Republicans continued their downward spiral into MAGA Land on Tuesday. Yes, in what feels like a minor miracle, they avoided electing Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, a toilet swirlie in human skin, as speaker of the House. But they also didn't come close to coalescing behind anyone else, despite Democratic leadership repeatedly offering to strike a deal to drag one of the few remaining zombie moderate Republicans over the line. Worse, Jordan's candidacy is still alive, even if he decided not to go for another vote on Tuesday night after a humiliating first-ballot defeat. (At this writing, another vote the is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday morning.)
It's been two weeks since a small faction of mega-MAGA Republicans, led of course by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, ousted the previous speaker, Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California. A lot of those same folks, along with others, then blocked Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, basically for not being quite enough of a pro-Trump berserker. Now another group of Republicans, slightly larger than the group that torpedoed McCarthy, has blocked Jordan's ascension, most likely because they're worried about being tied too closely to the MAGA movement during next year's election campaign. Jordan hasn't dropped out yet, probably because, as virtually the only person standing who is nuts enough to want the job, he still has a shot.
