'No backup plan': GOP in meltdown over Jim Jordan as Dems plan to take advantage
October 17, 2023
Republicans are in disarray after the failed speakership vote for Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) — and Democrats are plotting their next move in response, said NBC News Capitol Hill reporter Sahil Kapur on MSNBC's "The ReidOut" Tuesday.
"What is the status of the attempts to corral votes for Jim Jordan?" asked anchor Joy Reid. "Let's start there."
"It's a bit of a mess right now, Joy," said Kapur. "Jim Jordan's team did not expect there to be 20 defections. They certainly did not expect to be dealing with 20 defections from such a cross-section of their Republican conference. You have appropriators in there, swing district members, conservatives who are generally known as team players with the Republican Party who oppose him. So Jordan had some meetings with leadership allies. He said he's going to continue working members, talking to them. They are expected to have another vote tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. on a second ballot. And that's going to be a crucial inflection point. He's going to have to show he can make progress here, that he can improve his vote count rather than potentially lose more votes, which is also a possibility that some members think is in the cards or his speakership bid could collapse quickly. It's not over yet. There is no backup plan if Jim Jordan doesn't get it, and the House Republicans are in a very perilous situation at this time."
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"And your reporting, Sahil, is Democrats are actually setting up and poised to take full advantage if somehow Jim Jordan gets the votes," said Reid. "Tell us about that."
"Yeah, they absolutely are," confirmed Kapur. "Democrats are already crafting a message and a strategy to tie the entire Republican Party to Jim Jordan, to argue that there are no moderates left in the House Republican conference, that they're all beholden to an extremist, to radicals. They're going to tie Republicans to Jordan, to Trump. They're bringing up the January 6th insurrection. Which is not — Jordan was one of more than 140 Republicans who voted to block the certification of some of Joe Biden's electors, but it was more than that. He was involved in some of the conversations with former President Trump at the time. He kind of spoke out at rallies and took that message that the election was stolen out on the road, which of course, we know to be a lie. So Democrats do see a political opportunity there, if Jordan is speaker, to try to tie every Republican to his brand of politics."
"It's unclear at this moment whether he will get there," added Kapur. "And if he doesn't, then there are already conversations happening, including among Democrats, as to whether there should be some kind of caretaker speaker, someone like Patrick McHenry is a person who Democrats respect. The minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, said all options are on the table when it comes to temporarily or permanently finding a bipartisan path to a speaker. Unlikely at the moment, but that option could come into play as things get desperate. The government shuts down in one month from today if there's no action, and there's a groundswell of support for some action to help Israel as it deals with that horrific attack from Hamas."
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