Today is the twentieth day without a Speaker of the House. On Friday, the House of Representatives held yet another Speaker vote. It was their third Speaker vote that week, all in an attempt to install insurrectionist douchebag Jim Jordan as Speaker. Something weird happened though – with each vote, Jordan lost more and more Republican support, all while Democrats stayed in lockstep behind Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. After the third failed vote, House Republicans did a closed-door meeting where they basically took Jordan to the proverbial woodshed and told him and his janky combover that they would never become Speaker.
Hardline conservative Republican Jim Jordan’s quest to become speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives ended on Friday as his fellow Republicans revoked their support following a third, failed vote on the House floor.
That means that the House until at least next week will remain unable to respond to President Joe Biden’s request for a $106 billion national-security package including military aid for Ukraine and Israel or take action to stave off a looming Nov. 18 partial government shutdown.
Support for Jordan’s candidacy faded over the course of the week. He received 194 votes in a third round of balloting on Friday, down from the 200 votes he received on Tuesday and well short of the majority he needed to claim the speaker’s gavel.
Republicans then voted 112-86 to revoke Jordan’s nomination in a closed-door meeting.
“It was an honor to be their speaker designee,” Jordan told reporters after the meeting. “We need to come together to figure out who our speaker is going to be. I’m going to work as hard as I can to help that individual.”
This is good news for American democracy, because it would be very easy to spin out a theory that if “Speaker Jordan” was in charge of the House in January 2025, he would find a way to refuse to certify Joe Biden’s second term as president. That’s how dire the situation is/was.
So, what happens now? Nine candidates have joined the Speaker race, and Republicans will do an internal conference today in what I believe will be an attempt to cull some of the candidates. Then they’re hoping to hold a vote on Tuesday. The Hill has a helpful primer on the new Speaker candidates, with descriptions of how they voted with regards to certifying the 2020 election. Basically, no one really believes that the Republicans can find some consensus on the Speaker. I still halfway believe that Dems can peel off about ten “reasonable” Republicans and come to some kind of power-sharing agreement and perhaps we can really have a Speaker Jeffries.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- House Committee on the Judiciary Hearing entitled: Oversight of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security with United States Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas in Washington, D.C. Featuring: Chairman United States Representative Jim Jordan (Republican of Ohio) Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 26 Jul 2023 Credit: CNP/startraksphoto.com
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- United States Representative Jim Jordan (Republican of Ohio) talks to press after United States House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (Republican of Louisiana) announces he is dropping out of the race for Speaker of the House following a House Republican caucus meeting in the Capitol. Kevin McCarthy (Republican of California) was recently ousted from the Speakership and there is currently no one else officially in the running, however, Jordan originally lost out to Scalise in the official GOP nomination vote. Featuring: United States Representative Jim Jordan (Republican of Ohio) Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 12 Oct 2023 Credit: CNP/startraksphoto.com
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- House Speaker nominee United States Representative Jim Jordan (Republican of Ohio) offers remarks regarding his third attempt for the vote for Speaker of the House of Representatives, at the U.S. Capitol. The position of House Speaker has been has been vacant for more than two weeks since Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy (Republican of California) was ousted from the speakership on October 3, 2023, during a vote initiated by United States Representative Matt Gaetz (Republican of Florida), and led by a small group of far-right Republicans. Featuring: Jim Jordan Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 20 Oct 2023 Credit: Rod Lamkey/CNP/startraksphoto.com
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- House Speaker United States Representative Jim Jordan (Republican of Ohio) takes a moment to talk with reporters as he departs the House Republican Conference meeting after he failed to get enough votes for the speakership on the third attempt for the vote for Speaker of the House of Representatives, at the U.S. Capitol. The position of House Speaker has been has been vacant for more than two weeks since Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy (Republican of California) was ousted from the speakership on October 3, 2023, during a vote initiated by United States Representative Matt Gaetz (Republican of Florida), and led by a small group of far-right Republicans. Featuring: Jim Jordan Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 20 Oct 2023 Credit: Rod Lamkey/CNP/startraksphoto.com
🙏🏽 from your words Lord Beyoncé’s ears…
Excellent. I am an Ohioan and it is only through Republican’s extremely partisan and unfair gerrymandering that we have a no-accomplishments, legislative terrorist like shouty Gym Jordan in Congress. He won’t respond to subpoenas himself, but he loves to dish them out to others. Plain and simple; he’s just a sh!t-stirrer. Period. End. Of.
I was wondering how we got so many inexperienced clowns elected on the R side but I think you might be on to something with the gerrymandering. I mean there is always 1 or 2 that slip through, but this is a lot.
A lot that is wrong with our nation is due to gerrymandering. It’s completely, entirely, provably true. The only phenomena that can come close to that level of damage are lobbying and campaign finance practices.
Is Speaker Jeffries a possibility ? And if so how would it work ? Seeing how republican idiots can’t keep one with their tiny majority wouldn’t they be able to eject Jeffries one day after he starts ?
