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The Mess in Congress: If Only Republicans Fought Democrats As Much As They Did Their Own Voters
The Federalist ^ | 10/19/2023 | Shawn Fleetwood

Posted on 10/19/2023 10:00:36 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

The House of Representatives’ bid to elect a new speaker ended in another stalemate on Wednesday after 22 Republicans voted against front-runner Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.

Wednesday’s vote marks the second in which enough Republicans defected to kneecap Jordan’s speakership bid. On Tuesday, 20 GOPers — including Reps. Ken Buck of Colorado, Don Bacon of Nebraska, and Jen Kiggans of Virginia — voted for House members other than Jordan. These members and many others also voted against Jordan in Wednesday’s vote.

As The Daily Caller reported, Jordan needs at least 217 votes to become speaker. Meanwhile, Democrats are casting their votes for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

While the speaker’s gavel remains up for grabs, some moderate Republicans are reportedly floating the idea of colluding with Democrats to pass a resolution expanding the powers of the chamber’s interim speaker. According to Fox News, the effort is being spearheaded by Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Ohio, and has gained support from other establishment Republicans, such as Rep. Carlos Gimenez of Florida, and Rep. Nick LaLota of New York.

Gimenez and LaLota are among the nearly two dozen Republicans to vote against Jordan’s speakership bid.

Republicans Hate Their Base

While not perfect, Jordan as House speaker would be a major upgrade for GOP voters. Not only does he sport a more conservative voting record than former Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., he’s also one of the founding members of the House Freedom Caucus.

So why, despite a groundswell of support among conservative voters, have a handful of Republicans decided to tank Jordan’s speakership bid? While anonymously sourced conspiracies are likely to dominate legacy media’s coverage of the issue, the real answer is likely much simpler: Many of these Republicans despise their voters.

Don’t take my word for it. Bacon admitted as much when complaining to reporters earlier this week about the “pressure campaign back home” for him to back Jordan as speaker. The Nebraska congressman went on to say the reason he opposed Jordan’s initial speakership bid was to stick it to the few House Republicans who ousted McCarthy and prevented Scalise from becoming speaker.

“You don’t have a process where I play by the rules and some people can’t — and they get what they wanted, and now I’m supposed to play by the rules,” Bacon whined.

So, to recap: A grown man serving in the U.S. Congress is actively defying the will of his voters to spite some of his colleagues.

As petty and pathetic as his actions are, Bacon is merely a symptom of the greater cancer that’s infected the GOP establishment for years. On the campaign trail, these Republicans make grandiose pledges to stand up for conservative values and “drain the swamp,” only to discard such promises once they get to Washington.

It’s not that they forget what they promised. It’s that they never intended to fight for their voters in the first place. Whether on religious freedom, illegal immigration, or federal spending, conservatives can always count on the Republican establishment to sell them out.

If Republicans like Bacon spent as much time fighting Democrats as they did stabbing their own voters in the back, the battle for America’s soul would look more like a fight between two rivals than the one-sided shellacking Democrats are dolling out on a weekly basis.



TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: congress; republicans; rinos; speaker; uniparty
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1 posted on 10/19/2023 10:00:36 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Jordan needs to hang tough … drag this out


2 posted on 10/19/2023 10:07:14 PM PDT by 11th_VA (<><)
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To: All

can ordinary people just call these reps up and offer money for their voting “services”?

you know, like the DC lobbyists apparently do...


3 posted on 10/19/2023 10:09:50 PM PDT by SteveH
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To: SeekAndFind

CONGRESSMAN STEVE SCALISE (R-LA), WHO IS UNDERMINING JIM JORDAN FOR HOUSE SPEAKER, TOOK MONEY FROM SAM BANKMAN-FRIED’S ILLEGAL FTX CAMPAIGN FINANCE OPERATION, AS DID 13 OF THE 22 RINO HOLDOUTS

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/10/exclusive-13-22-rino-holdouts-derailing-jim-jordan/


4 posted on 10/19/2023 10:25:35 PM PDT by Swirl
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To: 11th_VA

>> Jordan needs to hang tough … drag this out

Yep. This.


