Jim Jordan’s troubled speaker bid shows how close America is to 'all-out political catastrophe': analysis

Far-right Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) suffered a major humiliation when 20 Republicans voted against making him House speaker on Tuesday, October 17 and that number increased to 22 the following day. Despite the efforts of Jordan and his allies — including Fox News' Sean Hannity and "War Room" host Steve Bannon — to bully and coerce the GOP holdouts into voting for him, Jordan didn't have the 217 votes necessary to be confirmed as speaker.

But Jordan hasn't given up, and a third vote was planned for Friday, October 20. The pro-Donald Trump firebrand is still hoping that his pressure tactics will force the holdouts to change their votes in favor of him.

Jordan's critics have been arguing that the United States dodged a bullet when his quest to become speaker failed on October 17 and 18. But journalist Jeff Greenfield, in an op-ed published by Politico on October 20, finds it disconcerting that Jordan received as many votes from House Republicans as he did.

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The fact that Republicans nominated Jordan for speaker, Greenfield laments, is "another example of just how close America has repeatedly come to an all-out political catastrophe."

"It's also a reminder that the more close calls there are, the more likely it is that at some point, the worst will indeed happen," Greenfield warns. "What we have witnessed over the past few days is less the triumph of a sensible, centrist-conservative, institutionally loyal contingent of House members, and more the unsettling fact that 200 lawmakers were willing to place outsize power in the hands of an insurrectionist who, as Liz Cheney noted, was closer to Donald Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 election than any other House member."

Greenfield adds, "Yes, the 'squishes' held firm, and kudos to them for defying the worst of their reputations. But what should have been a blatantly disqualifying record was largely treated as either irrelevant, or a mark of loyalty to the dominant figure in the Republican Party."

The "dominant figure" that Greenfield is referring to is, of course, 2024 GOP presidential frontrunner Trump.

READ MORE: 'Thug' Jim Jordan is following in his mentor's footsteps

Vice presidents are said to be "a heartbeat away from the presidency," which means that House speakers are two heartbeats away — as they are third in the United States' presidential line of succession. Fourth in the line is the U.S. Senate's president pro tempore, a position presently held by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington State).

"If Jordan isn't ultimately able to seize power," Greenfield warns, "another Trumpist is still likely to be handed the speaker’s gavel whenever this embarrassing chaos comes to an end.

READ MORE: The disaster that is Jim Jordan

Read Jeff Greenfield's full op-ed for Politico at this link.