Having lost the first vote to become House speaker, Rep. Jim Jordan will try again on a decisive second ballot that will test whether the hard-edged ally of Donald Trump can win over the holdouts or if his bid for the gavel is collapsing, denied by detractors.
Ahead of Wednesday morning’s voting, Jordan made an unexpected plea for party unity, the combative Judiciary Committee chairman telling his colleagues on social media, “we must stop attacking each other and come together.”
But a surprisingly large and politically diverse group of 20 Republicans rejected Jordan’s nomination, many resisting the hardball tactics enforcing support, and viewing the Ohio congressman as too extreme for the powerful position of House speaker, second in line to the presidency.
I don’t know how much of the constitution is shredded. If the motion only gives the pro tempore additional powers until the end of the year, say, not much shredded. It’s a way to give them time but stay in business.
Then they just do the same thing again next year and suddenly we never have a “real” speaker again. Unless we get actual consequences along the lines of a snap election, this seems like a bad idea.