5 posted on 10/19/2023 10:26:35 PM PDT by Nervous Tick ("First the Saturday people, then the Sunday people...": ISLAM is the problem!)
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To: Swirl

Reminds me of Jeff Foxworthy’s here’s yer sign about rednecks…. The FTX fraud a “here’s yer sign” for GOPe, Globalist, Uniparty Traitors.


6 posted on 10/19/2023 10:30:30 PM PDT by antceecee
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To: SeekAndFind

the gope cares only about retaining power in the party


7 posted on 10/19/2023 10:41:49 PM PDT by joshua c (to disrupt the system, we must disrupt our lives, cut the cable tv)
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To: SeekAndFind

They need reminding that they are in the majority because of us voting them in to oppose and not enable Brandon.


8 posted on 10/19/2023 10:43:23 PM PDT by Freest Republican (This space for rent)
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To: SeekAndFind

Good article. The links to religious freedom, illegal immigration and federal spending are particularly sobering.

The Republican party is anti-conservative. Most conservatives are in denial of that fact.


9 posted on 10/19/2023 10:47:23 PM PDT by Mr. N. Wolfe
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To: SteveH

LOL! Yeah…let’s crowd fund together to beat the lobbyists!


10 posted on 10/19/2023 11:00:42 PM PDT by antceecee
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To: joshua c

Just like the demonrats.


11 posted on 10/19/2023 11:08:09 PM PDT by No name given (Anonymous is who you’ll know me as)
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To: Freest Republican

Well said.


12 posted on 10/19/2023 11:08:27 PM PDT by No name given (Anonymous is who you’ll know me as)
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To: SeekAndFind

This is all too true and has long been the practice of the Bush crowd. They tend to regard election as a personal coronation of sorts wrested from the ignorant rabble of ordinary Republican voters. Once elected, the rabble can be ignored in favor of service and favors for donors and friends and the advancement of their political career and financial interests.


13 posted on 10/19/2023 11:23:15 PM PDT by Rockingham
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To: SeekAndFind

The Republicans ARE Democrats. The Freedom Caucus has dislodged them and so there is a battle, as there should be, to keep them dislodged.


14 posted on 10/20/2023 12:00:05 AM PDT by RitaOK (Viva Christo Rey. For Greater Glory. )
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To: SeekAndFind

What a novel concept.


15 posted on 10/20/2023 12:22:47 AM PDT by metmom (He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.)
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To: All

It’s all about spending.

Congress simplistically spends billions they do not have and did not earn, then saddles taxpayers with onerous borrowing costs. Taxpayers’ children and grandchildren are compelled to pay the outrageous bills for these foreigners.

<><>Why does the US have to go in debt for these pampered foreigners?
<><>Why cant they stand on their own two feet?
<><>Why cant wealthy Israel and money-grubbing Ukraine do the borrowing for their own needs?


16 posted on 10/20/2023 1:14:13 AM PDT by Liz (“The only time Biden gets his hands dirty is when he’s taking cash from foreign countries." Trump)
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To: joshua c

One can only ask “Why?” as to the reasoning on these uncooperative members. You cannot beat somebody with nobody, an old axiom in politics, and there is nobody who has even a remote chance of being substituted, at this point, for Jim Jordan.

A real shirtsleeve politician, Representative Jordan is the modern incarnation of “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”.


17 posted on 10/20/2023 2:59:08 AM PDT by alloysteel (Most people slog through life without ever knowing the wonders of true insanity.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Exactly. This is why the whole of DC needs to be purged. They only serve themselves, all of them. Yes, ALL OF THEM! You know it cannot be done at the voting booth, so how’s it going to happen and how to prevent the same type of characters from getting elected is my question.


18 posted on 10/20/2023 3:13:09 AM PDT by TermLimits4All ("If you stand for nothing, you'll fall for anything.")
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To: SeekAndFind

Republicans splinter. Democrats stick together like glue. Republicans always play defense. Democrats always play offense. Republicans fumble and stumble. Democrats stay focused.


19 posted on 10/20/2023 4:33:33 AM PDT by From The Deer Stand (P)
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To: SeekAndFind

BOHICA


20 posted on 10/20/2023 4:41:48 AM PDT by VRW Conspirator (Socialism should more accurately be called Sociopathism)
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