House Republicans haven’t been terribly successful at many things this year. They struggled to keep the government open and to keep the United States from defaulting on its debt. They’ve even struggled at times on basic votes to keep the chamber functioning. But they have been very good at one thing: regicide.
On Friday, Republicans dethroned Jim Jordan as their designated Speaker, making him the third party leader to be ousted this month. First, there was Kevin McCarthy, who required 15 different ballots to even be elected Speaker and was removed from office by a right-wing rebellion at the beginning of October. Then, after a majority of Republicans voted to make McCarthy’s No. 2, Steve Scalise, his successor, a number of Republicans announced that they, too, would torpedo his candidacy and back Jordan instead. Finally, once Republicans finally turned to Jordan as their candidate, the largest rebellion yet blocked him from becoming Speaker. After losing three successive votes on the floor, the firebrand lost an internal vote to keep his position as Speaker designate on Friday.
Since elections are administered by the states, I think there wouldn’t be an issue there. Ironically the push for states rights means federal gridlock can’t stop elections.
Republican leadership seems aware that when shutdowns and fuckery like this happens, they get the blame. Trump is making it worse for them by cheering for a shutdown.
I think the election would go very badly for them. We’ve seen Congressional gridlock for a long time, but never because the majority party can’t agree with itself. I believe the situation is proving unpopular even with Republican voters, who themselves are split. Gaetz has opened up fault lines that can’t be easily closed.