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October 19, 2023 11:14 AM UTC

"Gym" Jordan Taps Out; Republicans at a Complete Loss Now

  • 10 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: It doesn’t appear that there is much enthusiasm for “tapping in” temporary Speaker “Mini” Patrick McHenry to at least allow the House to function a bit more than is possible currently. And in case you were wondering…things could still somehow actually get WORSE:

Leave it to the current House Republican caucus to have stumbled toward an outcome where even the temporary House Speaker could be ousted.

—–
As the Washington Post reports, sound the sad trombone:

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) will not seek an additional speaker vote Thursday, and he will back a plan to give Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.), the temporary speaker, additional powers, according to multiple people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the situation. After two rounds of votes, a group of Republicans had made it clear that Jordan did not have enough support to win the speaker’s gavel. With House functions at a standstill, lawmakers can now consider a proposal to expand McHenry’s powers…

Jordan is pausing his bid for now, but he remains the speaker designee and will reserve the option to hold a speaker vote at any time under the plan being discussed. Senior Democrats are supportive of the plan.

Since Republicans are incapable of coming to a consensus among themselves to do anything, a plan to temporarily “empower” temporary speaker Patrick McHenry to allow the House to carry out essential functions will need Democrats on board to succeed. The increasing likelihood of this outcome is a crushing blow to the “Gaetz Eight” Republicans who voted to remove former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, whose actions have now undeniably given Democrats power over the GOP’s leadership selection process while destroying any remaining perception that Republicans are organized enough to govern effectively.

As can be expected, a lot of House Republicans are very upset about this state of affairs:

A short while ago Rep. Lauren Boebert, who did not vote to remove McCarthy but has expressed support for the move ever since it succeeded, fumed at the idea of a deal with Democrats after her diehard support for Jordan:

Rep. Ken Buck, Colorado’s only member of the “Gaetz Eight,” refused to budge in his opposition to Jordan despite flipping to Steve Scalise a week ago out of expediency. We haven’t seen any comment this morning yet from “KenSNBC,” but we hope in one of Buck’s upcoming cable news appearances we get an accounting of how Buck justifies his central role in both breaking House leadership and preventing Republicans from moving on.

The U.S. House has never been without leadership for so long, and urgent unmet responsibilities are piling up. The Republican Party’s chaos agents including Buck and Boebert have brought the chamber to this standstill, Buck by directly helping oust McCarthy and Boebert by pushing for Jordan past the point it was clear he didn’t have the votes to win.

The best hope for Republicans is that voters are not paying attention, because no one in their right mind would vote to perpetuate this dysfunction.

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10 thoughts on ““Gym” Jordan Taps Out; Republicans at a Complete Loss Now”

  3. WaPo columnist summarizes Jordan's dilemma and the GOP in general

    Look, if we learn anything from my 2023 attempts to become speaker of the House, and Donald Trump’s 2020 efforts to remain president, it’s that elections are a bad method for putting me in charge of things. Obviously, we should be in charge. The simple fact that a majority of people do not want us to be in charge should not be allowed to stand in our way.

    No, I’m not the problem. Voting is the problem.

    1. Alexandra Petri is able to put the BEST WORDS into the mouths of the worst people.  I'm not precisely certain how she is able to push beyond what is being self-censored by people like Jim Jordan — but this is another case when fiction speaks truth.

  4. Republicans want to "drain the swamp"?

    Republicans want to battle "The Establishment"?

    Then do it! Don't just stand around flapping your gums! Do something novel that breaks tradition! Vote for a Democrat for Speaker!

    C'mon, Chip! Can I call ya "Chip"? You rail about "The Establishment" every chance you get but now you're worried about "breaking tradition"?! Now is the time to stick it to "Establishment Republicans" you claim you can't stand. Do it! Why won't you do it?

    In his lengthy political career, Charles Eugene “Chip” Roy has rarely been one of Texas’s loudest or showiest examples of That Guy…

    … Typically, Texas politicians who fall in the That Guy category rail against the system and the establishment, which they say is a threat to the Texas values that many That Guys have dedicated their lives to defending. Roy, who was born inside the D.C. swamp in Bethesda, Maryland, and raised in Virginia, does precisely this, but he is a prominent member of a subcategory of That Guys who are also consummate insiders. He is a miniature of his longtime mentor and ally Ted Cruz: a veteran political operative from out of state, bound for the upper class, who rode to office on the back of a folksy populist persona and a nickname.

    – https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/chip-roy-encyclopedia/

    Oh. That's why.

  5. Republicans in the House demonstrate once again, there is no bottom

    In a day of whiplash and uncertainty on Capitol Hill, Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio said Thursday he would push for another vote to become speaker, even in the face of a growing bloc of Republican opposition.

    It was the latest abrupt turn in a Republican speaker drama that has played out for more than two weeks, underscoring the depth of the party’s divisions and disarray. Unable to unite behind a candidate to lead them, the G.O.P. now can’t even agree on a temporary solution to allow the paralyzed House to function while they sort out their differences.

    1. And in a clear indication of priorities …  after mentioning the death threats and eviction, he says:

      But still, with all that, he says “it would be politically unwise … to use the Democrats to make the House floor functional.” 

      So much for the vague notion that a bipartisan approach to governance is better than a totally partisan demonstration of incompetence, imperiling the function of the entire US government, and potentially melting down the economy. 

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