Rep. Jim Jordan worked hard to create a sense of inevitability that he would become speaker of the House on Tuesday. He had the help of a number of prominent Republicans, who hailed him as the speaker-to-be in the hours before he went down in flames on the first vote and struggled to pull it together for a second vote.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the first speaker ever tossed out by a motion to vacate:
I’ll be honest: When McCarthy tweeted that on Tuesday morning, I thought about his record at vote-counting and regained optimism that Jordan would be voted down. And lo and behold.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, the man who engineered McCarthy’s ouster:
Then there was Jordan’s most prominent supporter, who told reporters, “I think he’s going to be confirmed sometime soon. And you know, many people have now supported him, and 24 hours ago they were supporting somebody else.”
Give Donald Trump some credit for reading the room, though, because he didn’t express confidence that Jordan would get it on the first vote, suggesting it might take a day or two.
Then there was former Speaker Newt Gingrich, one of the people most responsible for putting the Republican Party on the road to its current extremism and chaos:
The Republican Party’s longtime goal has been to break government and use its brokenness as evidence that government is dispensable. Along the way, the party has broken itself.
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