The reversal on the ethics vote could be a marketing maneuver.

[LAS14]

What do you think about the idea that Trump and the leadership fomented this just so Trump could look "ethical?"

Is there a place where I can find out details about stuff like this? Like exactly which representatives instigated this, who voted for it, etc.?

[MissB]

1. And yet the narrative really is that the people created an outcry

that was deafening.

[LAS14]

3. Yeah, but they could have anticipated the outcry, looking....

...for an opportunity to "respond."

[lpbk2713]

2. I don't trust any one of them further than I can throw them.

It could just be a distraction from some other sleazy move they have going on.

[Pholus]

4. Disagree. Without public outrage Don the Con would let it go.

Self promotion and finger to the wind.

[LAS14]

5. Some interesting info from Wapo.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/01/03/how-much-did-trumps-tweets-really-have-to-do-with-the-hill-gops-ethics-reversal/

[gratuitous]

6. Or they miscalculated the attention the first vote would get

A quick application of Occam's Razor tells me the simplest explanation is that congressional Republicans didn't think the American people would give a tin shit if they neutered their ethical watchdog as their first action of the new Congress. When it got too much attention they reversed course, but I don't think this little skirmish is over by any means. They'll have another go at it before St. Patrick's Day.