15 Ways History's Been Made This Week

     For better or for worse, we are living in what is potentially the most historic decade in modern American history. 2020 saw tensions with Iran, Trump's first impeachment, COVID-19, Black Lives Matter protests, the 2020 election, and unprecedented attempts to overturn that election. 2021 and 2022 saw the Capitol insurrection, Trump's second impeachment, the continuation and ultimate diminishment of COVID, the Biden administration and its historic agenda, the 2022 midterms, and global events in Ukraine and Afghanistan. If 2023 is to be any less historic, it hasn't given us any indication. This week alone, historic events are occurring almost by the hour on Capitol Hill:

1. Mitch McConnell was re-elected to his role as Senate Minority Leader, becoming the longest-serving Senate leader in American history.
2. Chuck Schumer was re-elected to his role as the first Jewish Senate leader in American history.
3. Patty Murray was sworn in as the first female Senate president in history, making her third in line for the presidency and, thanks to the drama in the House, temporarily second in line.
4. Hakeem Jeffries assumed his role as the first black House Minority Leader in American history.
5. With Hakeem Jeffries, Katherine Clark, and Pete Aguilar taking the top three respective spots in Democratic House leadership, America marked the first time that no white man served in the leadership of a major political party.
6. Cheryl Johnson, the outgoing clerk of the House, has control until the proceedings are finished, marking the first time in American history that a black woman has been in effective control of the House of Representatives.
7. Kevin McCarthy became the first party leader in 100 years, only the second since the Civil War, and only the 15th ever to not win his nomination for Speaker on the first ballot.
8. Hakeem Jeffries became the first black man to be nominated for Speaker of the House of Representatives in American history.
9. Hakeem Jeffries' 212 votes over Kevin McCarthy's 201 to 203 marks the first time in American history that a minority party's nominee for Speaker won more votes than the majority party's nominee.
10. Democrats' 212 votes for Hakeem Jeffries marked the first time that all members of a political party cast their ballots for the same Speaker nominee, let alone on 13 or more occasions.
11. Byron Donalds being nominated for Speaker marked only the second time (after Jeffries) in American history and the first time in Republican history that a black man was nominated to be Speaker by a major political party. 
12. With Donalds' nomination, the House marked the first time it had two black nominees for Speaker competing against one another.
13. After 13+ rounds of voting, Kevin McCarthy's Speaker bid has been the longest since before the Civil War and the fourth-longest in American history.
14. The 118th Congress is the third-oldest in U.S. history.
15. There are over 150 women in the 118th Congress, the most at any point in U.S. history.

     We'll see how the events of this week play out. It's possible that more history could be made by Friday afternoon. Until then, however, it seems likely that we'll see more Republican infighting and self-inflicted humiliation on the part of Kevin McCarthy and his caucus. To anyone who voted for the GOP in November, this is what you voted for; this is all this clown car of weirdos and freaks is capable of: chaos.