Top O’ the Briefing
Happy Wednesday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. Jerenzwecck had complete faith that his artisanal Vienna sausage buns would be a hit at the Champagne and Cribbage sleepovers.
It would appear that yesterday was the beginning to a Very Special Two-Part Episode of the Morning Briefing. I wish I’d known that, I would have have hyped it a little.
For years, I have been telling people that I am sick of wanting the Republican Party to win more than the Republican Party wants itself to win. A lot of years. Apparently, I’ll be feeling this way a lot longer, maybe forever.
As most everyone is painfully aware, Senate Republicans decided to leg-hump the status quo, which my friend Ward Clark covered over at our sister site RedState:
Well, so much for the guy whose name is on the blame line taking the heat for a disaster.
Yes, you guessed it; Senate Republicans have confirmed Sen. John Thune (R-SD) to be Senate Minority Leader for the 120th Congress. Yes, really.
As I wrote yesterday, “The Senate is a calcified institution that is difficult to shake up internally.” Still, I held the slimmest hope that more than a few Republican senators would think that last week’s humiliation warranted a restructuring of leadership.
After four-plus decades as a Republican voter, this feels like I should have a team of psychologists look into my loyalty. Yeah, I did have a couple doozy head injuries when I was young — probably why I became a comedian — but I can’t have been concussed for over forty years.
Maybe I’ll start my own political party and write in myself from now on.
There is still hope for the GOP while President Trump is in office, of course. It also looks like House Republicans aren’t ready to give up just yet. This is from Matt:
When House Republicans met behind closed doors on Tuesday to choose their next leader, they picked a fighter who won’t back down from the radical Left.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, defeated Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) 106-73 to become House minority leader, according to sources in the room. Insiders had predicted a close race. The final tally said otherwise, and loud, sustained applause carried into the hallway once the result became official.
Unlike the execrable John Thune, Speaker Mike Johnson is an honorable man. He knows that the party needs to show voters that lessons have been learned from the Blue Wave romp on Election Day. Going forward with the same team that limped into the buzzsaw wouldn’t have conveyed that message, which is why Johnson removed himself from consideration for next year’s minority leader.
The GOP is always better when it’s in the minority in either chamber of Congress. It’s always easier to stomp feet, shake fists, and then say, “Golly gosh gee, we just can’t get anything done while the Democrats are in charge.” Republicans tend to be much more aggressive when proposing legislation that they know won’t go anywhere. Paralysis sets in only when they win elections.
As I also wrote yesterday, returning Thune to leadership might just guarantee that Congressional Republicans will be in the minority forever. What’s worse, they may not care if they are, at least in the Senate.
There is still an opportunity for Republicans to course-correct and grow a spine. There’s a lot to be learned from the man at the top about fortitude and perseverance. It would be nice to think that the GOP isn’t just a hapless bunch of uniparty buffoons who just happened to catch lightning in a bottle for a couple of elections with Donald Trump.
Tuesday was a mixed message day, which isn’t surprising from the party that continues to redefine ineptitude when it comes to messaging. House Republicans told voters that, at the very least, they want to see if something new might get the party back on track.
Senate Republicans told the world that they don’t care if their party ever gets any real power in Washington again.
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The Mailbag of Magnificence
It’ll be another quick romp through the Mailbag today. Our friend Doug F. will kick things off:
Now I have to see that deviled egg pic from Laurie C. Maybe in the “Everything Isn’t Awful” section?
Here’s something from the “How the Sausage Is Made” files. Our rear ends have to be covered legally with every photo or picture we post. The Mothership pays AP for the feature images. The things I post in the body of the MB are all embedded from social media, which takes care of the legal stuff. Anything I receive in an email, while much appreciated, won’t make it to the Briefing.
Here is official Briefing pen pal Sharon P:
How about that, Kruiser, guess the ‘we have to listen to the voters’ statement uttered after Nov. 3 was also tossed into the dumpster! Didn’t take long for the same ol’ back-scratching GOP leaders, who ‘worked so hard’ to keep every Senate seat up for the vote last week, to tell us the same ol’ will now get to ‘work’ on keeping all Senate members up for reelection in ’28 in the victory seat! Can’t touch this – ironic? or moronic? – fiasco! Grand Ol’ Party gone?
I am responding to this before I write the “Top O’ the Briefing,” where it is addressed. Yeah, it’s backwards. I just wanted to share your fantastic subject line for this email with everyone: “Thune Deaf.” Well played indeed.
We’ll wrap it up with this from dpr:
Mark Levin and VDH have been warning us, but Repellicans have seemed clueless. Messaging has been bad since Goldwater. Khrushchev spelled out how they would bury us, from the inside, using teachers to steal the minds of our kids. No one under 60 knows diddly about our history, much less the history lessons the founders learned, that great civilizations perish at their own hands. We needed to be on message in 1912, before the 16th amendment slipped past the goalie. Ever since, the leviathan has grown until we are now a de facto socialist nation. The bell can’t be unrung and unlike the 17th century, there is nowhere to run
There is a lot to unpack there. I agree that there is nowhere to run. If I end up being an expat somewhere, it will be with the full knowledge that Western Civilization is doomed without the United States; I just don’t want to watch the death rattle up close. Fortunately, I’m not standing on top of a bridge just yet.
Thanks everyone! Remember, I’ll be just as much fun when we hit the gulag.
Everything Isn’t Awful
Heartwarming footage of baby monkeys being fed after they were rescued from a flood.. 🐵💝 https://t.co/vOQzU2ofaK
— Nature Unedited (@NatureUnedited) November 10, 2026
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Mandrill #artbots #marc https://t.co/p8p7P4YMam
— Franz Marc (@franzmarcart) November 10, 2026
Kabana Comedy/Tunes
Come for the comedy that couldn’t get made on SNL today, stay for the brilliant breaking of character at the end.
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