Democracy gone Astray: Jim Jordan

Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.

This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Showing posts with label Jim Jordan. Show all posts

Friday, September 06, 2024

House GOP 'Back To The Drawing Board' After Jim Jordan's Exit From Speaker Race

WASHINGTON ― House Republicans hit the reset button on their search for a new House speaker and will try again next week to find a leader, after Rep. Jim Jordan’s (R-Ohio) bid came to a whimpering end Friday.

Republicans voted against keeping Jordan as their speaker-designee by a margin of 86 to 112, lawmakers told reporters after their meeting in the Capitol basement. Jordan then accepted the result.

“We put the question to them. They made a different decision. I told the conference that I appreciated getting to work with everyone, talking to everyone,” Jordan told reporters after the vote.

US House in chaos as Jordan schedules third vote and interim speaker plan fails

The leaderless House was plunged deeper into chaos on Thursday after Republicans refused to coalesce around a speaker and a plan to empower an interim speaker collapsed.

The party’s embattled candidate for speaker, congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio, vowed to press ahead, scheduling a long-delayed third vote on his nomination for Friday morning.

But angry and exhausted, the House Republican conference ended the day of fiery closed-door sessions no closer to breaking the impasse that has immobilized the chamber for a 17th day.

In the classic film “Modern Times,” Charlie Chaplin tried to impress a woman by roller-skating while blindfolded. Again and again, the unwitting Chaplain skates perilously close to a cavernous hole. Only by happenstance does he avoid a fatal plunge.

Keep this image in mind if you’re tempted to send up a cheer or a sigh of relief that Jim Jordan has — for now — been denied the speakership of the House. If it’s a cause for celebration, it should be decidedly muted, because it’s another example of just how close America has repeatedly come to an all-out political catastrophe. It’s also a reminder that the more close calls there are, the more likely it is that at some point, the worst will indeed happen.

Jim Jordan’s improbable rise to the cusp of Capitol Hill’s top job has delighted many conservatives, who see an accomplished infighter bent on impeaching President Joe Biden.

He’s a model presence on Fox News during an era in which success for many Republicans is measured in cable news hits, instead of old-fashioned legislating. His installation as speaker would mark the first time the GOP’s top lawmaker hailed from the party’s growing hard-right contingent. He’s in good standing when it comes to one of the GOP’s most important yardsticks — his relationship with former President Donald Trump.

Authoritarianism expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat on Wednesday addressed the chilling threats that some House Republicans have received for not backing Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) to replace ousted Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as House speaker.

Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) has received what she described as “credible death threats and a barrage of threatening calls,” Rep. Don Bacon’s (R-Neb.) wife has received threatening text messages and Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.) has been told to: “Go fuck yourself and die.”

The leaderless House was plunged deeper into chaos on Thursday after Republicans refused to coalesce around a speaker and a plan to empower an interim speaker collapsed.

The party’s embattled candidate for speaker, congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio, vowed to press ahead, scheduling a long-delayed third vote on his nomination for Friday morning.

But angry and exhausted, the House Republican conference ended the day of fiery closed-door sessions no closer to breaking the impasse that has immobilized the chamber for a 17th day.

Jim Jordan loses US House speaker vote for second time as support ebbs

The House of Representatives again failed to elect a new speaker on Wednesday, after the hard-right congressman Jim Jordan failed to win the gavel in the second round of voting.

The second vote tally showed 199 Republicans supporting Jordan and all 212 Democrats supporting their leader, Hakeem Jeffries of New York. Twenty-two Republicans opposed Jordan on Wednesday, leaving him far short of the 217 votes needed to ascend to the speakership. Because of Republicans’ razor-thin majority in the House, Jordan can only afford four defections within his party and still become speaker.

Jim Jordan’s allies tried strong-arming his GOP critics. It backfired.

Jim Jordan’s allies attempted to badger House Republicans into making him speaker. Those tactics backfired on Tuesday, and could soon doom his speakership push outright.

The Ohio Republican’s most vocal GOP defectors during Tuesday’s failed speaker vote said they were pressured to back Jordan by party bosses back home and national conservatives with big megaphones. Most of those skeptics viewed it as a coordinated push with a threatening theme: Vote for Jordan — or else.

Former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) on Monday envisioned a short House speakership for Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) should he gain enough support to win the leadership role.

McCaskill told MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace it was “astounding” that House Republicans want to elevate Jordan, who played a key role in Donald Trump’s failed efforts to overturn the 2020 election result, to the top job.

But something in the news this week made him even sicker: The notion of Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) becoming the next House speaker.

