10/25/ 23 Ken Buck buckled. He just voted for a GOP House speaker who was an election denier and was not in support of more Ukraine aid, the very two issues he gave for opposing Jim Jordan. Here is the package plan he voted for, not only regarding being an election denier who helped shape the elector scheme in 2020 and regarding Ukraine, but Johnson is a religious conservative supporting an abortion ban and is anti-LGBTQ rights and opposes gay marriage. This should also provide a nation wide campaign slogan adapted to district races: Turn the House blue; end MAGA control, I can see those attack ads now. GOP Incumbent House members, either from swing districts or red ones, can now be painted with the same broad brush. They bow to MAGA When the chips were down they voted for a Speaker who was an election denier and architect of the electoral college scheme, a hard core anti choice, anti gay rights and marriage, , anti climate change advocate. The only way Buck can differentiate himself from his support of Mike Johnson is by voting on any of these issues that are brought to the floor or in the committees in which he serves. There is fodder now for some Democrat to give him a serious challenge in the general election. Buck's district is not as red as it once was. https://www.theguardian.com/.../who-is-mike-johnson-house...
Imagine this: the 2024 election, a presidential year, could be determined by a House that either believed the 2020 election was stolen (with no evidence found in 3 years) or who would likely be bent on sabotaging it if Trump looks like he lost. So far, the only candidates left standing have passed the MAGA litmus test of having voted against certification. Tom Emmer, who voted to certify the 2020 elections, became another victim of Donald Trump's intervention, withdrawing his candidacy. The MAGAs are laying the groundwork to sabotage the results of the 2024 presidential race if Trump loses again, destroying trust in the most fundamental purpose of democracy, the vote.
- We must recognize the fight to keep democracy has become central to the 2024 race, and the worst outcome imaginable would be to have a MAGA party trying to overturn an election that they lose are still in control of the House. The fight for 2024 has started now in this House mess. and the GOP is laying the groundwork to give Trump a second term even if he loses the vote of the people.,
It is not only the MAGA laying the groundwork to disrupt the 2024 election by manipulation and lies that is a threat to democracy, it is its use of political violence that is used by its most extreme devotees. This GOP internal fight is a testimony to the distortion of democracy by political and racial gerrymandering and the power of physical, political violence that has been the chief tool of MAGA led by Trump's technique of using fear of retribution to those not loyal to him. It gives new meaning to "whip" votes in Congress, not by the usual horse-trading of favors, but by using fear and threats by outside media and encouraging political violence MAGA offers chaos, government dysfunction, subverting national security interests, and a Congress that is whipped into compliance by threats and violence, fearful to reflect the best interests of their constituents. https://www.npr.org/2023/10/25/1208373493/political-violence-democracy-2024-presidential-election-extremism
https://apnews.com/article/house-speaker-jim-jordan-threats-54eeecef0188edfcb9903e45019f190f “Bullying don’t work,” said Rep. Don Bacon, a Republican centrist who has led the opposition to Jordan’s nomination .... His wife slept with a loaded gun near her bedside one night."
The demise of Jim Jordan's attempt to be Speaker: the threats by bullies failed. The 22 House GOP members who dared to go public to vote against him were subject to death threats and, in Ken Buck's case, (R-CO), more. In addition to Buck, however, there were more than 21 opposing Jordan. A fearful 90 more undercover of a secret ballot in the GOP caucus voted against Jordan's continuing his attempt to be Speaker. Why, how, and is this the end of the reign of terror of a minor, radical right-wing minority? For the sake of democracy, we should hope. We do not need to wait until 2024 for democracy to be on the ballot. It is now 2023. Democracy is already hanging in the balance in the House at this very moment. The same GOP actors in Congress are still in office in November 2024 and during the presidential election vote count.
The time to vote any MAGA out was in 2022, and it almost happened, giving the GOP only a 4-vote advantage. All but a few (14) are from "safe" districts. Fear of losing the next election by a legitimate vote of its constituents is a guiding factor for only a few thanks years of gerrymandering. Nonetheless, there are still enough GOP members from swing districts to defy the MAGA threats of violence and retribution to keep the MAGA from getting their preferred choice. It would be another nightmare a la 2020, but worse, if MAGA controls Congress bent on denying and decertifying another election result if Trump loses in 2024. That is why it is critical that whoever the GOP caucus supports for Speaker is not an election denier whose absolute allegiance is to Donald Trump and not to the Constitution and the institutions that keep it viable.
Enough GOP House members opposed Jordan's advance to a third ballot, but only when they were given a chance to voice their natural preference in secret.. House Republicans are back to the drawing board after they dumped Jim Jordan for Speaker (nbcnews.com). They became brave enough to vote no under the cover of secrecy. That, unfortunately, is a testimony to the effectiveness of threats of political violence and "being primaried in a gerrymandered district." Bullying has worked in MAGAland until now. Why? What changed?
Ken Buck (R-CO) and the other twenty-odd anti-Jordans endured a barrage of FOX and Breitbart threats and calls to " violence to families and staff" and threats of being "primaried." Republicans who voted against Jordan for Speaker say they've been threatened and harassed - ABC News (go.com). Having a Speaker who would use fear and threats to force them to vote against their political interests also raised some hackles; the bullying could have backfired as the desire for GOP incumbents to win the next election in one of those 14 districts that voted for Biden became more important than the fear factor ginned up by the MAGA media.
