[ Analysis and Opinion.]
Should Jim Jordan be elected Speaker of the House of Representatives?
The U.S. Congress is currently in gridlock. The Democrats by a slim majority control the Senate. And, the Republicans, again by a slim majority, control the House of Representatives. If one examines history there’s nothing particularly disturbing about this situation, however, these are clearly not normal times. The U.S., indeed the whole World, finds itself in a very perilous situation given unfolding events in Gaza. This is not to mention the Russian invasion of Ukraine, China’s threat to invade Taiwan, and serious threats of U.S. government shutdown over budgetary issues, if not an outright default in the payment of U.S. Treasury Bonds.
To add to the foregoing, are the seemingly never ending vitriolic and extremely serious controversies surrounding a former President of the United States. This country has never experienced anything as potentially destructive to the very fabric of this nation’s democracy as the criminal and civil litigation surrounding Donald Trump. The seriousness of Trump’s legal cases cannot be exaggerated.
And what makes the Trump situation exponentially worse, is that he is thought of by most pundits as the front runner for the Republican nomination for President in 2024. Given the nature of the charges against him, particularly those that deal directly with the Capitol riots of January 6, 2020 and his blatant attempts to overturn an election that the courts 60 to zero voted was legitimate — is breathtakingly astounding—especially when one considers the extent to which Trump has never disavowed the methods of neo-fascists and many extreme right wing organizations.
Then a few fringe members of the GOP representatives lead the charge and successfully cause the ouster of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House of Representatives. To add to that the Republicans then vote down and reject their own majority leader, Steve Scalise, to replace McCarthy and are now presenting House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan as their nominee to become the next Speaker. The Speaker of the House of Representatives, of course, is the highest office anyone can hold in the U.S. House of Representatives. Importantly, they largely control the order of its business. It also happens to be second in line to succeed to the Presidency after the Vice President, should the President die while in office.
In short, because the Senate is controlled by the Democrats, it will be extremely difficult to get very much, if any, important legislation enacted if the House and it’s Speaker can’t compromise with whatever legislation and budget the House and Senate respectively pass. Both the Senate and the House must pass bills (and a budget) that are identical or they cannot be sent to the President for his signature. In short, if the President, the Senate and the House do not agree on the same provisions of any bill or budget then it cannot become law and/or the official budget upon which government can stay open and operate. This would mean a government shut down, many government services would stop, social security checks may well not be issued, government employees would get no paycheck and/or the government could default on the payment of U.S. Treasury Bonds. These consequences would all be much more destructive to the U.S. economy and the prestige of the U.S. abroad than most extremist Trump supporting Republicans admit. And beyond that, it would most likely increase interest rates that the government would pay on all of its future debts making future budget balancing even more difficult than it already is. Moreover, many if not most all other interest rates, such as those on home mortgages that are tied to U.S. Treasury rates would increase. Newly issued mortgages would be at higher rates thus hurting the housing market.
Other severely negative consequences will follow if the House, Senate and the President cannot agree on things. Two other pressing ones right now will be U.S. aid to Ukraine to prevent a Russian takeover and the amount of future support Israel will receive. For example, Trump’s commitment to Israel and Ukraine’s independence is certainly much weaker than Biden’s.
Regardless of anyone’s view on these issues, they are clearly of vital importance to the U.S. and the rest of the World, and having a House Speaker put in place who would increase the chances of leglislative deadlock on such crucial issues is unfathomable given present circumstances. And what is very disturbing in this regard is that it is in Donald Tump’s interests to make the next year or so as difficult and disruptive on the Biden Administration as possible. In short, it’s in Trump’s interest for Biden policies and the Biden Administration to fail because it increases Trump’s chances of being elected in 2024. And there can be no question, that Trump deeply desires re-election in part so that he can avoid
any potential jail time if convicted of any of the criminal charges against him.
In this regard, several additional important points also need to be emphasized. Jim Jordan is also a very strong political ally of Donald Trump. Jim Jordan is also in charge of what so far has been (despite very public statements made by some Republicans and right-wing news media to the contrary) an investigative wild goose chase at looking into possibly impeaching President Biden. Jordan is doing this based in large part on what have, for many months now, been extremely vague and unproven allegations of wrongdoing by President Biden arising out of his son’s business dealings. In fact, the suspicion of many is that Biden impeachment proceedings were instituted by some Republicans solely for the purpose of deflecting public attention away from Trump’s legal woes, especially those pertaining to the 2020 election. Jordan is also the candidate that Trump himself supports for the Speakership. And finally, and perhaps most disturbing are the allegations made by former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney, who was involved in the House investigation into the causes of the January 6th riots, (She is also daughter of former Republican Vice-President Dick Cheney). To quote one source (WTVR Channel 6, Richmond):
“Former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney on Thursday questioned whether Rep. Jim Jordan should be disqualified from becoming Speaker of the House because of his role in the events leading up to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. On the same night former President Donald Trump endorsed Jordan for the job Kevin McCarthy was voted out of, Cheney told a sold-out crowd in Missoula, Montana that Jordan was at the top of the list of Republican lawmakers who enabled the [Jan 6] riots.” [emphasis and brackets added.]
Cheney has made other statements that indicate that Jordan is profoundly loyal to Trump and will do whatever’s necessary to help Trump get elected again in 2024.
If one puts aside questions of which party or politician is right or wrong on policy issues, does it not seem clear that a Jordan speakership would greatly increase the chances of governmental deadlock (meaning disagreement between the House, the Senate and President Biden) on vitally important issues such as aid to the Budget, government shutdown, default of government bonds aid to Ukraine, Taiwan and Middle East policy if Jordan is elected Speaker? This is not to say that Republicans or the full House should elect a progressive, a liberal or a Democrat as Speaker, but merely to point out that a more mainstream Republican would be a better choice to be the next Speaker. A more mainstream Republican would clearly make it more likely that we would at least have a functioning government during these perilous times.
Finally, it bears worth mentioning, that there is the question of how America would react if, perish the thought, President Biden and Kamala Harris were struck down and unable to continue in office. If Jordan is elected Speaker, he would automatically become President. That of course, is a horrific scenario, but the feeling here is that having an unelected Trump-supporting Jim Jordan appointed President under those circumstances would in fact tear this country apart and be the cause of unspeakable bloodshed.
To borrow from an old Talking Heads tune: “This ain’t no party. This ain’t no disco. This ain’t no foolin’ around.”
This country absolutely must come together. Too many of our politicians are concerned about power and control. Those politicians whose primary concern is partisan politics are endangering the financial and political welfare of this country, not to mention its very survival. This country needs public servants (members of Congress) with integrity, problem-solving and negotiating skills. We need statesmen who can work with members of the opposing party. We need elected officials who don’t make grandiose, inflammatory, and toxic statements that demonize the opposing party and are designed merely to fire up their political base and attract ever more campaign contributions—all at the expense of ripping this country apart. We have to quit nominating and electing loud-mouth extremists. This is true for both parties.
Our country is at extreme risk. Jim Jordon appears to be far too loyal to Trump, far too interested in finding ways to make the Biden Administration look bad, far too biased to be the type of leader who can help to keep our country together and our government functioning. The election of Jim Jordan as Speaker would be a profound mistake. Republicans should choose another more moderate Republican Speaker.
Any representative voting for Jordan to be Speaker should be voted out of office during the next election cycle.
[Artificial intelligence was not involved in the research, preparation, or publication of this article.]
David Dixon Lentz October 15, 2023 amended Oct 16, 2023
© Copyright October 2023; David Dixon Lentz; All Rights Reserved.