Colbert pretended to get the heaves as he talked about the possibility.

“Gosh, got a little nauseous,” he said, covering his mouth for effect. “And I don’t think it’s the COVID.”

Jim Jordan-Backing Republican Receives A Blunt Reminder… But To No Avail

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) is all in for Rep. Jim Jordan’s (R-Ohio) bid to become the next House speaker.

And the Texas Republican told CNN’s Jake Tapper that he’s not letting Jordan’s role in Donald Trump’s failed plot to overturn the 2020 election result change his mind.

Will Jim Jordan bully his way to the speakership?

Back in September 2016, Rep. Jim Jordan was on a crusade: He wanted the House to launch impeachment proceedings against IRS Commissioner John Koskinen over allegations that the agency had targeted conservatives.

But Jordan (R-Ohio) had a problem: GOP party leaders saw impeachment as a political loser and refused to even haul Koskinen in for questioning.

Jordan wasn’t about to back down, however. He cornered then-House Judiciary Committee Chair Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) on the House floor and presented him with a choice: Either you summon Koskinen to the Hill or the Freedom Caucus forces a vote on his impeachment a few weeks before Election Day.

Jordan got his hearing.

A day after one Republican nominee to be Speaker of the House of Representatives withdrew from the running, another with equally long odds is making a fresh bid for the gavel.

Jim Jordan, a leader of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus, won a Republican vote to be the nominee after his colleague Steve Scalise stepped aside on Thursday.

But it is unclear if Mr Jordan has the majority support needed in the full House.

Will Jordan’s shot slip away?

He doesn't have the votes ... yet: Jim Jordan wants to be the next speaker. But like Steve Scalise (and Kevin McCarthy) before him, the Ohio Republican is still far short of a majority on the floor.

It would be hard to overstate the frustration and resentment among House Republicans right now — at the end of a week that broke their conference’s chaos meter.

GOP leadership sent members home for the weekend with plans to reassess on Monday after Jordan beat Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) with 124 votes, then picked up less than 30 more votes when Republicans were pressed whether they’d support him on the floor.

WASHINGTON ― Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the House Republicans’ new speaker-designate, has until Monday to try to round up more votes from his GOP colleagues to win the speaker’s gavel or likely face the same fate as the previous speaker-designate, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.).

In a simple up-or-down vote Friday on whether they would support him on the House floor for speaker, Jordan garnered only 152 votes from his fellow House Republicans, compared to 55 against him.

Seth Meyers on Thursday pointed to old footage of Donald Trump explaining why he likes Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio.) as an example of how the former president has utterly “weirdified” the GOP.

The “Late Night” host aired a clip of Trump from February 2020 in which the ex-president recalled, “When I first got to know Jim, I said, ‘Huh. Never wears a jacket! What the hell’s going on? He’s obviously very proud of his body.’”

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis responded this week to demands from Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who called for the prosecutor to hand over documents and communications relating to her investigation into former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.

Willis sent a letter on Wednesday rejecting Jordan’s demands for the documents, which he requested in the days after Willis’s office indicted Trump over the summer. A number of political observers have suggested that Jordan’s demands were motivated solely by a desire to intimidate Willis and aid Trump.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis once again shot down House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Wednesday, calling his ongoing attempts to wade into the prosecution of former President Donald Trump “ignorant,” “troubling” and an abuse of power.

“A charitable explanation of your correspondence is that you are ignorant of the United States and Georgia Constitutions and codes,” Willis wrote in a letter to the lawmaker. “A more troubling explanation is that you are abusing your authority as Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary to attempt to obstruct and interfere with a Georgia criminal prosecution.”

Jim Jordan, Who's Running For Speaker, Played A Key Role In Trump's 2020 Election Plot

WASHINGTON ― Staunch conservative Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is in the spotlight after launching a bid for the speaker’s gavel this week, a race that is sure to provide even more drama and chaos than the unprecedented ouster of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

But one critical aspect of Jordan’s history that has been omitted by most Beltway publications is the prominent role he played in spreading lies about the 2020 election and rallying supporters to contest the results. The extraordinary effort led by former President Donald Trump, who has endorsed Jordan’s bid for speaker, led to the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) didn’t mince her words about Rep. Jim Jordan, the Ohio Republican who is now running for the speaker’s gavel following the showdown that saw Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) voted out.

In a speech at the University of Minnesota on Wednesday, the former vice chair of the House Select Committee tasked with investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection said Jordan was the leader among those who were aware of former President Donald Trump’s plans to cling on to power despite losing the 2020 election.

Democracy gone Astray