October 19, 2023 11:14 AM UTC

"Gym" Jordan Taps Out; Republicans at a Complete Loss Now

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: It doesn’t appear that there is much enthusiasm for “tapping in” temporary Speaker “Mini” Patrick McHenry to at least allow the House to function a bit more than is possible currently. And in case you were wondering…things could still somehow actually get WORSE:

Cammack also said there’s concern inside GOP conference that granting McHenry speaker-like powers would subject him to chamber rules like the one-person motion to vacate.

Then it’s unclear who’d succeed McHenry under the list that McCarthy provided

— Joseph Zeballos-Roig (@josephzeballos) October 19, 2023

Leave it to the current House Republican caucus to have stumbled toward an outcome where even the temporary House Speaker could be ousted.

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As the Washington Post reports, sound the sad trombone:

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) will not seek an additional speaker vote Thursday, and he will back a plan to give Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.), the temporary speaker, additional powers, according to multiple people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the situation. After two rounds of votes, a group of Republicans had made it clear that Jordan did not have enough support to win the speaker’s gavel. With House functions at a standstill, lawmakers can now consider a proposal to expand McHenry’s powers…

Jordan is pausing his bid for now, but he remains the speaker designee and will reserve the option to hold a speaker vote at any time under the plan being discussed. Senior Democrats are supportive of the plan.

Since Republicans are incapable of coming to a consensus among themselves to do anything, a plan to temporarily “empower” temporary speaker Patrick McHenry to allow the House to carry out essential functions will need Democrats on board to succeed. The increasing likelihood of this outcome is a crushing blow to the “Gaetz Eight” Republicans who voted to remove former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, whose actions have now undeniably given Democrats power over the GOP’s leadership selection process while destroying any remaining perception that Republicans are organized enough to govern effectively.

As can be expected, a lot of House Republicans are very upset about this state of affairs:

A short while ago Rep. Lauren Boebert, who did not vote to remove McCarthy but has expressed support for the move ever since it succeeded, fumed at the idea of a deal with Democrats after her diehard support for Jordan:

Rep. Ken Buck, Colorado’s only member of the “Gaetz Eight,” refused to budge in his opposition to Jordan despite flipping to Steve Scalise a week ago out of expediency. We haven’t seen any comment this morning yet from “KenSNBC,” but we hope in one of Buck’s upcoming cable news appearances we get an accounting of how Buck justifies his central role in both breaking House leadership and preventing Republicans from moving on.

The U.S. House has never been without leadership for so long, and urgent unmet responsibilities are piling up. The Republican Party’s chaos agents including Buck and Boebert have brought the chamber to this standstill, Buck by directly helping oust McCarthy and Boebert by pushing for Jordan past the point it was clear he didn’t have the votes to win.

The best hope for Republicans is that voters are not paying attention, because no one in their right mind would vote to perpetuate this dysfunction.