Why rejecting 'fascist gym teacher' Jim Jordan won't save vulnerable GOPers: columnist

After Republicans spent days fighting for Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) to become Speaker of the House, he went down in flames on the first ballot with even more Republicans defecting against him than had done against ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). But Jordan's team is determined to move forward with another ballot Wednesday – though there seems to be no path forward.

If his speaker bid flops, vulnerable Biden-district Republicans successfully prevented a far-right takeover of their conference, wrote Amanda Marcotte for Salon Wednesday. But it may not matter for them because there's a much bigger factor that could drag down the moderate Republicans, she added.

"It's easy to see why these rebel Republicans are worried that Speaker Jordan might be an especially bad look. No one in history has embodied the role of a fascist gym teacher more thoroughly than Jordan, a man whose only waking mode is 'hectoring,'" wrote Marcotte, adding that this personality strains the credibility of his denials of involvement in the Ohio State sex abuse scandal.

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However, the problem for the Republican defectors, Marcotte continued, is that Jordan's "pro-bullying impulses seem to drive him to side reflexively with sexual abusers, as he does with self-proclaimed p---y-grabber Donald Trump. And that person, of course, is why even if House Republicans manage to vote down Jordan, it will do little to salvage their reputation."

All the voters the GOP lost in 2020 because of Trump are going to continue to oppose them because, regardless of who they choose as speaker, Trump appears almost inevitable to become their next nominee for president, setting up the same fight all over again.

The upshot of that, concluded Marcotte, is that it doesn't really matter whether the relatively moderate wing of the party can hold off a Jordan speakership or not — they are going to be tied to Trump no matter what.

"If he wins, a bug-eyed right-wing nut becomes the most powerful figure in Congress, third in line for the presidency," wrote Marcotte. "But not electing Jordan only reinforces a larger narrative, which is that Republicans are so far gone that the most basic task of a legislative majority — choosing one of your own to be the leader — is beyond their capabilities. Either way, campaign ads for the Democrats next year should be fun."