Rep. Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, still faces an uphill climb to the House speakership, with at least 10 to 20 Republican members who oppose his nomination, CBS News has learned, based on background conversations over the weekend with six key House Republicans and more than a dozen sources familiar with the deliberations.
"At least 10 to 20," one of the House Republicans told CBS News on Sunday, while another added that that Jordan's support has grown incrementally in recent days but remains soft.
While Jordan's confidants remain optimistic that he can get to the necessary 217 votes Tuesday, when the House is scheduled to bring a vote to the floor, several who are more critical of Jordan privately insisted this weekend that at about a dozen Republicans remain unwilling to support him, due to their frustrations over how Rep. Steve Scalise, Republican of Louisiana, was treated during his speaker bid and their simmering anger over the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. They also are wary of whether Jordan can handle the intensity of the challenges facing Congress in the coming months.
If he's down to needing "only" 10-20 holdouts, he's actually gaining significant ground. This should worry you.
The moderates of the party are simply growing tired of all of this and are more likely to vote for him simply because there are no other viable options. The problems with this are: Jim Jordan becomes speaker of the House. The MAGA wing gets rewarded for causing this mess by having one of their own elected speaker once the dust settles, emboldening them to do it again in the future. And it also reinforces how effective the strategy of forcing people out of office by making the position untenable for anyone who actually wants to do the work, leaving only the crazies to fill the void is.
My only real hope is that Jim Jordan is incompetent enough and so hyper-focused on partisan grievance politics that he won't cause too much damage. That, and he only has just over a year in office. The bad thing is that if you think these people are crazy, remember that they're simply paving the way for those who will come after them, many of which are even crazier than they are.
I imagine quite a few Republicans are still pissed about McCarthy. So those 10-20 holdouts might be more "Durable" then people think. I don't mean untouchable mind you, just that pride can be a multiplicative factor…
It is not impossible, but 20 people is a lot of concessions before the tomorrow vote.
I imagine defense contractors and military are anxious to get into Israel and Ukraine funding back on track. Which might be creating more social pressure on the back end in the US.
As one of those partisan grievance issues, I’m terrified of that possibility
I'm not entirely sure what you mean by that, but I wouldn't be too worried.
First, he's going to be focused on aid to Ukraine and Israel. And while the party's stance on aid to those countries may be an issue in and of itself, that problem isn't unique to Jim Jordan, and we'd have the same issues regardless of who is speaker right now.
Then he's got the debt ceiling thing to figure out. Again, there's plenty of fuckery to be had, but that would be the case regardless of who is speaker.
And then after that, it's going to be full-blown "weaponization of government" hearings, Biden's so-called "impeachment", doing everything (not actually) in his power to shut down Trump's criminal trials, and then running his own re-election campaign.
This is all why I say they won't have any time to do any real damage. Somewhat ironically, the only real reason they won't be able to do much real damage is because he'll be too busy focusing on "problems" of their own creation: Support for Israel and Ukraine, the debt ceiling, "Weaponization of Government", Biden's "impeachment, and their bending the knee to Trump are all "crises" 100% invented by the GOP. If they weren't going to be so tied up solving stupid problems of their own creation, then I'd be more concerned.
He's a Russian asset, what makes you think he's going to be working on anything. He and the Bannon crowd want to burn it all down.
First, he’s going to be focused on aid…
That's exactly my point.
If it were any sane speaker, aid packages to those countries wouldn't even be an issue. The bill probably would have passed and the supplies already on their way to Israel and Ukraine before the ink even dries. Jordan and his ilk are going to be facing constant pressure to sign off on aid, and he's going to come up with every excuse he can think of not to give it to them. And with all the pressure and focus on trying to get him to pass an aid package, he won't have time to do as much domestic damage.
Don't be so sure, Trump was an incompetent idiot that found people to work on the border wall, banning Muslims and clearing people's visas. I'm sure Jordan has allies that would work on the domestic agenda.
Trump was able to do that because he already had a celebrity following, and a whole bunch of vultures saw a whole bunch of money in building that wall.
Jordan does not have the following or the charisma that Trump has, and there isn't a whole hell of a lot of money to be made trying to figure out what else is on Hunter Biden's laptop or why Twitter suspended one of their accounts again. If he had the support even within his own party, he'd be speaker already.
This powerful people using Jordon to get what they want, this isn't a common people thing.
He’s a Russian asset, what makes you think he’s going to be working on anything. He and the Bannon crowd want to burn it all down.
