Even after Jim Jordan, House Republicans offer extremists for Speaker

If anyone believed the decision by House Republicans to end the futile Speakership bid of Jim Jordan last Friday signaled a rejection of extremism and return to normalcy, guess again: only two of the nine next potential Speaker candidates voted to certify the 2020 election.

The current roster of potential designates to replace Kevin McCarthy include:

• Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.)

• Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.)

• Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.)

• Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas)

• Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.)

• Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Ok.)

• Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.)

• Rep. Dan Meuser (R-Pa.)

Yet only Emmer and Scott—merely roughly 1/5th of the pool—rejected Donald Trump’s Big Lie to certify President Biden’s victory. This sobering statistic should trigger two reactions in any observer.

First, it should temper—if not outright shatter—any hope that the House Republican conference has engaged in any worthwhile introspection about their string of high profile failures: the loss of the White House and Senate in 2020, the disappointing 2022 midterms, the lackluster impeachment effort against the President, and now the chaos surrounding the Speakership.

Second, it should remind people who may have forgotten that the vast majority of the Republican voting base still believe the 2020 election was stolen from Trump—even though roughly half of those who believe that lie admit that there’s still no strong evidence to support it.

Because their constituents cling to the Big Lie, most Republican politicians are unwilling to jeopardize their reelection with basic civic courage, and will only publicly proffer candidates who reflect the extremism of their base.

Until a handful of them are willing to trade clout for country, this is all we can expect.