Tuesday, October 17, 2023

ELECTING JORDAN AS SPEAKER WOULD HAVE BEEN RIPPING THE BAND-AID OFF, WHICH NEEDS TO HAPPEN SOMEDAY

As I write this, Jim Jordan is in the process of being voted down as Speaker of the House. In the short term, it's a good thing that this bomb-throwing attention addict won't have that kind of power, but it's just postponing the inevitable.

The political world will never fully acknowledge what's happened to Republicans until bomb throwers hold every key role in the party. A bomb thrower (Donald Trump) is the party leader and inevitable presidential nominee for the third time in a row, a bomb thrower (Ronna Romney McDaniel) chairs the Republican National Committee, bomb throwers serve as governors (Ron DeSantis) and run state legislatures (Tennessee, North Carolina, Texas, and so on), and, of course, bomb throwers run right-wing media. But as long as "institutionalists" act as GOP leaders in the House and Senate, the media can pretend that the party is redeemable -- which gives the so-called institutionalists licensed to throw their own bombs (see: Mitch McConnell and Merrick Garland), as long as they act like reasonable leaders occasionally.

McConnell can't hang on forever, and sooner or later a bomb thrower will hold his job. A bomb thrower will assume the leadership of the House Republicans eventually -- if not Jordan, then maybe somebody else.

But until that happens, until the most powerful people in the GOP completely grind our political system to a halt, the commentariat will persist in believing that Nikki Haley or Chris Sununu can save the GOP from itself and that much of the party's current leadership is ultimately focused on the country's best interests. And moderate voters will continue to insist that the real extremist party in America is the Democratic Party, as they wait for that nice Nancy Mace or Glenn Youngkin to rise to national prominence, while completely ignoring Matt Gaetz and Chip Roy.

Everyone needs to see the truth. Handing the speakership to a political terrorist like Jim Jordan would be a step in that direction.

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