The big story coming out of Rep. Jim Jordan’s failure to become speaker of the House in the first round of balloting (besides the failing part) was the public feud he and his team picked with Majority Leader Steve Scalise and his crew.
It started with a meeting after the failed vote between Jordan and Scalise, in which Jordan was supposedly asking for help from his former rival. The story from Jordan’s team right after the meeting broke up was that Scalise refused to commit to help and “isn’t being a team player.”
“That’s bulls—t," a Scalise ally told Politico. "Steve has been the only candidate for speaker who said he would publicly support the nominee and he has and still will." Scalise spokeswoman Lauren Fine added, “Leader Scalise has been the only candidate throughout this process who has publicly declared he will be supportive of whomever the conference nominates for Speaker, and his position has not changed.”
Then the rest of the story came out: Jordan’s team leaked the supposed dispute on purpose, as part of their pressure campaign. Bad idea.
It got so bad, Jordan had to resort to tweeting, “We must stop attacking each other and come together.” That message fell flat with at least one Republican, Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, who has been a target of a pressure campaign that extended to his wife. She received anonymous emails and texts saying, “your husband better support Jim Jordan,” and warning, “Your husband will not hold any political office ever again. What a disappoint [sic] and failure he is.”
Feel the unity!
That’s enough of a taste of Jordan’s idea of leadership to harden the opposition against him. Unless Jordan can figure out a way to overturn this election, his bid for power seems doomed. Watch along with us in today’s live coverage.
Sign if you agree: No more MAGA circus. Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker!
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