How risky will it be for America and the world for Jim Jordan to become Speaker of the House?

Republicans appear on the verge of picking Jim Jordan as the next Speaker of the House of Representatives; if they do, they’ll be putting Donald Trump, by proxy, in charge of the House half of Congress.

This is a true danger to our republic and an embarrassment in front of the rest of the world.

Trump is a convicted rapist and sexual predator. With this decision, Republicans would put a man who stands accused with covering up the sexual assault of multiple students when he was a wrestling coach as Trump’s front man in Congress.

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to hold office again?

You’d have thought that after Republican Speaker Dennis Hastert went to prison for what Jordan is accused of covering up, the GOP would have figured out this isn’t a good look, but, no.

Trump is an unrepentant liar who continues to lie literally every day and has used deceit as the foundation of his strategy to build his business empire. Jordan also casually lies and distorts the truth — loudly and publicly — to satisfy his own lust for wealth and power.

Jordan has lied:

— Claiming in 2020 that Democrats were preparing to steal the election (a meme Trump was promoting then, too, as both saw the polls showing that Trump would lose the election).
— Taking Putin and Trump’s side in defending the Russian terrorist attack on Ukraine.
— Promoting a Russian lie that then-Vice President Biden got a Ukrainian prosecutor fired to help out Hunter Biden (the reality was literally the opposite).
— Arguing that Social Security and Medicare must be “reformed” (cut) to keep the programs solvent when simply having rich people pay the same FICA tax as the rest of us would solve any problems.
— Trying to blow up Fani Willis’ investigation of Trump’s alleged crime of demanding the Georgia secretary of state “find” over 11,000 votes.
— Siding with Trump and his Republican conspiracy to overthrow our government on January 6th.
— Telling false stories about “Hunter Biden’s laptop.”
— Smearing Robert Mueller and Rod Rosenstein as he led an effort to impeach Rosenstein for investigating Trump’s ties to Putin.
— Advancing a strategy to gin up an impeachment effort against President Biden.
— Supporting a corrupt strategy by Wisconsin Republicans to impeach the new Chief Justice of that state’s Supreme Court.
— Helping cover up revelations of fraud in Donald Trump’s tax returns.
— Participating at the center of the conspiracy to storm the Capitol and then voting not to certify President Biden as the legal winner of the 2020 election.
— Alleging that the Biden administration was targeting “Catholic traditionalists” for punishment by the IRS.
— Smearing the IRS and their efforts to get billionaires to pay the taxes they owe.

But don’t just take it from me. here’s what Liz Cheney, no Democratic shill, says about Jordan:

“Jim Jordan knew more about what Donald Trump had planned for January 6th than any other member of the House of Representatives. Jim Jordan was involved, was part of the conspiracy in which Donald Trump was engaged as he attempted to overturn the election.”

She and former Republican Congressman Adam Kinsinger wrote on Twitter/X:

“Jim Jordan was involved in Trump’s conspiracy to steal the election and seize power; he urged that Pence refuse to count lawful electoral votes. If Rs nominate Jordan to be Speaker, they will be abandoning the Constitution.”

He then refused to honor a subpoena from the January 6th Committee and is still in contempt of Congress for his cowardice.

Former Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) wrote in his 2021 book about Jordan, who he called a “legislative terrorist”:

“I just never saw a guy who spent more time tearing things apart — never building anything, never putting anything together.”

As Dan Friedman and David Corn wrote for Mother Jones:

“Jordan was an early and enthusiastic recruit in Trump’s war on the republic and reality—in public and in private.
“Days after the November election, he spoke at a “Stop the Steal” rally in front of the Pennsylvania state capitol. He spread election conspiracy theories within right-wing media. He endorsed Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell’s bogus claims that Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic had robbed Trump of electoral victory. He called for a congressional investigation of electoral fraud for which there was no evidence and demanded a special counsel be appointed. He endorsed state legislatures canceling vote tallies and selecting their own presidential electors. He urged Trump not to concede. He demanded Congress not certify Joe Biden’s victory in the ceremony scheduled for January 6, 2021.”

During the 2019 impeachment probe into Trump blackmailing Ukrainian President Zelenskyy to fabricate dirt on then-candidate Joe Biden, Jordan helped criminally storm a secure room in the Capitol where evidence against Trump was held, delaying the proceedings by hours.

The stunt prompted cybersecurity concerns because Jordan and Gaetz brought people without security clearances carrying cellphones with cameras into the top-secret secured SCIF, prompting Congressman Eric Swalwell to note:

“They not only brought in their unauthorized bodies, they may have brought in the Russians and the Chinese with electronics into a secure space, which will require that the space at some point in time be sanitized.”

As a reward for Jordan’s loyal service to Trump’s MAGA/Putin cause, in his final weeks as president the Orange Rapist awarded him the rare Presidential Medal of Freedom, an honor established by President Kennedy for people who have given outstanding service to America in the fields of national security and world peace.

As anybody who has ever watched a hearing chaired by Jordan knows, he is an unrepentant bully who will say or do nearly anything to win an argument or get his way. It’s so well known that the Politico headline says it bluntly: “Will Jim Jordan bully his way to the speakership?”

Jordan has been in Congress for 16 years and gone from being an Ohio wrestling coach to having a net worth of over $30 million; he has sponsored four pieces of legislation in all that time, none of which became law.

The Children’s Defense Fund notes that Jordan has been no friend to America’s families and youth, cataloging part of his voting record just last year:

— voted against H.R.1 the For the People Act of 2021.
— voted against H.R.5984 the IDEA Full Funding Act.
— voted against H.R.7989 the Protecting Infants from Formula Shortages Act of 2022.
— voted against H.R.5080 the Secure Background Checks Act of 2021.
— voted against H.R.4464 the Fighting Homelessness Through Services and Housing Act.
— voted against H.R.4837 the Honoring Family-Friendly Workplaces Act.
— voted against H.R.128 the RAISE Act of 2021.
— voted against H.R.131 the Kalief’s Law.
— voted against H.R.137 the Mental Health Access and Gun Violence Prevention Act of 2021.
— voted against H.R.1603 the Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2021.
— voted against H.R.1620 the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act of 2021.
— voted against H.R.1808 the Assault Weapons Ban of 2022.
— voted against H.R.2377 the Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of 2021.
— voted against H.R.3617 the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act.
— voted against H.R.5129 the Community Services Block Grant Modernization Act of 2022.
— voted against H.R.5305 the Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act.
— voted against H.R.5746 the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act.
— voted against H.R.6531 the Targeting Resources to Communities in Need Act of 2022.
— voted against H.R.7309 the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2022.
— voted against H.R.7780 the Mental Health Matters Act.
— voted against H.R.7790 the Infant Formula Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2022.
— voted against H.R.7910 the Protecting Our Kids Act.
— voted against H.R.8326 the Ensuring a Fair and Accurate Census Act.
— voted against H.R.8404 the Respect for Marriage Act.
— voted against H.R.8542 the Mental Health Justice Act of 2022.
— voted against H.R.8876 the Jackie Walorski Maternal and Child Home Visiting Reauthorization Act of 2022.

An Ohio newspaper warns that putting Jordan in the Speaker’s position, two heartbeats away from the presidency, will create an “Axis of Evil” between Trump, Jordan, and the other Putin-aligned MAGA Republicans in that body.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer’s former Editorial Director wrote:

“Placing second in the line of presidential succession, a man willing to besmirch everything America stands for in service of Trump by rights should prove too risky for many of the House’s 221 Republican members.”

Truer words were never spoken. Jim Jordan represents a real and existential threat to democracy in our country, the rights of women and minorities, and peace in the world.