Yes. 100%. Every word. Thank you for saying it out loud.
Completely unrelated, why do you put 3 spaces between sentences? I don't think I have seen that before. To be clear, I'm not criticizing or anything, just curious.
I'm probably a wee bit older than you. Back when I was learning to type (on clangy old typewriters), that was the standard.
Interesting. I learned to type on a typewriter too, but we did double spaces. I think it was the last year they used typewriters for the class, though, so it probably still comes down to an evolution of standards over the years. Thanks for the answer!
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As an Ohioan myself. Fuck Gym Jordan. He shouldn't be allowed to hold a government position.
Yeah his actions at OSU should’ve disqualified him before he opened his mouth
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The leading GOP nominee for Speaker is 10-20 votes away (at best).
The leading Democratic nominee for Speaker is 5 votes away.
I can't help thinking there should be a built-in way to bypass this obvious deadlock. Maybe the Parliamentarian should come up with something.
If they do, I can almost guarantee it will favor the Republicans like it generally does.
They do indeed know how to manipulate the system.
I would like a constitutional amendment that says that whenever there is a government shutdown or a deadlock on a vacancy of any constitutional position, each state's members of the congress and the senate draw straws and whoever pulls the short straw loses their capacity to vote or make a quorum on the debt reauthorization or confirmation vote, and their seat goes up for re-election at the end of the current term.
Like, my dude, do your fucking job.
There's a simpler way to avoid shutdowns. Get rid of the debt ceiling.
Ah, but then the GOP would lose almost literally all of their power in congress.
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Oh no. Definitely not a bad thing.
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Is he literally the nominee because no one else wants it?
He's also one of the biggest fucking clowns there… I can't stand watching any committee/hearing/investigation he's on…
Of all the people, how do we always end up with the worst…
Of all the people, how do we always end up with the worst…
Because the GOP have mastered the strategy of using threats, violence, and intimidation to make positions of authority untenable for those who are actually interested in governing and putting in the work, leaving behind only the authoritarian wannabes to fill the void.
Jordan is here because the MAGA wing have successfully intimidated the rest of the party into submission, to the point where no "sane" republican would go within a mile of that gavel even if they were wearing a hazmat suit.
Any R with remaining moderate leanings is worried about being primaried by a Freedom Caucus type. This threat is how desantis has gotten the Florida legislature to do anything he wants.
Of all the people, how do we always end up with the worst…
We have yet to see the worst, unfortunately. If there's 1 thing I've learned about the GOP, it's that they can always reach into their bottomless pit of depravity to pull out an even bigger degenerate.
Remember when people thought it couldn't get any worse than Bush/Cheney? Oh how wrong we were.
It would seem so. I think it's more like "everyone else knows they can't get the votes" though. There's going to be enough that don't want to give in to the MAGA extremists holding the party hostage and there's enough MAGA extremists to stop anyone halfway same from being elected speaker.
I have no idea how this fuckwit thinks he's going to get the votes. 10 to 20 seems extremely low. I bet the vote ends up more like 80-100 short.
I have no idea how this fuckwit thinks he’s going to get the votes. 10 to 20 seems extremely low. I bet the vote ends up more like 80-100 short.
I'd like to think so, but all indications are that they are falling in line behind Jordan. My guess is that this is mostly out of fatigue and the fact that none of the "sane moderates" are willing to take the position. Jordan will probably be speaker by the end of tomorrow.
Gym Jordan probably ticks off enough of the magoos' check boxes. I'm not sure he was even qualified to be a coach, but he knows how to suck up to the crazies, that's for sure. And that's assuming he's not as bugfuck crazy as they are…
What a colossal shift right we are when Jordan makes McCarthy makes Ryan makes Boehner look moderate…
This country feels so fucked.
Republicans really are fucking themselves, and the country, over with catering to the extreme wing of their party. They've spent decades building their own alternative news bubble, which they've used to brainwash millions of people into thinking that all Democrats are pedophiles, while Trump is their lord and savior. As a result, any sane Republican in Congress would be absolutely vilified if they make an attempt and compromise with Democrats to reach a solution that puts anyone but a MAGA extremist in charge.
Honestly, it's kind of scary how something like 7 or 8 far right Congressmen are able to wield so much power and bend the rest of the Republican party to their will. I'll Godwin's Law myself here by pointing out that Nazis had 12 seats in the German government in 1928, but were able to use that influence to grow to 107 seats in 1930 and 230 seats in 1932, becoming their largest political party.
