It's official: Republican Rep. Jim Jordan will be challenging Rep. Kevin McCarthy to become the next Republican minority leader.
Jordan's original ambitions, of course, were to become the next House speaker. Having broken the U.S. budget semi-permanently, current Speaker Paul Ryan is retiring to spend more time with whatever lobbying group will fork over the most dough; as House "Freedom Caucus" founder, Jordan saw McCarthy and Ryan as too moderate and intended to bump off McCarthy for control of the whole House.
This dream ended when Democrats took back the House. The best Jordan can do now is become minority leader, so that's what he'll do.
And here is the point where we once again remind everyone what Rep. Jim Jordan currently, and still, stands accused of helping to cover up sexual molestation of college athletes in his former position as assistant wrestling coach. Athletes on Jordan's team say he was told about sexual abuse of athletes by the team doctor, and did nothing; Jordan's response to this has been to stonewall. The Republican-led House should have pressured him to resign his current seat, or at the least withdrawn his re-election bid; instead, they too remained silent.
If Jordan wins the minority leadership position, it will be because the party that has repeatedly embraced sexual assaulters like Roy Moore and Donald Whats-his-face and, yes, Brett Kavanaugh, continues to give not a single damn about such charges. Which is, in part, why everyone in America who is not a complete monster voted against the party last night—but still, they do not get it. Time and time again, we've seen that "ethics" is a cudgel to be used against their opponents—but anything, and we do mean anything, goes if it's a Republican that did it.