In House speaker race, it’s the lesser of two evils
The devil you know is better than the one you don’t.
Democrats in Congress forgot that aphorism when they helped eight radical-right Republicans remove Kevin McCarthy as House speaker. How did that work out?
As House Republicans caucus this week in search of a new speaker, both of their declared candidates are more rigidly conservative than McCarthy, and one is a pro-Trump extremist.
Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the Judiciary Committee chairman, doesn’t just disagree with Democrats — he hates them. Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the majority leader, once told a reporter he was “like David Duke without the baggage,” as if the former Klansman had redeeming political qualities.
It boggles the mind that one of these men could be second in line to the presidency. All of a sudden, the famously untrustworthy McCarthy doesn’t look quite so evil — and days after being deposed, he’s telling Republicans he’d serve again if the caucus wants him.
The better option
Nonetheless, Scalise is the better option here if it’s between him and Jordan. In politics, everything is relative. To borrow another aphorism, Scalise is the lesser of two evils.
Jordan is truly awful. He’s a Donald Trump favorite, the ex-president’s leading apologist in Congress, and a founder of the hard-right Freedom Caucus. He tried to sabotage special counsel prosecutions of Trump and remains a force behind the farcical impeachment investigation of President Joe Biden.
Former Rep. Liz Cheney accused Jordan of knowing that Trump would unleash a mob on Jan. 6, 2021, and failing to warn police. As members of Congress ran for their lives on that dark day, Cheney was overheard demanding that Jordan get away. “You f ***ing did this!” she shouted.
Jordan defied the House select committee’s subpoena. No one who shows such contempt for the House’s lawful process and constitutional duty should be in Congress, let alone hold the speaker’s gavel. Jordan voted to sustain objections to two slates of Biden electors and overturn the election. But so did Scalise, McCarthy and many more House Republicans.
The Constitution at risk
Cheney said in a recent speech that Jordan as speaker would eliminate “any possible way to argue that a group of elected Republicans could be counted on to defend the Constitution.”
The Democrats’ best chance for political leverage depends on what Republicans do in their caucus.
If they nominate only Jordan, the Democrats should vote no, as a bloc. If Scalise and Jordan are asking the whole House for their votes, Democrats should wait and see how the vote goes among the Republicans. If Jordan is winning, they should vote for Scalise. If Scalise is ahead, they should abstain and vote “present” and let Republicans settle it themselves.
Abstaining was an option that moderate Republicans begged Democrats to take in the vote against McCarthy, but their grievances against the former speaker were many.
Democrats have no chance of extracting meaningful concessions from the Republican candidates for speaker other than the one that many Republicans support — repealing a House rule allowing any one member to file a motion to vacate the chair.
That was one of many shameful concessions McCarthy made to overcome the opposition of Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who led a band of seven far-right colleagues in ousting McCarthy last week.
Don’t side with crazies
No one who would cower again to the Gaetz gang deserves to be speaker, and that’s where Democrats can matter. Republicans outnumber them, 221-212, but Democrats could decide the outcome if even a few Republicans cause trouble. Democrats should not vote for anyone willing to cave in so abjectly to the Republican crazies.
Many Republicans want to abolish the rule that allowed Gaetz to subvert the House. Miami Rep. Carlos Giménez, for one, says he won’t support any candidate for speaker until it’s repealed.
Democrats should also seek repeal of the so-called Hastert Rule, which prevails when Republicans control the House. It forbids any matter to be brought to the floor unless a majority of Republicans supports it.
That is as undemocratic as the Senate’s filibuster because it allows a small minority of the whole House, which at the moment could be 112 members out of 435, to block anything a majority favors. That’s barely 25% of the membership, far below the 40% plus one that sustains a Senate filibuster.
Democrats don’t have much bargaining power with the majority at the moment unless Gaetz or someone else tries to be their kingmaker.
What Democrats should not do is to help Gaetz in any way. Congress is paralyzed because of how that worked out the first time.