Posted originally on the CTH on October 16, 2023 | Sundance 

The media and punditry are saying it’s the pressure of Jordan, but really, it’s the pressure of the voters that’s scaring the crap out of the Republicans in the House.

The block of opposition to Jim Jordan’s nomination in the House is crumbling, as their phones, emails and fax machines are being lit up by voters demanding support and threatening a removal primary against any House member who tries to stand in the way of the people.

Jordan has vowed to take his nomination to a House floor vote and force the Republican Party to take a stand. This is a solid strategy that puts any no vote against the will of the electorate.

WASHINGTON – Twenty-four hours before the full House will vote on whether to hand Jordan the gavel, the Judiciary chair and his allies have managed to chip away at a significant bloc of opposition that many in the House GOP saw as insurmountable just days ago.

That includes two lawmakers who had publicly vowed not to support Jordan: Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.), who had publicly railed against Jordan’s behavior towards Majority Whip Steve Scalise, and House Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), who had also backed Scalise’s bid and has been critical of the House Freedom Caucus’s tactics in recent years.

Another holdout, Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.), posted on X Monday that he would be “offering my support on the House floor” to Jordan. Buchanan, a senior member of the Florida GOP delegation, is another significant get, given three Republicans from the Sunshine state are still holding out.

Some House Republicans also raised eyebrows at the nod from Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), a senior appropriator who has been similarly skeptical of the ultraconservatives’ demands this Congress.

“I feel real good about the momentum we have and I think we’re real close,” Jordan told reporters Monday, vowing to take the contest to the floor at noon regardless of whether he’s formally landed 217 votes. (read more)

Y’all know how I feel about Jordan in general terms, but hopefully the MAGA base and President Trump’s influence can overwhelm the right wing of the Uniparty vulture.

Posted originally on the CTH on October 4, 2023 | Sundance

My dearest friends, as much as I do not want to accept certain things, this one is critical to accept.  Jim Jordan has shown over time that he is simply a purposefully placed “anger manager” on behalf of the Professionally Republican wing of the administrative state.

Perhaps we lost him before the 2020 election, when the “six ways to Sunday” group fired a shot across his bow with the issues about “widespread sexual abuse in OSU’s wrestling program.”  The timing seems to fit with the overall dynamic and how the intelligence apparatus operates.  Regardless of whether that was the inflection point, the extreme visibility & promotion of the claims, in combination with the sudden disappearance of them, was the impetus –or if it was something similarly timed– something consequential changed in the political orbit of Jim Jordan.

For the past several years, as more intensity has swirled around us, Representative Jim Jordan has appeared as more of a useful “anger manager,” better positioned to satiate the masses than actually deliver any accountability results.  The media appearances seemed to align with that intent, and then a very big datapoint surfaced that few -other than myself- seemed to be concerned about.

When the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of Government was formed, it was constructed in the lane of the House Judiciary Committee.  Meaning, the House Judiciary Committee would be the presumptive authority committee under which the select subcommittee would form.  For most casual observers, this seemed to be just a parliamentary decision; however, for me it also held concern.

Those concerns were then realized when it was announced that Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan would also sit as the Chairman of the Select Subcommittee.  If you are cynical and/or knowledgeable as to how the Deep State operates, this approach positioned Jordan as a backstop against the issuance of subpoenas that would be against the interests of the Professionally Republican leadership.  Trying to protect the flickering flame of hope, I held my powder and watched.

What followed was the worst-case scenario that I previously outlined {Go Deep}.  It is no longer a question of whether the Select Subcommittee was constructed in an effort to dissuade, dilute and deflect the outrage by the American people who were witnessing the weaponization of government.  That’s exactly what the subcommittee result was as a result of Jim Jordan’s leadership.

I told several people at the time, after watching about 5 months of the subcommittee work, “It’s over.”  Meaning there never was a genuine, actionable effort on behalf of the new Republican majority to confront the weaponization of government.  It was all another farce – another railcar in a “long train of Republican abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object,” gaslighting and kicking the proverbial can.

As much as I did not want to accept it, we were once again victims.

Kevin McCarthy’s Lucy has unlimited footballs.

Jim Jordan is the carefully positioned guardian of Kevin McCarthy.  Jordan was the general selected to hang out with the troops and play the role of steering leader; one foot in the trenches and the other foot in the mahogany meeting room.  If he did his job well, he would control the glances by the regulars toward the indulgences of leadership.

Jim Jordan did his job very well.

Jordan is corrupt; perhaps that’s too strong a word; perhaps compromised is a better way to put it.  Not corrupt/compromised in a way of directly lying, cheating or stealing, but rather corrupt in the same familiar manner that generates all of the frustration we feel. Corrupt in the sense of satiating the masses while being disingenuous in the extreme of creating ZERO accountability.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy used Jim Jordan for exactly this institutional preservation purpose, and Jordan knows it…. and willingly goes along with it…. and willingly plays the role of “anger manager” on behalf of his leadership.  That’s the part that has become more obvious and needs to be accepted.

Once you understand this, the next part makes total sense.

WASHINGTON — Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Wednesday became the first lawmaker to announce a bid for speaker of the House, one day after Kevin McCarthy was ousted from the top job in a historic vote.

Asked by reporters in the Capitol if he was running, Jordan replied unequivocally: “Yes.”

“We need to unite the conference,” said Jordan, who had just met with Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., a likely rival for speaker, to inform him of his decision.

Later Wednesday, Jordan sent a letter to colleagues touting his work on immigration and oversight issues on the Judiciary panel and asking for their support.

“Now is the time for our Republican conference to come together to keep our promises to Americans. The problems we face are challenging, but they are not insurmountable. We can focus on the changes that improve the country and unite us in offering real solutions,” Jordan wrote. “But no matter what we do, we must do it together as a conference. I respectfully ask for your support for Speaker of the House of Representatives.”

Jordan said he made his decision after many of his GOP colleagues reached out, urging him to run. A source familiar with Jordan’s thinking said the congressman has repeatedly said that choosing the next speaker “will be a decision for the conference” and now the conference is asking. (read more)

Every element of the professional Republican apparatus in DC, positions their interests for the long game.

When a person grabs the flag at the front of the parade, watch who they hand it to… Often, there’s an intent.