The funny thing about allowing insurrectionist hard-right conservative whackos into your political party instead of shunning them right away is that you tend to reap what you sow. I am, of course, talking about the current state of the Republican party in the House of Representatives. A hard-right minority of politicians managed to oust Kevin McCarthy from the Speaker of the House position, and have so far successfully blocked Steve Scalise from the position, and, from the looks of it, now Jim Jordan has failed as well.
This is all because the slightly less right, but no less horrible, Republicans of the party simply do not have enough votes to elect anyone else without crossing the aisle to seek help from the Democrats, and they’d literally rather shut down the federal government than do that.
So here’s where we stand: Only the worst person imaginable would do for the ultra-right-wingers. Jim Jordan has been accused of covering up rampant sexual abuse while he was a coach at Ohio State, and refused to testify at the January 6th Committee because he spoke to former President Donald Trump that day, and some more moderate Republicans from purple states simply aren’t willing (for now, at least) to cave to the ultra-MAGA crew and line up behind someone that horrible.
It’s like the other Republicans offered up Darth Vader, and these extremist jagoffs are holding out for Emperor Palpatine. That’s basically the only way a Speaker of the House will get elected in the current session of Congress, and the Democrats are ready. See, despite what some major news outlets would have you believe, the country is not split evenly down the middle as far as ideology goes. Remember, Donald Trump lost by a historic margin in the 2020 election. Abortion wins elections. The more the national political party pushes to the far right, the more they lose. Per NBC News:
In a memo to House Democrats, first shared with NBC News, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee urged party members and candidates to portray the entire GOP as beholden to radicals should Republicans hand him the speaker’s gavel.
There are “no more moderates left in the Republican conference,” the DCCC said in the memo, adding that Jordan will win only if “so-called ‘moderates’” opt to “cave” and elect him.
That’s right, the good guys are going on the offensive. They’ve put together talking points on how to combat Jordan getting elected Speaker of the House (if that happens), operating under the assumption that the majority of Americans probably don’t want someone second in line to the Presidency who refuses to account for his whereabouts and conversations on January 6th, 2021. Funny that. The article further outlines what is sure to be the Democrats’ strategy going forward. Per the above source:
“A Speaker Jordan means extremism and far-right priorities will govern the House of Representatives,” the memo said. “It is imperative that our caucus makes clear to voters just how extreme Congressman Jordan is and how his Speakership would negatively impact working families across the country, threaten democratic norms, and weaken relationships with our allies.”
In short, they’re going to ignore fighting with the Trump-loving insurrectionists across the aisle, and take the message straight to the American people: Is this truly who you want to lead the country?
Personally, I love it. What’s the point of engaging in barbs with people who have rotted their brains, or at the very least their morals, on MAGA rhetoric and hate? Pull a Karen! Go straight to their managers and point out what a terrible job they’re doing! What’s the worst that can happen? I ask that because we’re already living with the worst possible candidates for Speaker of the House. It’s not like the Republicans can look under their couch cushions and offer up someone who doesn’t have vile views and get them elected to the position.
Why not make an appeal to the voting public and point out how utterly incompetent their chosen ruling party has been? The odds of the Republicans electing a Speaker of the House who can successfully usher in a spending bill that will pass both the Democrat-controlled Senate and the Biden Administration’s approval is slim to none. They have to appeal to the worst possible denominator to get elected in the first place. I’m glad the Democrats’ strategy is to remind voters of that.
Electing a Speaker of the House is not the Democrats’ problem to solve, though. Frankly, it’s the voters and the Dems are right to remind them. Voters are who put these obstructionists who have no intention of actually governing the country into power in the first place. They need to know exactly how awful they’re doing.
(featured image: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
