Quelle Surprise – Former President Trump called Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, a “star” on Truth Social, Semafor reports, and endorsed him to be the next speaker. This gives Jordan a distinct edge over Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), who was the number-two House GOP leader before Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was removed as speaker last Tuesday.
Jordan, a key ally of the former president, told CNN that Trump remains the GOP’s leader, will be its presidential nominee next year, and expects he will become the 47th president.
Meanwhile: Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK), chair of the conservative Republican Study Committee and at 39, youngest of the three, is a third, dark horse candidate for House speaker after Jordan and Scalise but has received very scant media attention.
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The Anti-McCarthy Eight
Minority Rule -- The eight House Republicans who joined all the House Democrats to remove Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as speaker are ...
•Matt Gaetz, Florida
•Andy Biggs, Arizona
•Ken Buck, Colorado
•Tim Burchett, Tennessee
•Eli Crane, Arizona
•Bob Good, Virginia
•Nancy Mace, South Carolina
•Matt Rosendale, Montana
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MAGA-right Republicans in the House were – still are – ready to shut down the federal government at any cost because that’s what Donald J. Trump wants. Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) figured that out in time to pass a bipartisan bill extending the current fiscal year’s spending to mid-November despite threat of a motion to vacate if he dared work with Democrats. There was no way for McCarthy to pass a spending bill -- even a short-term one -- without this threat.
Those MAGA House Republicans are led by Rep. Max Gaetz (R-FL), who said McCarthy’s speakership is now on “tenuous ground” (per The New York Times). A motion to vacate means a single House member may challenge McCarthy’s position. It’s a threat that has been held over his head since it took 15 rounds for Republicans to elect him speaker earlier this year.
After Saturday night’s vote, McCarthy said (per Punchbowl News); “If someone wants to bring a motion against me, bring it. There has to be an adult in the room.”
Before the Saturday vote, one pundit on MSNBC’s The 11th Hour Friday said that Trump wants the government to shut down because he (mistakenly) thinks it will halt Justice Department cases against him for alleged involvement in the January 6th Capitol insurrection and for classified documents found in his possession after leaving office.
That’s too obvious. Forever the pro-chaos politician, Trump wants to shut down the federal government as an extension of his Big Lie, the January 6th attack and his ongoing assault on American democracy.
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