House Republicans in Disarray

[Kishkumen]

Jeffries: 210
Jordan: 194
Others (all Rs): 25

I am really confused here. Jeffries gets more votes than Jordan, but Jordan is still in the running? I must have this wrong. If only Jordan had some integrity and actual commitment to constitutional government. To lose to the minority nominee and still hang on?

[Res Ipsa]

Jeffries: 210
Jordan: 194
Others (all Rs): 25

I am really confused here. Jeffries gets more votes than Jordan, but Jordan is still in the running? I must have this wrong. If only Jordan had some integrity and actual commitment to constitutional government. To lose to the minority nominee and still hang on?

You're only confused because it's confusing. To become speaker requires a majority of the votes cast. Jeffries has been the plurality winner of most of the votes taken, but has never received (and will never receive) a majority of the votes cast. When one party holds a razor thin majority, small factions are "blessed" with power not represented by their numerical total.

[Some Schmo]

I am really confused here. Jeffries gets more votes than Jordan, but Jordan is still in the running? I must have this wrong. If only Jordan had some integrity and actual commitment to constitutional government. To lose to the minority nominee and still hang on?

I heard Jordon say something like McCarthy went 15 rounds before he was voted in, so he thinks he'll be able to hammer it out like McCarthy did.

Funny, though... I don't remember McCarthy's cronies sending threatening letters to the spouses of GOP congress critters. Color me crazy, but that might make a difference.

[Kishkumen]

You're only confused because it's confusing. To become speaker requires a majority of the votes cast. Jeffries has been the plurality winner of most of the votes taken, but has never received (and will never receive) a majority of the votes cast. When one party holds a razor thin majority, small factions are "blessed" with power not represented by their numerical total.

Indeed! I know he has to get a majority of all of the votes, not just more votes than the next person, but I am astounded that he has been unable to reach the minimum number of votes McCarthy received, and he has been unable to get more votes than Jeffries, and add to that the fact that he has lost votes each time. That all spells failure. He failed. Moreover, he has none of the monetary lures that McCarthy had. Worse yet, his bullying campaign—truly despicable—has backfired royally.

What am I missing here?

[Kishkumen]

I heard Jordon say something like McCarthy went 15 rounds before he was voted in, so he thinks he'll be able to hammer it out like McCarthy did.

Funny, though... I don't remember McCarthy's cronies sending threatening letters to the spouses of GOP congress critters. Color me crazy, but that might make a difference.

And yet, at no point has he been as well positioned to take it as McCarthy was. This is an extremist coup, essentially. I predict much worse for our future if the coup works. What they are trying to do is set up Donald Trump’s dictatorship. This is the next step toward their goal.

[Some Schmo]

I heard Jordon say something like McCarthy went 15 rounds before he was voted in, so he thinks he'll be able to hammer it out like McCarthy did.

Funny, though... I don't remember McCarthy's cronies sending threatening letters to the spouses of GOP congress critters. Color me crazy, but that might make a difference.

And yet, at no point has he been as well positioned to take it as McCarthy was. This is an extremist coup, essentially. I predict much worse for our future if the coup works. What they are trying to do is set up Donald Trump’s dictatorship. This is the next step toward their goal.

No doubt.

It's hard to imagine Jordon accepting the results of the election when he's in denial about his own house votes.

[Res Ipsa]

You're only confused because it's confusing. To become speaker requires a majority of the votes cast. Jeffries has been the plurality winner of most of the votes taken, but has never received (and will never receive) a majority of the votes cast. When one party holds a razor thin majority, small factions are "blessed" with power not represented by their numerical total.

Indeed! I know he has to get a majority of all of the votes, not just more votes than the next person, but I am astounded that he has been unable to reach the minimum number of votes McCarthy received, and he has been unable to get more votes than Jeffries, and add to that the fact that he has lost votes each time. That all spells failure. He failed. Moreover, he has none of the monetary lures that McCarthy had. Worse yet, his bullying campaign—truly despicable—has backfired royally.

What am I missing here?

Exercise of raw power with no guardrails.

ETA: This is an example of what Jordan and his thugs unleashed on R House members who didn't vote for him.https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/202 ... an-vpx.cnn

[Bond]

The Washington Post is reporting that Jordan lost a vote of confidence in the private caucus meeting, getting a total of only 68 votes in favor of him continuing his campaign to be come speaker.

The schedule as it stands right now is for yet another R caucus meeting on Monday to vote on a speaker candidate, following by a floor vote Tuesday.

Now that McCarthy, Scalise, and Jordan have all fallen it's a free for all. Approximately nine would-be GOP candidates are working the phones and text messages gauging support. It's not going to end though because the same 8-10 Freedom Caucus types who ousted McCarthy are going to rally around a spoiler candidate, probably Byron Donalds of Florida, and continue their demands for a platform that cuts government spending by 30%. I had my thoughts of a bipartisan deal being cut at 5% and now I'm up to 14.5% confidence. The GOP doesn't want to do any power sharing with the Dems but dang if 4-5 Republicans might just give up. Funny how those bipartisan Republicans would probably be booted from their party sooner than the flamer throwers like Matt Gaetz. The GOP is truly the dog that caught the car.

[Bond]

I heard Jordon say something like McCarthy went 15 rounds before he was voted in, so he thinks he'll be able to hammer it out like McCarthy did.

Funny, though... I don't remember McCarthy's cronies sending threatening letters to the spouses of GOP congress critters. Color me crazy, but that might make a difference.

He went 15 embarrassing rounds and gave up everything short of his wives' underwear to the Freedom Caucus to get the gavel and he still got ousted after nine months because he kept the government open. Jordan was never going to bargain with the moderates he let right wing media try to do the bullying and negotiating.

[Bond]

Indeed! I know he has to get a majority of all of the votes, not just more votes than the next person, but I am astounded that he has been unable to reach the minimum number of votes McCarthy received, and he has been unable to get more votes than Jeffries, and add to that the fact that he has lost votes each time. That all spells failure. He failed. Moreover, he has none of the monetary lures that McCarthy had. Worse yet, his bullying campaign—truly despicable—has backfired royally.

What am I missing here?

Just ignore the Dem caucus for now. They're just eating popcorn. This is purely GOP on GOP warfare unless 5 GOP Congressmen were to break down and vote for Jeffries, the Dem.

So McCarthy could only lose 4 votes in a Speakership vote (GOP has 222 votes, needs 218 to win) from his own party but he had 8-20 Freedom Caucus thorns in his side so he was always looking at the Sword of Damocles. Jordan's problem is much bigger. He's got 80-100 moderate institutionalist Republicans who on a secret ballot would never vote for him but are voting for him on the Floor because they don't want to be primaried or have their lives threatened by MAGA crazies. Jordan's initial 20 no votes were just getting higher because the moderates in the party were like "oh our votes are worth just as much as those clowns like Gaetz and Boebert and we don't want this insurrectionist with the gavel" and they were only going to gain more votes and more confidence against Jordan if he'd continued to have more and more votes. Jordan I suspect also had a sliver of shame of getting pantsed on live tv that McCarthy never had. McCarthy wanted the gavel and to go down in the history books as Speaker and was willing to do anything to reach the top of the mountain, if only for a few months. Now we're back to square one looking for GOP candidate.

Something to note is that despite a Trump endorsement Jordan never got close to the Speakership, suggesting Trump's hold on the GOP Congressmen is ever so slightly loosening.