This week, Republicans held a vote in the House to nominate their candidate for House Speaker.
Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) came out on top by 13 votes over Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH).
His time as the nominee would last less than 24 hours.
Scalise beat out Trump-endorsed Jim Jordan 113-99, and most assumed that would be the end of it as he is a pretty straight shooter and well-liked in the caucus.
That thought process got tossed within minutes, as members of the Freedom Caucus immediately stated they would not be voting for Scalise.
On Thursday, Republicans met to try to hash this out, but Scalise failed to get anyone to budge, so he withdrew his nomination.
Scalise stated:
"I never came here for a title. ... I'm the majority leader of House. I love the job I have. I've had big challenges in my life. I've been tested in ways that really put perspective on life."
Even though Jordan asked his supporters to support Scalise, they are not budging.
To make matters worse, there are still supporters of McCarthy's who want him reinstalled, and he is not helping the issue by saying that he will do whatever the party wants. Instead, he should be rallying members to support the nominee.
McCarthy's pride was dinged when he was removed, as he was confident enough members would support him, so now he cannot get his pride out of the way to do what is right for the party.
The resistance against Scalise has seeped into the entire caucus, as members now seem to want to get their names in the paper as a member of the resistance.
For instance, Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), who I would challenge anyone knows outside of his district, stated:
"It didn't change my mind about how I'm going to vote.
"But it was good and constructive. I think there's differences of opinion."
Freshman Rep. Mark Alford (R-MO) was beside himself at the chaos, stating:
"I have no earthly idea. I'm a freshman caught up in this maelstrom. We're a ship that doesn't have a rudder right now.
"And I'm thoroughly disappointed in the process. And I just pray to God that we find something."
I always own up to when I am wrong, and I gave the GOP way too much credit in thinking they could put their differences aside with multiple crises bearing down on this country to fall in line with the nominee.
Scalise deserved his shot, and I would have said the same thing about Jim Jordan, but now this has become a clown show.
American lives are at risk, our border is being overrun, we have an energy crisis bearing down on us, and we need to get spending bills approved.
We begged these members to change leadership after the 2024 election, but they kept the status quo. McCarthy was ousted anyway, but they had no plan in place to replace him and never did.
As I have stated before, Republicans are great at being their own worst enemy, which is why we lost in 2020 and again in 2022. We are now on the brink of having three amazing opportunities to seize complete control of this government, and they are going to blow it again.
I wish we could get adults in Congress instead of petulant children.
