Over the Hill

America is facing several international crises, ongoing wars, rising authoritarianism abroad and at home, and serious threats to democracy from Europe to Mar-a-Lago. Congress is meeting these serious times, to put it in as nice a way possible, unseriously. In just the past couple of days, we’ve seen Sen. Markwayne Mullin use a Senate hearing to challenge Teamsters leader Sean O’Brien to a fistfight. Rep James Comer who is attempting to impeach the president (the one who didn’t try to overthrow the government) over some $200K loan to his brother didn’t appreciate being called out over his $200K loan his own brother. (Viewer warning: The word Smurf was used.) Kevin McCarthy elbowed his way back in the news when he shoved one of the House members who voted to oust him. “McCarthy shoved past Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., as he was speaking with NPR’s Claudia Grisales in a hallway. Burchett stumbled forward and yelled after McCarthy, ‘Why’d you elbow me in the back, Kevin?! Hey Kevin, you got any guts?!’ Burchett then called McCarthy a ‘jerk’ and chased him down the hallway. When he caught up to him, he said, ‘What kind of chicken move is that? You’re pathetic, man. You are so pathetic.'” House Speaker Mike Johnson isn’t sitting around letting the world’s problems fester. With Democratic support, he’s closing in on a deal to … wait for it … keep the US government from completely shutting down. Inspiring stuff! Meanwhile, the Senate has announced that it will punt on Ukraine and Israel aid until after the Thanksgiving holiday (a period during which Americans will mostly be thankful that Congress is not in session). At this point, Capitol Hill should just use the same theme song as Benny Hill.