House Majority Leader Steve Scalise hardly had time to withdraw his bid to be speaker before Rep. Jim Jordan was on the phone trying to drum up support. That leaves Republicans to make a dire choice: continue in chaos or be browbeaten into accepting a MAGA overlord who will turn the House into Trump 2024 headquarters. They are deciding that in a conference meeting Friday morning.
Just how toxic would Jordan be in the top job? That has been demonstrated in his efforts to undermine Scalise’s bid. Rep. Ann Wagner of Missouri, a McCarthy ally, spilled the tea on Jordan Thursday night: “Yesterday in conference, he gave the most disgraceful, ungracious — I can’t call it a concession speech — of all time. There were gasps in the room.”