This GOP internal fight is a testimony to the distortion of democracy by political and racial gerrymandering and the power of physical, political violence that has been the chief tool of MAGA led by Trump's technique of using fear of retribution to those not loyal to him. It gives new meaning to "whip" votes in Congress, not by the usual horse-trading of favors, but by using fear and threats by outside media and encouraging political violence. In this rare instance, the bullies failed, and Trump's hand-picked candidate, Jordan, had to bow out of the race. There was also speculation by pundits that there were those who had supported Scalese or others who wanted no more to do with the House crazies who ended McCarthy's speakership. They resented being forced into another leadership crisis by an unreasonable and disruptive minority.
The argument raised by some in the GOP blaming the Democrats for their dilemma is silly and laughable. They blame the Democrats for not voting for the GOP nominee to break the log jam of failing to reach the 217 needed. Say what? During this battle, any GOP member who urged bi-partisanship or wistfully hoped for a few Democratic votes was immediately shot down as a traitor to the GOP. Democrats have enjoyed painting the GOP as incompetent fools and crazies, true. But they claim no one ever asked them for their votes. Now, as it has been clear there is an impasse, and aid to Israel and Ukraine and a looming shutdown are at stake, that may give the impetus for a few Democrats to ride in on a white horse and save the GOP from themselves. It is right now the most likely outcome if an election denier is a looming possibility of becoming Speaker.
My speculation of what motivated these other 90 who had voted publicly in the two prior House floor votes for Jordan could vote differently in private is, well, speculative. And several. Many feared subjecting themselves to primaries since most came from gerrymandered safe districts. Others likely had personal animosity toward Jordan's "bomb-throwing" and attack dog, take-no-prisoners, uncompromising modus operandi. He was not a legislator; he was an obstructionist who caused chaos instead of being a leader in passing legislation. Speaker's job is to pass their party-favored legislation, by definition, and serve third in line to the presidency. Jordan needed to be more suited for both positions.
The defeat of Jordan in his quest for Speaker is a positive step for those like me who support the continuation of the form of democracy we have enjoyed for 250 years. Admittedly, I have my own antagonism to autocracies since I have experienced them and their aftermath. Jordan's participation in January 6 and promoting the big lie and alternative slates of electors were well known, including his refusal to testify to the January 6 committee about his actions and communications with the White House on January 5 and 6. That Jordan had no respect for following the rule of law regarding January 6 would subvert the intent of the oath of his office.. Jordan is a slavish supporter of Donald Trump, who promised to turn the presidency into a single executive power form of government and a tool of his retribution and tearing up parts of the Constitution. It is a disquieting thought. Jordan taking an oath of office to protect the Constitution would be a meaningless gesture, a third finger raised in the face of being third in line with his pledging political support to other ani-democratic politicians.
The unintended consequence of the past two weeks may be the marginalization of the extremist right-wing influence. It may happen if some line conservative supporter of the House's institution gets the nod. One possibility is someone like Tom Cole of Oklahoma. His name cropped up early after McCarthy resigned and then again recently. Cole represents the most ruby red and secure seat in the nation. He could survive any attack by the crazy right for his working bi-partisanly to get the House operating again. (Cole or someone like him has always been on my radar; I disagree with him on many public policy issues, but. he has the natural ability and respect by his peers and for the institution needed to be a successful Speaker and bring order and calm to the chaos). GOP majority whip Tom Emmer, who voted to certify Biden's win in 2020, is emerging as a centrist candidate, too. Trump Won’t Support Latest Frontrunner in House Speaker Race (msn.com) Democrats benefit from the House looking like a clown show, true. There are more critical agendas, like preserving democracy and the process that has kept it viable despite its warts. It is critical to democracy that the GOP speaker at least pledge his allegiance to the Constitution and the process we have respected for 250 years, designed to avoid chaos and violence that had plagued so many regime changes in history.
What could have motivated Buck to be defiant, a member of the Jordan-founded freedom caucus of ultra-conservatives? Buck was hardly an outlier of ideological, traditional conservativism. Possibly, taken as his public word, he opposed Jordan publicly on two public policy issues: Jordan's participation and support of January 6 before and after as an election denier and Jordan's pledge to end aid to Ukraine. Other factors could have been at play. Overtly, the 22 who revolted mostly came from districts Biden won in 2020. Their re-election in 2024 would be in peril with their constituents if they were too closely linked to MAGA. This is a tribute to the few House districts. It is not gerrymandered to purely GOP majorities and is still competitive in a general election. In Buck's case, once nearly entirely rural and very conservative, his community had become more "front range," urban, and liberal after recent districting by an independent commission. It is still not a swing district, but Buck felt the shift, and his public policy positions were popular across bi-partisan lines, including opposing election denial and funding Ukraine. Jordan took the opposite place on both of these issues. Still, that does not totally account for Buck's upfront opposition to Jordan, and it obviously resulted in the threats on his life and eviction from his district office by a disgruntled landlord. Whatever it was, Buck did not buckle.
.https://ballotpedia.org/U.S._House_districts_represented_by_a_Republican_in_2022_and_won_by_Joe_Biden_in_2 .
- The problem this presents is that any successful centrist candidate will have to deal with MAGA, a large chunk of the House GOP caucus,. This means the Dems may have to keep up the strategy of a coalition government as issues come to the floor for a time.
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