But here's the thing: there are no moderate Republicans left. The last 2 were primaried last cycle. The solution to this is so fucking simple if there were true moderates, too. "Moderate" Republicans would just partner with Dems to sidestep the crazies while getting points with the public in "getting the government back to work."
But the reality is these maga fellas are simply the fall-guys for floating test balloons before the rest of the party fully commits. Seems quite clear that's what is happening to me.
By any traditional definition, you're absolutely correct. The whole party has shifted so far to the right that my definition of "moderate" or "sane" Republicans was basically any politician that at least wanted to pretend to govern and not immediately throw out the Constitution and implement Trump as God-emperor. Even then, I don't think that applies to most of them.
Godwin's Law is dead. The GOP killed it when they openly courted Nazis.
Godwin himself said to feel free to use it when applied to Trump.
If still in doubt, the last surviving Nuremberg prosecutor said the same.
So he needs to groom 10 to 20 people in an organization that he wants to oversee?
We're in trouble. This is his wheelhouse.
I see what you did there
“Moderate” Republicans will cave. They’ll kneel to MAGA. None of the these “moderates” have a spine.
https://www.axios.com/2023/10/16/jim-jordan-house-speaker-endorsements
Money it's more like 75.
The problem, though, is that Jim is a spiteful and vengeful person, and so are the extreme Right in general. A lot of Republicans are getting in line simply because they don't want the stochastic terrorism directed at them.
This will just make public the horrible charges against him related to his time at Ohio State.
Before entering politics, Jordan was an assistant OSU wrestling coach from 1986 to 1994. Former athletes have said he ignored rampant sexual abuse by Richard Strauss, a team doctor who died in 2005. Jordan has long denied helping orchestrate a cover-up.
Do you really think Republicans care? This isn't even the first time they have nominated a wrestling coach / pedo enabler for Speaker.
Heck they even had a pedo president! Need I remind anyone of Trump's creepy comments about his own daughter?
Their god literally bragged about sexually assaulting women, creeping on children changing, and wanting to fuck his daughter.
Idk why anyone thinks the GOP and Republicans as a whole find abhorrent behavior a deal breaker.
It's our job to make them care. Republicans will do everything they can to ignore it.
Dude, they came out in record numbers to vote for a person who actively bragged about being an abhorrent monster. They're never going to care as long as the person has an R next to their name, unless we suddenly find a few million cult deprogrammers.
They just shrug their shoulders when an entire classroom of children is executed. They don't care about anything but power.
Only 10-20 or twenty R's support the constitution? I shouldn't be surprised.
They'll have a few rounds of voting with negotiations in between and they'll fall in line. Welcome to America where even the biggest far-right asshats can now become Speaker of the House.
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This is all performative. Don't think for a second that those 10-20 give a shit about the rule of law or common decency - it's theater. They are in districts where they have constituents that need them to feign a bit of a "moral block", to really scratch their chins for a moment and come to the eventual conclusion that, "the people just can't wait any longer, I guess I have to vote for gym Jordan - you understand, grandma"
Is the whole "holdout as personal leverage against my own party" going to be a new trend? Seems like it elevates oneself at the expense of everyone else.
The next Speaker is going to be an insurrection and a traitor to the Republic. 2nd in line to the President.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
"At least 10 to 20," one of the House Republicans told CBS News on Sunday, while another added that that Jordan's support has grown incrementally in recent days but remains soft.
While Jordan's confidants remain optimistic that he can get to the necessary 217 votes Tuesday, when the House is scheduled to bring a vote to the floor, several who are more critical of Jordan privately insisted this weekend that at about a dozen Republicans remain unwilling to support him, due to their frustrations over how Rep. Steve Scalise, Republican of Louisiana, was treated during his speaker bid and their simmering anger over the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Some Trump allies, like former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, have told associates privately that Jordan made a strategic mistake by not bringing a vote to the floor last week.
Sources say Jordan will try to rally GOP members on Monday night, when House Republicans are scheduled to huddle again, arguing it's time to put this political mess behind them.
And certainly, if there is a need if the radical, you know, almost just handful of people in the Republican side … to make it for us unable to be able to return to general work on the House, then I think obviously, there will be a deal we'll have to be done."
If Jordan is unable to secure enough support by Tuesday's vote, some key Jordan skeptics and veteran Republicans are now preparing to push for a bipartisan deal that would expand the ability of Rep. Patrick McHenry, Republican of North Carolina, to move legislation on Israel and government funding through his current ministerial role as speaker pro tempore.
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