Not likely imo. Even the most “reasonable” Republicans would never support Jeffries.
Forget about them just voting for Jeffries. How about talking those who represent areas Biden won to change parties. Surely some of them recognize that being a republican in the next election is going to be a burden.
If he can turn some of the more “moderate” (snicker) Rethuglicans to vote for him, yes, Jeffries can be speaker. But highly unlikely, as the rabid trash base that make up the fringe crazies on the right will turn on any Rethug who crosses party lines. This is a party of threats and violence — no one standing up for country over party.
What is a frightening possibility is Speaker Liz Cheney…but hopefully the rabid Trumpers won’t allow that to happen.
All these insurrectionists are so bad that she seems like a preferable alternative. At least we know she’s not interested in a coup d’etat. But, no, Republicans would never consider her.
I used to really despise Liz Cheney and I vehemently disagree with her political views. However, this woman who generally voted with Trump most of the time absolutely refused to do the only thing she had to to keep her job: say Biden lost. She couldn’t do that, so she actually has a moral compass. At this point, given that the 9 (!) Rs currently running have all either supported TFG’s election lie or supported throwing votes out, I would actually consider her a viable option. (If the Speaker has to be an R.) The Rs presently in the House would never do that though.
Dan Goldman, a Congressman from NY gave an interview where he talked about how, practically speaking, if a Republican voted for Jeffries, they would essentially have to become a Democrat because they’d be ostracized from the Republican conference. So I think that’s unlikely, and the MAGA maniacs are never going to vote for someone reasonable. They don’t really want the federal government to function, so they have no incentive to try to keep it open.
This is the result of all that 80s Reagan “the federal government sucks” BS and Newt Gingrich’s “NO BIPARTISANSHIP” dictates back in the 90s. There are a lot of former republicans who I think have the most clear-eyed view on current republicans, but I also think not nearly enough of them have examined their own roles in why the Republican Party is the way it is.
@Another Anna
Exactly. Look what happened to Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger – when they had the integrity to stand up and label Trump responsible for the attack on our Captial on Jan. 6th and call him out on his endless election lies. Cheney essentially threw away her re-election chances for her congressional position, and both are labeled RINOs by the party; it’s utterly despicable. They are both hardcore conservatives, and nothing could be further from the truth – they just had the balls to stand up to Trump’s lies and crimes, when most in their party DO NOT. Anyone crossing party lines to vote for Jeffries as Speaker would be treated the exact same way – even though the end result would get our House functioning again. God forbid they do that – 🙄
This level of dysfunction from the right wing caucus was amusing for a few days, but all amusement has long since ceased. They are paralyzing the entire government. And another budget deadline looms. Anyone who votes for a clown with an R after their name next year certainly deserves what they get, but the rest of us do not.
I agree with your comment! It was entertaining watching the GOP implosion for a bit, but it’s past that point now. We have two wars raging on, a government shutdown looming in less than a month, and three weeks now with no Speaker in sight. This is beyond embarrassing.
Lindsey Graham in 2016 –
“If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed…….and we will deserve it,”
We are witnessing that destruction right before our eyes.
What’s scary is that the number of Republicans who publicly voted against him was 25, while in the secret caucus ballot it was 112. There is no real discussion in the media about how death threats and fear of violence is shaping Republican politics. Not surprised. They let them skate on being tied to anti-abortion terrorists and their murderous hate. Now the militant wing is coming for elected officials who the ultra right see as having betrayed them.
The NYT had a story on Friday with direct quotes from Republican Congressmen/women who voted against this guy and received death threats, people stalking their families, including their children’s schools. Mitt Romney talked about this in his Atlantic Interview and said many of his colleagues told him the threats were the reason they couldn’t be vocal in their opposition to Trump. Romney did it anyway. The Times article made it seem like the Rs are having a Come to Jesus moment about the far right, but I’ll believe it when I see it in actual votes.
We need to get these incompetents out and vote in Democrats who will actually get work done.
Jeffries has done an excellent job keeping the Ds together and letting the Rs (not) take responsibility for the House all by themselves. Well done! If the Ds, who are far more diverse, can stay together, this shouldn’t be so hard for the Rs.
As to moderate Rs breaking free and joining the Ds…that is going to take a LOT of guts. Unfortunately, the US has primaries. That means that the R and D candidates first need to appeal to their base and then usually need to track a bit to the center for votes. Are there Rs who will risk losing the next election so that the country will be less dysfunctional? Up to now, the Rs can’t get it together, but they’ve shown no desire to set up truly bipartisan legislation. After seeing the threats that the spouses (!) of Rs received from their own (!) party, I can’t see many of them breaking free.
Sadly, I think you are 100% correct.
