(New York) Elected to the House of Representatives in November 2006, Jim Jordan has yet to propose a single bill in the House of Representatives that has been signed into law by a president.
This record isn’t exactly surprising considering some of the phrases that have been used over the years to describe the Republican representative from Ohio: “bomb thrower,” “fire eater” and “terrorist.” legislative”. Remarkable fact: it was a Republican and not a Democrat who used the word “terrorist” in 2015 to define this ultraconservative troublemaker who would become one of Donald Trump’s fiercest allies in the American Congress.
Even more remarkable: this same man became his party’s designated candidate for the presidency of the House last Friday, a position which normally requires the ability to negotiate and manage bills.
Jim Jordan will perhaps not succeed in succeeding Kevin McCarthy, dismissed on October 3 following the mutiny of a handful of ultraconservative or publicity-hungry Republicans. He may encounter the chaos that prompted the previous nominee, Louisiana Representative Steve Scalise, to withdraw his candidacy last Thursday.
PHOTO EVELYN HOCKSTEIN, REUTERS ARCHIVES
Louisiana Republican Rep. Steve Scalise last Thursday
But there is still something astonishing in the mere fact that he now has a chance of being elected to a position that would place him at the top of the hierarchy of power in the American Congress and second in the order of presidential succession.
An “important” role in the assault on the Capitol
Because Jim Jordan inherited a new label a year ago: “insurgent”. He played a “significant” role in Donald Trump’s effort to block certification of the election results, according to the final report of the House committee of inquiry into the January 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol. 2020 presidential election by Congress.
“He participated in numerous post-election meetings in which senior White House officials, Rudolph Giuliani and others discussed strategies for contesting the election, including claims that the election was tainted by fraud” , the report says. “On January 2, 2021, Representative Jordan led a conference call during which he, President Trump, and other members of Congress discussed strategies to delay the January 6 joint session. During the call, the group also discussed posting messages on social media encouraging supporters of President Trump to “march to the Capitol” on January 6. »
The report then describes a text message that Jordan sent to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on January 5, 2021, “conveying advice that Vice President Pence should ‘designate any electoral votes he considers unconstitutional as not being electoral votes at all”. »
Jim Jordan, who now chairs the House Judiciary Committee, refused to collaborate with the committee on January 6 or to explain the nature of his phone calls with the president around that date, one of which was lasted 18 minutes. One thing is certain, what he did pleased Trump. On January 11, 2021, the latter awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian decoration of the United States, during a private ceremony.
PHOTO AL DRAGO, THE NEW YORK TIMES ARCHIVES
Representative Jim Jordan greets Donald Trump, then President of the United States, during a partisan event in August 2018.
And today he supports the candidacy of the co-founder of the Freedom Caucus, a group of ultraconservative or extremist representatives, for president of the House.
“He will be an excellent Speaker of the House of Representatives and has my full and complete support!” “, Trump said on Truth Social shortly after midnight on October 6.
“Insurgent”
Last Friday, the number two House Democrat, Massachusetts Rep. Kathleen Clark, used the word “insurrectionist” to describe Jim Jordan, as others had done before her. The same day, former Wyoming Republican Representative Liz Cheney, a member of the January 6 Inquiry Commission, described him as such on X.
Jim Jordan participated in Trump’s plot to steal the election and seize power; he insisted that Pence refuse to count legal electoral votes. If the Republicans nominate Jordan for speaker, they will abandon the Constitution. They will lose the majority in the House and they will deserve it.
Liz Cheney, former Republican representative from Wyoming
House Republicans aren’t quite there yet. Last Friday, during an internal vote, Jim Jordan received 124 votes, against 81 for his little-known opponent. Another internal vote revealed shortly after that that 55 Republican representatives expressed their opposition to the election of Jordan as speaker. However, Jordan could not lose more than four Republican votes during a vote in plenary session.
The representative from Ohio and his allies therefore spent the weekend exerting strong pressure on the recalcitrants. Amy Kramer, organizer of the Tea Party and the “Stop the Steal” movement, notably published on X the telephone numbers of 12 anti-Jordan representatives and asked her subscribers to contact them to force them to change their minds.
Will this strategy bordering on intimidation help Jim Jordan secure the 217 Republican votes he needs to become Speaker of the House? The answer could come as early as Tuesday. In the meantime, the House remains paralyzed for the third week, at a time when its aid is needed by two countries at war, Ukraine and Israel, and when the American government is a month and a day away from running out of money. to finance its services.
Former Speaker of the House, John Boehner, the same one who called Jim Jordan a “legislative terrorist”, probably does not see in him the solution to this unprecedented paralysis. Ditto for all those who consider him an “insurgent”.