In a further sign of Republican in-fighting, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan lost the first round of voting for Speaker of the House after 20 of his fellow GOP congressman voted against him on Tuesday afternoon.
Thanks to Matt Gaetz, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted, but now the party can’t decide on who should replace. At one point, Donald Trump was being floated as a temporary replacement, and more concernedly, the former president was into it. However, that option quickly faded as more GOP congressman threw their hat in the ring. Steve Scalise launched a failed bid, and now, Jordan is looking at the same outcome.
Via CNN:
There are still a group of lawmakers publicly opposing Jordan, including GOP lawmakers still angry that a small group of Republicans forced out McCarthy and then opposed the speaker nomination of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who initially defeated Jordan inside the GOP conference, 113 to 99.
“I can’t get past the fact that a small group in our conference violated the rules to get rid of Kevin, and then blocked Steve,” said Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska. “You don’t have a process where I play by the rules and these other people can’t and then they get what they want. That’s not American. Americans want fair play and rule of law.”
While Jordan goes off to lick his wounds and attempts to stir up more votes, people on social media were having a field day with his loss after the congressman boasted to reporters that he felt “really good” about his chances going into the vote.
You can see some of the reactions below:
Jim Jordan wore a jacket and everything. He still lost 20 GOP votes. How embarrassing.
— The Shallow State (@OurShallowState) October 17, 2023
Has he tried an alternate slate of electors? https://t.co/eIXESlHW9c
— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) October 17, 2023
It’s amusing to me that Sean Hannity worked so feverishly behind the scenes to get Jim Jordan elected Speaker only to discover that not enough members of Congress give a crap what Sean Hannity thinks.
— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) October 17, 2023
While I suppose the “news” is that he failed to get 217, the fact that Jim Jordan got 200 votes to be the Speaker of the House is a remarkable statement on contemporary GOP.
Would’ve been unthinkable 10 years ago. Should’ve been unthinkable 10 minutes ago. https://t.co/5GrgPY378Z
— Jeff Yarbro (@yarbro) October 17, 2023
You know how despised Gym Jim Jordan is? Not a single fascist in the Republican caucus cheered for him when his name was called, but when Hakeem Jeffries was called, he was given thunderous applause. Love to see it and how embarrassing.
— Ricky Davila (@TheRickyDavila) October 17, 2023
https://t.co/iRf83IwTcN pic.twitter.com/OnYSTMlaWB
— katya (@EhresmanKatya) October 17, 2023
It sounds like Jim Jordan is the Ted Cruz of the House of Representatives https://t.co/6VE8i0hME1
— TSRHG (@TSRHG) October 17, 2023
Jim Jordan heads to the showers https://t.co/EA6Oibb5xe
— Alfred Spellman (@AlfredSpellman) October 17, 2023
(Via CNN)