Two days ago, Rep. Jim Jordan, the shirtsleeve Ohio congressloon, was picked by the GOP conference as their Speaker of the House nominee. Considering how many votes he needs to become Speaker, his victory over surprise challenger Georgia’s Rep. Austin Scott was anemic: 124-81. Apparently, Scott was too moderate for the majority of the seething GOP conference who prefer Jordan’s undisputed “bad boy” approach to Scott’s more backbench persona, even though he’s a consistent Trump enabler and wants a national ban on abortion, same-sex marriage, and democracy in general. Austin’s pretty crazy; Jordan’s clinically insane. On the issues there’s little crazy space between them. In the mental stability event, they’re a dead heat. Nonetheless, the GOP in the 118th Congress prefers demonstrable insanity and consistent firebrand.
How then to explain the 81 votes Scott won? As we’ve seen, it wasn’t about the crazy. Perhaps, though, those 81 pro Scott voters were desperately looking for someone who is not a future criminal defendant. Under House GOP rules, if Jordan were Speaker he’d have to step aside, thereby causing embarrassment all around. This is a GOP that has embarrassed itself at every turn, and for some who are only moderately deranged, enough is enough.
And, truly, Jordan is a risky Speaker’s choice. First, he might fall afoul of Jack Smith’s January 6th expedition. Second, he’s also involved – though not directly yet – in an ongoing class action civil lawsuit against Ohio State University for its alleged role in covering up sexual misconduct by a sports doctor. Members of the wrestling team allege they alerted then assistant coach Jordan of the doctor’s misconduct which they maintain Jordan did nothing to prevent or report. Some of the 296 athlete plaintiffs have settled with the university, but as for the wrestling team, Jordan remains a deposition subpoena candidate. As we’ve seen, he’s immoderately weak in communication skills; imagine the deposition: “I have no memories of the years in question due to my buzzing-in-my-head disability.”
As another option, was Scott’s loss due to his lack of possible civil or criminal liability? The obvious solution to this perceived disability would have been to vote, en masse, for Jordan. But 81 GOP kooks voted for him. Nonetheless, it’s a long settled fact that the GOP conference, has at least 81 members too addle-brained to recognize this. So it’s possible their nay vote on Scott was to punish him for lack of a respectable criminal or civil portfolio.
He needs to up his game to emerge as a party leader. Surely, he ought to speak with the oft indicted Congressloon George Santos who knows all manner of schemes that are criminal adventures both utterly insipid and easily discovered. He could also cross the aisle and take the much indicted Democratic Senator Bob Menendez to lunch; his crime spree might suggest some avenues for Scott to consider. Congressman Scott, there is still a path to Speaker of the House, go crazier and get yourself quickly indicted, and soon.