Update: The GOP Kicks Jim Jordan to the House Curb

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | October 20, 2023 |

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | October 20, 2023 |

2:07 p.m. — On a GOP secret ballot, Jim Jordan apparently lost again, and he is no longer the nominee for Speaker. New speaker nominees will be taken until Sunday. It’s back to square one on Monday.

11:50: In the final count, Jim Jordan lost 25 votes (5 more than the first vote), with fewer Representatives present (there were 7 Reps. absent today).

11:15 — In Jordan’s third bid for Speaker of the House, Jordan has already lost, and as of this moment, they’re only through the Fs. It looks like he’s going to lose more votes. We’ll have a final count once it’s over.

Original Article

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Even after losing votes between the first and second ballot, Jim Jordan is apparently going to subject himself to a third ballot this morning in his futile quest to become Speaker of the House. Jordan must believe that the bullying his supporters are subjecting to his opposition within the House GOP will change their minds. They’re getting death threats. But they’re digging in, as they should. I do not like their politics at all, but I appreciate that a handful of Republicans are finally standing up to the bullies within their party. If you haven’t heard any of the messages, here’s one to a GOP Rep’s wife.

If Jordan actually follows through on a third vote — and he plans to go all day long, apparently — we’ll have the tallies here as they come in. It’s gotten so ugly within the House over the last two weeks that Republicans are blocking each other on social media. Meanwhile, the attempt to further empower interim Speaker Patrick McHenry has also not only stalled but McHenry says that if they try to make him pass legislation without officially electing him to the role, he will quit.

Elsewhere, Hakeem Jeffries and the Democrats might be willing to help the GOP if they nominate the right candidate, but they are adamant that there will be no help for any nominee who supported Trump’s attempt to overturn the election.

In case you missed it, the lunatic lawyer Sidney Powell, who pushed election conspiracies and had a large role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election, has pleaded guilty and potentially flipped on Trump in the Georgia election case. For what Sidney Powell did, her punishment is absurdly light — six years probation, a $6,000 fine, and a letter of apology to Georgia residents — but the deal has apparently caught Trump’s team off guard. From Rolling Stone:

The news of Powell’s plea agreement Thursday morning stunned a number of Trump’s top advisers and attorneys, all of whom thought Powell — the truest of all Trump-backing, election-denying true believers — was among the least likely to take a plea deal ahead of trial, the people familiar with the situation tell Rolling Stone. Some had even told Trump in recent months that they thought Powell would be (foolishly, in their opinion) fighting the so-called “deep state” in court ‘til the bitter end. She even pushed the idea that Trump could “simply be reinstated” in the middle of President Joe Biden’s term.

Speaking of Trump, it appears that he’s egregiously violated a gag order in the New York civil trial (so many Trump cases to keep up with) that the judge may actually apply sanctions today. Don’t expect him to be jailed like most defendants who violate gag orders.

Joe Biden addressed the nation last night during prime-time television. I thought he gave a good speech. That’s all I’m going to say about that.