Jim Jordan is a clear example of some of the worst Congress has to offer. We all know this. Yet, for a brief minute, there was a chance he might have been the next Speaker of the House. After Kevin McCarthy was kicked to the curb, Republicans have found themselves in a swift spiral into chaos. While this seems like the perfect storm for an opportunistic sneak like Jordan to creep in, he went through three rounds of humiliation before finally being dropped by his party.
On Friday, Republicans voted by secret ballot to drop Jordan after his third failure to secure enough votes earlier that day. Maybe Republicans were remembering the 15 rounds of embarrassment they suffered with McCarthy’s election and wanted to cut their losses early this time. Trump had endorsed Jordan but that was clearly not enough to push him over the top. Jordan seemed to accept his defeat, saying that Republicans need to come together and he was honored to be their “speaker designee.”
The final vote of Jordan’s nomination saw 25 Republicans vote against him—a higher number than in the two previous rounds. It was clear the party was moving away from him, not toward him, and that Jordan wasn’t going to secure enough votes to win the speakership. So the question remains, what the heck do Republicans do now?
It is fair to say that no one seems to know the path forward. South Dakota Representative Dusty Johnson gave a pretty telling statement, saying to CNN: “We’re back to square one.” Simple. Sad. Silly. Defines the modern Republican party, which continues to be fractured between Trump/MAGA devotees, those who are Republicans but loathe Trump and his ilk, and those who fall somewhere in between. Garnering enough support from all sides seems hard, if not fully impossible, for any speaker nominee.
As of now, there are reportedly nine candidates looking to get the nomination for the job. Tom Emmer is one of the Republicans who could potentially be the next speaker, according to CNN. It is believed he has support from ex-speaker McCarthy, although who knows if that endorsement carries any weight at all. He is from Minnesota and is the majority whip in the house. Representative Hern from Oklahoma is also a guy on the shortlist apparently. The GOP has really no good candidates. But their inability to agree on who is the least horrible is very illuminating and, frankly, hilarious.
(featured image: Win McNamee/Getty Images)
