Perhaps “absolutely” was the wrong choice of words. NBC News reported:

After a nearly two-hour meeting with Speaker Mike Johnson, far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., emerged from his office and said the two will continue their discussions Tuesday morning amid her threats to force a vote to depose him. “We’re going to be meeting again tomorrow based on the discussion that we’ve had,” Greene said, standing in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall, though she did not elaborate on what she and the speaker discussed.

PunchBowl News soon after published a report with a headline that read, “Marjorie Taylor Greene slams on the brakes.”.....

So what happens now? I don’t think anyone, including Greene, can say with certainty, though it was of interest to see Politico report that the right-wing congresswoman showed up for her two-hour meeting with Johnson with “a list of potential demands,” which included four provisions. Evidently, Greene wants:

an end to U.S. aid for Ukraine;

the GOP to bring back the so-called “Hastert Rule,” which would prevent Republican leaders from advancing legislation that lacks the support of most Republican members;

an end to federal resources for special counsel Jack Smith’s investigations;
and enforcement of the so-called “Massie Rule,” which Politico’s report said would force automatic spending cuts “if no superseding
agreement is reached before a set deadline.

”
For his part, Johnson doesn’t have a strong incentive to pay Greene’s ransom since she simply doesn’t have the votes to take his gavel away. That said, the Louisiana Republican would no doubt prefer to avoid a vote on his fate because it would likely leave him weakened, even if he prevails.

The White House hasn’t had much to say about Gov. Kristi Noem’s controversial new book, though that changed after the South Dakota Republican suggested that President Joe Biden might need to shoot his dog, Commander.

“We find her comments from yesterday disturbing,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. “We find them absurd. And this is a country that loves dogs. And you have a leader talking about putting dogs down, killing them. And that’s a disturbing statement to say. I would say to her, she should probably stop digging herself in a hole.”.....

In her new book, the Republican claimed to have had a tense conversation with the North Korean leader during her time in Congress. Neither Noem nor anyone on her team have been willing to substantiate or defend the claim in any way.

In fact, asked about this during an appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” the governor said:

“Well, you know, as soon as this was brought to my attention, I certainly made some changes and looked at this, this passage, and I’ve met with many, many world leaders, I’ve traveled around the world. As soon as it was brought to my attention, we went forward and have made some edits. So I’m glad that this book is being released in a couple of days, and that those edits will be in place, and that people will have the updated version.”

When host Margaret Brennan sought to clarify matters, asking whether Noem was confirming that she did not, in fact, meet with Kim Jong Un, despite the claims in the book, the governor said a great many words, none of which answered the question directly. Eventually, she conceded, “This anecdote shouldn’t have been in the book.”

A day later, Noem again appeared on CBS, and was asked, “It’s a simple question: Did you or did you not meet with Kim Jong Un?” The governor stuck to her evasive talking points, concluding, “That’s the answer that I have for you, is that it will be adjusted.”

As the day wrapped up, Noem appeared on two conservative media outlets, both of which asked about the North Korea story. She refused to answer the questions.

Rebellious Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) reportedly laid out her demands to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) during a contentious meeting about her efforts to get him ousted from his position.

Punchbowl News reports that Greene made a number of asks during a meeting with Johnson that included a guarantee that he would not pass more military aid for Ukraine, a pledge to defund special counsel Jack Smith's prosecutions of President Donald Trump, and that "Johnson only advance legislative priorities that have the support of the majority of the majority — an adherence to the so-called Hastert Rule."

But while Trump’s hysterical whining about Smith reflects the Republican’s apparent fear and anxiety, it’s par for the course. What was arguably more important was something Trump wrote to his social media platform late Friday night. Newsweek reported:

Donald Trump has called for Special Counsel Jack Smith to be arrested after the prosecutor’s team said some evidence in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case are no longer in their “original, intact” form.

Specifically, the former president wrote, “ARREST DERANGED JACK SMITH. HE IS A CRIMINAL!”

He’s been gradually moving in this direction for a while. Early last year, for example, for reasons unknown, Trump published a lengthy online tantrum that said Smith “may very well turn out to be a criminal.”

Evidently, 16 months later, Trump has made up his mind — and he now wants authorities to “arrest” the special counsel.....

We can say with some certainty that Trump wanted to prosecute his perceived political foes during his first term, in part because his former White House chief of staff has said as much on the record. Even former Attorney General Bill Barr said he expects Trump to "weaponize" the Justice Department if he returns to the White House for a second term.

With this in mind, I don’t much care whether he calls Smith foolish names, but I do care that the former president wants to see the special counsel arrested.

A few weeks ago, House Republicans announced plans to put aside real legislative work and instead focus on a series of bills related to home appliances. By any fair measure, they weren’t real measures: GOP leaders had set up a series of messaging votes that related to the party’s opposition to energy efficiency standards.

Those efforts, which generated no small amount of mockery, were ultimately delayed. As E&E News reported, they’re apparently back.

The House will hold floor votes this week on bills that would roll back the Biden administration’s energy efficiency agenda on home appliances. ... Lawmakers will debate Arizona Republican Rep. Debbie Lesko’s “Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act,” H.R. 6192, to prohibit the Department of Energy from implementing or enforcing efficiency standards on a wide variety of home appliances if they are not “technically feasible or economically justified” and if they do not result in “significant conservation of energy.”

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise has confirmed that members will take up the bill this week — the Louisiana Republican’s new schedule for the week boasted, "Republicans are protecting your home appliances” — and the GOP-led House Rules Committee has listed the “Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act” as its first order of business today.......

A recent PunchBowl News report helped summarize matters: “These are all part of the Republican culture war clash over energy efficiency and climate change. It’s similar to the gas stove hysteria or Trump’s war on low-flush toilets and light bulbs.“

Quite right. GOP lawmakers know that these home-appliance-related bills aren’t going anywhere in the Democratic-led Senate, but by all appearances, party leaders don’t much care. They want to be able to tell the far-right Republican base that they’re on Capitol Hill, fighting tooth and nail in support of pointless messaging bills that combat energy conservation and efficiency standards.

As a result, the “Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act” will no doubt make for delightful fundraising letters and several Fox News segments, even as real priorities in need of Republicans’ attention go overlooked.

What’s more, during a presidential primary debate last summer, the senator said then-Vice President Mike Pence “absolutely” did the right thing on Jan. 6. In case this isn’t obvious, that’s not Trump’s position.

With this in mind, what, pray tell, is the South Carolinian prepared to do about his partisan “problem”? As NBC News noted, Scott appears to have settled on the most unfortunate fix possible.

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina on Sunday did not directly answer multiple questions about whether he’d accept the results of the 2024 presidential election, regardless of who wins. “At the end of the day, the 47th president of the United States will be President Donald Trump,” Scott, a Republican, said the first time he was directly asked whether he would commit to accepting the election results on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”

Over and over again, host Kristen Welker pressed the Republican to simply say, “yes or no,” whether he was prepared to accept the results of the 2024 presidential election. He wouldn’t say — though Scott was willing to question the integrity of NBC News’ journalism for reasons unknown.
https://twitter.com/MeetThePress/status/1787156391443968012

.....But in 2024, as the radicalization of Republican politics intensifies, Scott wasn’t just asked, he also refused to answer — no doubt because the senator knew that if he answered in such a way that expressed support for democracy, this would’ve caused fury at Mar-a-Lago.

In other words, Scott believes the key to addressing his Team Trump “problem” is to appear more openly hostile toward the American political system, which in turn might boost his national ambitions.

As the GOP’s race to the bottom unfolds, I continue to believe that no one should want to be vice president this badly.