions deter other lawyers from doing what Sidney Powell, Lin Wood, and others did in this case. It also satisfied the sentiment I repeated in Seth Meyers updates late-night talk show hosts on the 2020 election and its aftermath for Throwback Thursday on April Fools Day.

As I have written repeatedly about the criminal prosecutions of public officials for their roles in the Flint Water Crisis, "The wheels of justice are grinding slowly in this case, but I expect they will indeed grind exceedingly fine." May they also grind exceedingly fine for Trump and his seditious supporters, if not as slowly.

I think the sanctions and referrals for discipline look like being ground exceedingly fine, don't you?

Two years later, Powell's guilty plea shows that the wheels of justice continue to grind slowly, but they are indeed grinding exceedingly fine, pun intended.

Jimmy Kimmel reversed the order of stories in his monologue from last night, Chaos in Congress, Trump Lawyer Pleads Guilty in Election Fraud Case & Romney/Cruz Unity Ticket?

The fire department stopped by after the show to respond to smoke pouring out of our edit bays, Congress has now gone 16 days without a Speaker, Jim Jordan still claims to be in it after losing twice, Republicans are infighting, Fox News is trying to bully the holdouts into voting for Jim Jordan, Mitt Romney talks about trying to form a unity ticket with Ted Cruz in 2016 in his new book, Donald Trump’s former lawyer Sidney Powell pled guilty to six charges in Georgia, Joe Biden’s campaign now has more followers on Truth Social than the Trump campaign, we check in with the “Bachelor in Paradise” contestant who is the new face of American constipation Sam Jeffries, and This Week in Unnecessary Censorship.

On the one hand, "'Coach Gym' Jordan as Speaker...[a]s I've written before, things can always get worse." On the other, it looks like that won't happen. Jordan keeps losing votes, both the ballots and the number of Republicans voting for him. Instead, as I predicted in Closer looks at Steve Scalise running for Speaker and George Santos indicted again from Colbert, Meyers, and Kimmel, "If I were betting, I'd put my money on Hakeem Jeffries to have the most votes on the first ballot, although he's not going to be Speaker - this time." That's happened twice already.

So who would I pick next? Well, I already have a label for Elise Stefanik, so I'm prepared for her as I was for Kevin "Pickled Tongue" McCarthy to become Speaker. It would make it easier for me. Also, it's not an entirely original idea. Just as this situation began to unfold, Pablo Manríquez of The New Republic asked Could We Really Be Headed Toward—Gulp—Speaker Stefanik? Earlier this week, Chris Churchill wondered in The Albany Times-Union Elise Stefanik, a candidate of compromise in House mess? Neither of them think this is actually a good idea, but Stefanik makes a certain amount of sense. She's a policy moderate who supports Trump, she's already in leadership, and her main competition after Jordan, who she nominated for Speaker, while mentioning his wrestling past, is Majority Whip Tom Emmer. He's not an effective whip and is so bland I've never heard of him before. That might make him an acceptable compromise candidate to Republicans after they give up on Jordan, but I'm not sure the House GOP is ready for compromise. Besides, I think he would make for boring blogging. Stefanik would be more interesting. Too bad she doesn't appear interested in being Speaker. Here's to hoping appearances are deceiving.

I close with a song dedicated to Powell, The Kraken.


Enough crime and politics. Stay tuned for Sweetest Day.