ML, I think a Republican–Johnson?– said that if a moderate would run for speaker they would not be reelected. He seems to be clear thinking. The questions is can they get a moderate to run for speaker that a few of the Dems would join with to get him elected? I guess it depends on whether all of them want to be relected or not. If I was one of them, I don’t know if I would care to be associated with the Party.
Saucy&Sassy, I don’t know if there’s any R who would do it. Plus, that moderate would need a handful of buddies at the very least, plus all the D votes to pass legislation…I can’t see it happening right now.
It’s frustrating to me that essentially New York lost D representatives last election, George (fake name/liar) Santos from New York is still there, and it seems like the House shouldn’t have flipped. Is there a chance that NYS might revert in 2024?
Kokiri (posting below) might be right about the whole goal of the Rs being dysfunction. In any case, if they can spin each EO as being Biden’s fault and convince the voters of this, then the dysfunction turns into a perk for them. Horrifying!
My Twitter is full of posts about republican incompetence, but I tend to disagree with that take.
I think they know exactly what they’re doing, & for what reasons.
To shut down the gov’t, which is exactly what’s happened. Nothing can move forward but by EO, nothing passes, the gov’t runs out of funding in the next few weeks. The insurrection is alive & well.
Perhaps they wait for trump trial to be over, & elect him speaker.
Nothing about republicans (or trump for that matter) is incompetent. It’s all done by design, & it’s working.
You’re so right. They just want to watch the world burn.
Considering trump has four trials, it’s going to be a long wait.
And I’m hoping he ends up in jail. But I’ll believe it when I see it.
For the Democrats, they need to make sure they have a strategy to win(they need to start doing that Now) and remind people what it’s like if we have Trump as president again , but this time it will be for sure worse.. I see some left leaning voters say they won’t vote Biden 2024, that’s a concern. We need all the votes we can get.
AC, in my opinion, they left leaning who are saying that are the ones who are buying into the GOP talking points about Biden being ‘too old’. Every time I see that I counter it and let them know what they’re doing. We need to make people see that they are actually caving to propaganda.
AC and Saucy&Sassy, I’m starting to hear that from relatives and friends of mine specifically in the South. The two biggest gripes they have are either Biden’s age (which is ridiculous when you compare Biden to Trump!), and what they perceive as better for their own wallets. It is so fricking frustrating to have to point out that we’re potentially heading toward a dictatorship. Whoever the D is, we can’t afford not to vote! Plus, if you haven’t already, please consider putting a major utility in your name (proof of residence) and sign up to vote.
To shut down the gov’t, which is exactly what’s happened. Nothing can move forward but by EO, nothing passes, the gov’t runs out of funding in the next few weeks. The insurrection is alive & well.
This exactly.
And, sadly, I’m afraid that the Rethuglican Party line will be that the dysfunction is all on the Democrats for not “cooperating “ — or something something — to set up a functioning government. Some of their base will believe them. Other MAGAs will be thrilled with the disarray. And a huge number of potential voters who don’t follow this stuff carefully will be both disgusted and exhausted — qualities that often don’t make for informed voting.
Steve Bannon wanted chaos. I hope the voters are paying attention to how —and why — we got to this point as a country.
@Blithe, you said it exactly……..”Steve Bannon wanted chaos”.
It is precisely what he calls for in his manifesto. They don’t want to govern, they are ANTI-government. Chaos and anarchy is their tactic to bring the government to its knees and eventually burn it all down. All it will take is for good people to get too weary, complacent, and apathetic to do everything necessary to fight back.
Unfortunately, you don’t have to look too far back in history to see how horribly things can escalate out of control. Left unchecked the worst of history can indeed repeat itself.
HJ 🤞
The usa needs a reset. I’m not concerned about the speaker race. I think most “average” Americans aren’t either. Everything has been moving way fast. Bills become laws under the cover of darkness. There is money for “this” but no money for “that”. I don’t feel panic in the street.
I think people are losing faith in the govt. The last debt ceiling talk; the streets was buzzing. This last one (2023) people just rolled their eyes.
Every American, average or not, should be concerned about the speaker race. If Jordan had won the position, he would not have certified a Dem victory in 2024. Again, EVERY AMERICAN should care about the speaker race. It is vitally important to having a functioning government.
You can’t really say, “I’m losing faith in government” while also saying, “I don’t care about the speaker race.” We can’t ask them to do better and then also say we don’t care.
That thinking is what got Trump elected in the first place. What happened in the UK with brexit. Not caring about the presidency and electing a buffoon just to change things up. Thinking it would be ‘funny’.
The speaker of the house is a big deal. Maybe if people cared more about government and what is being done, then things would actually change. Bills become laws under the cover of darkness because people decided not to care.
Those people in power and the corporations? They love it when we don’t care because they can get away with screwing us over even more to make more money.
100% agree. I was worried. With him as a speaker , democracy would have definitely died down(in phases). In a way I was glad some Republicans still has some integrity left and stuck with American ideals and not vote this criminal in.