Here Comes Speaker Nothing (w/Update)

In spite of the warnings, even as the House Republicans rejected backing a solid conservative figure in Scalise, that GOP Caucus allowed Jim "Scandal-Plagued" Jordan to re-up his nomination over the weekend. Even with a last-minute nominee from a virtual nobody from the back benches in Scott Austin trying to rally the more rational factions to prevent Jordan from winning outright, it's looking as though Jordan and his Freedom Caucus allies are bullying enough of the holdouts into ceding their choice.

This description from Matthew Cooper over at the Washington Monthly spells out what the House is going to get if Jordan becomes Speaker:

Jordan is MAGA rage in a tie. According to the January 6 report, Jordan aided Trump’s efforts to overturn the election, participating in meetings with Rudy Giuliani and Trump, arguing for delaying the January 6 election certification, and spewing lies on Fox and at “Stop the Steal” rallies. The nine-term veteran defied the January 6 committee’s subpoena to get to the bottom of his role, which would, I suppose, make him the first House speaker to defy a House subpoena. Jordan’s longtime Ohio colleague, former House Speaker John Boehner, called him a “political terrorist,” telling CBS’s John Dickerson, “I just never saw a guy who spent more time tearing things apart ― never building anything, never putting anything together.” Jordan and Trump as the face of the party next year? Along with an ossified Mitch McConnell? Probably not the best way for Republicans to win back the White House, flip the Senate, and keep the House. 

Plus, Jordan has a certain Greco-Roman-Denny Hastert problem... Jordan was an assistant wrestling coach at The Ohio State University from 1986 to 1994 when the team’s physician, Richard Strauss, who died in 2005, engaged in sexual predation against dozens of wrestlers. Jordan has maintained he knew nothing of the abuse, but wrestlers have said it was common knowledge and that Jordan surely knew of it and is unfit for office. Even if you assume that “Gym” Jordan, known for rarely donning a jacket, knew nothing of the assaults, is that really something you want to make an issue? 

Then there’s the fact that he’s not very good at the basics, like passing legislation. Regarding agenda and messaging—something the GOP House surely needs, his attempts to undermine the FBI probe into the 2016 Russia-Trump campaign relationship were a bust, and his efforts to fan Hunter Biden’s legal morass have been pretty weak...

All things considered, Jordan and his ilk are not good at the basic elements of running a government. Above all, the Far Right refuses to accept compromise or bipartisanship as a functional tool.

Even with fellow Republicans. Jordan and his allies are applying a "pressure campaign" to get the 55 or so holdouts among their GOP ranks to end their opposition to someone as potentially reckless in high office as Jordan will be. Considering how the vacated Speaker Kevin McCarthy traded away every little tidbit of power a Speaker is supposed to wield, there's literally nothing Jordan and his Freedom Caucus can use to broker a compromise with the more rational Republican factions.

Just think of what a Speaker Jordan would do when it comes time to broker bipartisan deals with a Democratic-controlled Senate, or get past vetoes with a Democratic President Biden.

And that's just it: There is NOTHING to think of because a Speaker Jordan won't even go there.

Jordan is one of the original Tea Party Republicans elected back in 2010, who happily pursued an obstructionist campaign against Obama's administration and pushed for various federal shutdowns to appease his anti-government supporters.

This is a guy who's never co-signed any legislation that reached a floor vote, this is a guy who arguably doesn't even work on legislation of any kind. This is a guy who shows up for the cameras to scream at people he considers too liberal or too woke. 

To Jordan, everything must conform to the Far Right's world-view or not at all. Which means everything outside of that world-view is nothing to him. Everyone else has nothing to offer him except their servitude and their silence.

So what will a Speaker Jordan do in office?

Most likely Jordan will cancel the Continuing Resolution on a federal budget if he can, and if not just let the current one expire sometime this November. Oh, he may play a game for the Beltway media to "negotiate" with Democratic leaders, but when the time comes nothing will be agreed to and he will let it die.

This means Jordan and his Tea Party MAGA Freedom Caucus allies get the federal shutdown they've always wanted. And unlike previous times when the Republican leadership backed down and agreed to bipartisan deals with Dems, Jordan won't even consider it. He gains nothing - and loses his reputation - with any deal.

The other thing to expect is Jordan fulfilling the Far Right agenda of attacking Democrats whenever and however possible in order to break their party before the next election cycle, so all those questionable "impeachment inquiries" into Joe Biden's "crimes" - which those inquiries never proved because there was nothing there to begin with - will likely go to a floor vote regardless of procedure as soon possible so that Jordan - and trump, who eagerly needs to drag Biden down into the mud pit - can hammer Biden on Fox Not-News and whittle away at Biden's public support.

Given the situation with Democrats in control of the Senate, any attempt to remove Biden via impeachment won't work, but that doesn't matter to Jordan or the Far Right. What matters is the appearance of Biden getting impeached - and getting attacked, and getting accused - without spending any actual political capital in the process.

In the meantime, nothing else will get done. Anything that can be done will be culture war flufferies that ignore the issues and needs for the public at large: Acts of vice signaling to the MAGA voting base who want their daily appetite of lies, fearmongering, and hatred served on silver platters.

The only thing saving this nation from that near future would be any number of Rational Republicans who can see long-term how a Do-Nothing Speaker will damage their party's brand for everyone outside of the wingnut circles. It also depends on how many of them are aware if Jordan is close to getting indicted by the special counsel grand jury still investigating the January 6th Insurrection.

All it would take is four or five or six or 18 of them to vote someone other than an angry, incompetent anti-government huckster, and going with someone else who will get some things done instead of letting it all burn to the ground.

Update 10/17: Well, it looks like Jordan and his allies couldn't bully 20 of their fellow Republicans into accepting the Tea Party rager as the next Speaker. This is even after ousted Speaker McCarthy, spineless as always, voted for Jordan as a gesture of "unity" that came across as a surrender.

It would be pretty to think that Jordan would retreat, but the Far Right refuse to surrender (until they run out of money or free invites to speak on Fox). They're scheduling another vote later tonight, before which I'm sure Jordan and the other wingnuts will try to punish the 20 holdouts with more beatings until morale improves.