Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), 58, and Rep. Steve Scalise, 57 will battle it out beyond closed doors tomorrow as the Republican conference pick a new speaker. Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) lost his job Oct. 3 on a “motion to vacate” by 41-year-old Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fl.), a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus. Moderate Republicans backing McCarthy blamed Gaetz threatening to toss him out of Congress for bringing up the motion to vacate. But Gaetz had every right under House rules agreed to by McCarthy to allow one House member to move forward with a motion to vacate, for any reason. Gaetz was irked by McCarthy’s behind doors collaboration with Democrats to cobble together a last ditch stopgap funding bill Sept. 30 to avert an Oct. 1 government shutdown. If there was any subterfuge with McCarthy, it was with House Democrats advocating bipartisanship.
McCarthy tried to play nice guy with Democrats, believing that it was in the best interest of the country to keep the government running. When the dust settled after the stopgap funding bill, Gaetz felt McCarthy betrayed House Republicans who wanted clean spending bills to continue government funding. McCarthy worked with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) to pull off the 45-day stopgap measure to keep the government open. McCarthy felt he did the right thing for the country, not knowing he was tricked by Jeffries who had no intent of bailing McCarthy out on a motion to vacate pushed by Gaetz. Republicans turned their ire on Gaetz not where it belongs on Jeffries who ordered Democrats to not save McCarthy. Only a few Democrat votes on Oct. 3 would have saved McCarthy’s job, stopping the motion to vacate. Jeffries told House Democrats to vote yea to oust McCarthy.
Jeffries has been telling any media outlets that the GOP is in chaos, incapable of governing, scoring political points, hoping to get the House back to Democrats in 2024. Jeffries worked with Democrat operatives like 78-year-old James Carville to give Republican a big black eye, pushing the idea that the GOP was incapable of governing the House. Jeffries played McCarthy and House Republicans all the way to ousting McCarthy, then offering himself up to serves as GOP as House Speaker. If that doesn’t tell Republicans everything about Jeffiries nothing will. Republican plan to meet tomorrow behind closed doors to pick a new House Speaker. “I think I’m the one candidate who can unite our conference,” Jordan told Fox News “Sunday Morning Futues” with Maria Bartiromo. Whether the GOP agrees with Jordan is anyone’s guess. But they must pick a consensus candidate quickly.
Jordan has the endorsement of 77-year-old former President Donald Trump, someone that could carry baggage for Jordan as the conference tries to cobble together a consensus pick. Trump engenders dissension in the GOP ranks, largely because of a loud anti-Trump wing of the GOP, led today by 53-year-old former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) who has been a leading voice opposing Trump’s 2024 run for president. Ryan thinks that because of Trump’s baggage, from past action and current indictments, he could not win a general election. Trump is the prohibitive GOP front-runner in the crace for the nomination. That would change quickly if Trump were convicted on any one of his 91 felonies. No one knows what will happen with all of Special Counsel Jack Smiths’s charges or with the Manahattan DA Alvin Braggs or Fulton County, Ga. DA Fani Willis’ charges for 2020 election interference.
Jordan, a founding member of the Freedom Caucus, might be too conservative for moderates in the GOP conference. Rep. Steve Scalise offers a less controversial candidate, less impacted by Trump’s personal endorsement. Scalise is every bit as conservative as Jordan but doesn’t carry Trump’s baggage, something that could prevent Jordan from building a consensus. “And then who can go tell the country what we’re doing here, the things we’re working on, the things that matter to them and how it matters to them and how it impacts them and their family,” Jordan says. GOP members will want someone tough enough to negotiate to a stubborn GOP House Democrat caucus and the White House, both have big spending plans for the U.S. government. Gaetz and other fiscal conservatives believe that Biden’s Ukraine War and massive government spending has fueled the worst inflation in 40 years.
Showing how out-of-step with reality, a CBS News/Yougov poll showed that 81% want a new GOP Speaker who will “stand up to the MAGA [Trump] movement. Democrats paint Trump aa an extreme conservative when in fact he was far more amenable to compromise and spending than most fiscal conservatives. Trump’s four years in office spent trillions on Covid-relief, driving up the 2020 national debt from $27 trillion to over $33 trillion today. One key difference between Jordan and Scalise may hinge on support for the Ukraine War. Jordan, like Trump, opposes more Ukraine War funding, largely because Biden has no defined mission or timetable for completing U.S. domestic and military spending. Scalise seems more aligned with Biden’s anti-Russian campaign, something that could appeal to Republicans more aligned with the White House on Ukraine.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
