The good news is that former President Donald Trump won’t be Speaker of the House. The bad news is that he’s endorsed “political terrorist” Rep. ‘Gym’ Jordan of Ohio.
In a post on his Truth Social media platform, Trump wrote:
“Congressman Jim Jordan has been a STAR long before making his very successful journey to Washington, D.C., representing Ohio’s 4th Congressional District. Respected by all, he is now Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee … He is STRONG on Crime, Borders, our Military/Vets, & 2nd Amendment. Jim, his wife, Polly, & family are outstanding - He will be a GREAT Speaker of the House, & has my Complete & Total Endorsement!”
Some House Republicans had suggested that Trump himself be elected to the Speaker’s post. But instead Trump chose Jordan over House Majority Leader Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the only other announced Republican candidate for the post.
Now the question is whether any so-called “moderate” Republicans will have the courage to defy the wishes of the MAGA cult leader by voting for Scalise or someone else, forcing multiple rounds of voting in the Speaker’s election.
Will we experience another debacle like the one in January when it took 15 ballots to elect Kevin McCarthy as Speaker, forcing him to make concessions to the hard-right MAGA House members to eke out a victory. It was those concessions — particularly the one allowing a single member to call for a vote to vacate the Speaker’s post — that allowed Rep. Matt Gaetz for Florida to force the vote that removed a Speaker for the first time in U.S. history.
If Jordan is indeed chosen Speaker, it will be a total victory for Gaetz and his fellow bomb-throwers.
Trump’s Truth Social post as might be expected is divorced from reality. For example, he says Jordan is “respected by all.” He’s not even respected by some of his fellow Republicans.
Former House Speaker John Boehner, who resigned under pressure from the radical House Freedom Caucus members in 2015, labeled Jordan a “political terrorist.”
In a 2021 interview with CBS News, Boehner said the January 6th insurrection was an outgrowth of the political terrorism he saw as House speaker.
JOHN DICKERSON: "You call some of these members 'political terrorists.'"
JOHN BOEHNER: "Oh, yeah, Jim Jordan especially, my colleague from Ohio. I just never saw a guy who spent more time tearing things apart – never building anything, never putting anything together."
Former Rep. Liz Cheney, the ranking Republican member of the House Jan. 6 Select Committee, warned about the dangers of electing Jordan as speaker in a speech Thursday at the University of Minnesota.
"If they were to decide that, there would no longer be any possible way to argue that a group of elected Republicans could be counted on to defend the Constitution," Cheney said.
The Hill reported more details from Cheney’s speech Thursday at the University of Minnesota.
Cheney said Jordan was part of former President Donald Trump’s plan to overturn the 2020 election.
“Jim Jordan knew more about what Donald Trump had planned for Jan. 6 than any other member of the House of Representatives,” Cheney said. “Jim Jordan was involved, was part of the conspiracy in which Donald Trump was engaged as he attempted to overturn the election.”
Cheney said there was a handful of people, Jordan being the leader, who knew what Trump had planned on that day. Cheney said in her speech that someone needs to ask Jordan why he didn’t report his knowledge about the events on Jan. 6 to Capitol Police.
In the previous Congress, when Democrats controlled the House, Jordan refused to cooperate with the House January 6 Select Committee, despite being served with a subpoena.
Jordan was among the 147 Republican lawmakers who voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election votes on the night of Jan. 6 after the Trump insurrectionists had been cleared from the Capitol building.
That raises concerns about what a Speaker Jordan might do if the 2024 election results are again close.
As Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Jordan has served Trump loyally by conducting investigations into the state and federal prosecutors who have charged the former president with multiple felony counts.
Jordan also played a major role at the initial hearing in the sham impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden.
The Washington Post wrote:
And, with characteristic bluster and the characteristic lack of a jacket, Jordan made a sharp allegation of wrongdoing by Biden that was quickly revealed as unsubstantiated.
In his Truth Social post, Trump also wrote: “So much is learned from sports, and Jim was a master,” citing Jordan’s record as a high school and collegiate wrestler. Trump did say Jordan has a Masters degree in education from Ohio State, but conveniently didn’t mention Jordan’s time as an assistant coach of the university’s wrestling team from 1987 to 1995..
The news outlet cleveland.com reprinted a story from 2020 to remind readers about the accusation by seven former Ohio State wrestlers that Jordan knew about accusations that the team doctor was sexually abusing wrestlers under his charge. Jordan has denied the allegation.
Former Ohio State wrestlers, brothers Adam and Michael DiSabato, have claimed that Jordan knew about the sexual abuse.
In 2020, Adam DiSabato told a hearing in Columbus, Ohio:
“Jim Jordan called me crying, groveling… begging me to go against my brother…That’s the kind of cover-up that’s going on there.”
Hillary Clinton ripped into Trump’s preferred Speaker candidate, She told CNN:
Jim Jordan "is one of the principal ringleaders of the circus that's been created in the Republican Party for the last several years … When you look at the extremists in the House they certainly don't represent a majority of the country and somebody has to stand up and say 'enough.'"
