Jim Jordan Is Unfit To Be Speaker Of The House
There may be no better example of how badly our national politics are polarized than the case of Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH).
Jordan is anything but a leader. He is an extremist and attack dog who uses hardline pressure tactics, has no track record as a consensus builder, and has failed in his 16-year congressional career to pass a single bill.
(Jordan is ranked as one of the least effective legislators in Congress, according to the nonpartisan Center for Effective Lawmaking. In the last Congress, Jordan ranked 217 out of the 222 House Republicans.)
In his quest to become Speaker of the House, Jordan has this week failed twice to receive the 217 votes needed.
Yet, inexplicitly, some 90 percent of House Republicans voted for him to become Speaker and second in line to the presidency.
House Republicans today abandoned a plan to make Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick Henry “temporary Speaker.” As this note goes to press, Jordan says he is still running for Speaker.
Let’s look at the man that former House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has called a “legislative terrorist” and that 90 percent of House Republicans are prepared to make the second most powerful person in the United States.
Jordan Is An Election Denier.
Three years after Joe Biden was clearly elected President, Jordan still refuses to acknowledge Biden as the legitimate President of the United States.
>> Jordan Was An Ally Of Former President Trump In His Attempted Coup.
According to CNN, “Jordan urged Trump not to concede, spread conspiracy theories, supported lawsuits attempting to disqualify the legitimate results, and discussed plans to object to the 2020 election results on January 6, 2021.”
Jordan “helped spearhead the effort to oppose certification of the election in Congress,” according to Just Security. “He has continued to promote the ‘Big Lie’ even after the events on Jan. 6 and subsequent FBI and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warnings that this conspiracy is propelling domestic violent extremists.”
Jordan Has Attempted To Disrupt The Trump Criminal Cases And Ignored A Jan. 6 Subpoena.
As Chairman of the ironically named Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, Jordan has abused his powers and has, with no basis, blatantly tried to interfere in and disrupt the Trump criminal cases in New York and Georgia.
In response to his improper demand for information in Georgia’s 2020 election interference case, Fulton County DA Fani Willis responded: “Your letter makes clear that you lack a basic understanding of the law, its practice, and the ethical obligations of attorneys generally and prosecutors specifically.”
Yet when he was called to testify by the House Jan. 6 Committee in the last Congress, he flatly refused to comply with the subpoena.
Jordan Is Leading A Baseless Biden Impeachment Effort.
Jordan is one of the leaders of the House effort to impeach President Biden, despite the fact that there is no basis for doing so.
This is not Jordan’s first attempt to impeach an executive branch official without any basis.
When Jordan moved on the House floor to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen in 2016, he had no evidence to back up his irresponsible effort and suffered an overwhelming defeat. More than two-thirds of his own Republican colleagues voted to deep-six his impeachment resolution.
And, The Skeleton In Jordan’s Closet: The Ohio State Sex Abuse Scandal.
Ohio State had a major sex abuse scandal involving the athletic team physician, including abuse within the wrestling program. The abuse spanned nearly 20 years, including the period 1986-1994, when Jordan was an assistant wrestling coach there.
According to CNN, several former OSU wrestlers said in on-the-record interviews and in testimony before the Ohio state house, that they had either directly talked to Jordan about the situation or that he should have known about it as it was an “open secret.”
Jordan called all of the on-the-record statements “false” and, in a 2018 Fox News interview, suggested the “lies” were “sequenced and choreographed” by “the left.”
This week, four former OSU wrestlers who accused Jordan of failing to protect them when he was assistant coach publicly said he should not be House Speaker.
“Do you really want a guy in that job who chose not to stand up for his guys?” former OSU wrestler Mike Schyck said. “Is that the kind of character trait you want for a House Speaker?”
Preventing Jim Jordan from becoming Speaker is the ultimate test for responsible House Republicans. If they fail, the current chaos and dysfunction in Congress will continue.
_______________
Fred’s Weekly Note appears on Thursdays in Wertheimer’s Political Report, a Democracy 21 newsletter. Read this week’s and other recent newsletters here. And, subscribe for free here and receive your copy each week via email.
