The race for the presidency of the House of Representatives, the third figure in the hierarchy after the president and the vice president, is proof that the Republican Party has been held hostage by an extremist minority. After Steve Scalise, the current leader of the Republican majority, won the mandate to run for president of the House of Representatives in closed-door elections on Wednesday, he finally threw in the towel the next day when he concluded that he would not achieve unanimity, or a large majority, of his colleagues.
Without one speaker legitimized by colleagues – the interim has no powers – the United States is paralyzed when it comes to legislative power, including the approval of the debt ceiling or aid packages for Ukraine or Israel.
With 113 votes, Scalise defeated House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, who received 99 votes but fell far short of the support needed to secure a majority in the 435-seat House. The Louisiana representative met with party colleagues who did not support him and ultimately concluded that he had no chance of succeeding Californian Kevin McCarthy, the first president to be removed from office, thanks to internal opposition from the faction that was most aligned with Donald Trump. .
But not alone. Rep. Nancy Mace recalled Scalise’s past. “Personally, I cannot in good conscience vote for someone who attended a white supremacist conference and compared himself to David Duke. [membro do Ku Klux Klan]“I would be doing a disservice to the voters I represent in South Carolina if I did that.” The representative refers to a conference that took place in 2002, although Scalise’s participation was not reported until 2014. it was a “mistake” that he regrets.
There were those who claimed they did not support Scalise because he had previously participated in a supremacist conference, while others pointed out his illness.
It wasn’t just this blemish on his resume that hindered Scalise’s success. There were also those who, like Marjorie Taylor Greene – at the top of the Republican extremist ranks – claimed that the candidate could not perform his duties because he suffers from multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer, and therefore could not “dedicate all his efforts to to defeat the Communist Democrats and save America.”
The real reason seems to be something else: Donald Trump is supporting Ohio Representative and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan. “Congressman Jim Jordan was a star long before he made his successful trip to Washington, DC, where he represented Ohio’s 4th Congressional District. He will be a great Speaker of the House, and he has my full support!” Trump wrote on his social network Truth Social.
On the other hand, supporters of McCarthy – who was toppled by the vote of eight Republicans and Democrats – will have weighed the possibility, by his own admission, of running for office again days before, but faced with the possibility of the only candidate. being Jordan appeared in the early afternoon Austin Scott, 53, representative of rural Georgia since 2011 and member of the Secret Service Commission. Austin is considered a McCarthy supporter. “When I woke up this morning, I had no intention of doing this. But I believe that if we as Republicans want to win a majority, we have to do the right things in the right way. And we don’t do that now. ,” he told reporters.
The atmosphere among Republicans was not good on Thursday evening. Rep. Mark Alford admitted to reporters after learning of Scalise’s withdrawal that he had “no idea” what would happen next. “We are currently a rudderless ship and I am completely disillusioned with the process,” the Montana representative said. The next morning, Republicans met to discuss next steps. There were several proposals to change the rules for choosing the Republican candidate, such as obtaining 80% of the vote among colleagues, but after hours of discussions nothing was decided.
“Legislative Terrorist”
Jordan, 59 years old, was first elected representative in 2006 and over the years has not shown any signs of fully fulfilling his duties as Speaker of the House: he is one of the voices that repeated untruths about the 2020 presidential election, including in the area of the 2020 presidential election. January 6, during the vote certification session interrupted by the invasion of the Capitol. He previously served on Trump’s defense team during the first Senate impeachment trial and his loyalty was rewarded with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded by Trump before he left the White House.
Gifted with explosive rhetoric, Jordan has been at the forefront of investigations and raised suspicions about Democrats. The deadly 2012 attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Libya, led him to question Hillary Clinton, then secretary of state. The investigation into Joe Biden’s impeachment is – despite the lack of evidence – one of Jordan’s battlehorses. Former Speaker John Boehner, a Republican, called Jordan a “legislative terrorist” in 2021. “I’ve never seen a man who spent more time destroying things, never building anything, never putting anything together.” Perhaps his past as a wrestler helps explain his drive.
Source: DN
