The wolves are officially out against Jim Jordan
We only get to see a small fraction of what’s going on in politics. Most of the real movement in something like a congressional negotiation is behind the scenes. Most of what’s said publicly is merely posturing, in an attempt at influencing what happens behind the scenes. So it’s tough to say exactly what’s happening in the race for Speaker of the House right now. But one seemingly surefire way to lose is to make sure that even your own party hates you.
That’s where Jim Jordan currently finds himself. He managed to sabotage Steve Scalise’s nomination for Speaker of the House, which has now allowed Jordan to capture the nomination. But it’s only created more resentment than ever toward Jordan from within his own House Republican caucus.
One unnamed House Republican is now telling the media that roughly forty House Republicans are planning to vote against Jordan if a full House vote is held this upcoming week. That would be a death knell given that Jordan can only afford to lose four Republican votes, and that he won’t get a single Democratic vote to make up for it.
We’ll see if Jim Jordan can somehow move heaven and earth (or should we say hell and earth) over the next day or two in order to convince about thirty-six of his House Republican colleagues to change their minds about him. If Jordan fails, then the Republicans will be fresh out of viable Speaker candidates, and it’ll be time for them to start talking compromise with House Democrats. It sounds like a lot of House Republicans would rather go that route than let Jordan have it. They hate him as much as we do.
