Back on June 8, 2023, I wrote a blog entitled Would Jim Jordan Rather Be Institutionalized in Congress or Prison? At that time, Kevin McCarthy was still Speaker of the House after the infamous 15 rounds of voting to get there. The imminent shut down of the federal government was still months away. There was no sign that the House frat boy would soon wreak havoc in the halls of Congress … and then he did.
JIM JORDAN CONSPIRATOR
Who can forget the silly responses Jim Jordan made to the questions of how many times he called the President of the United States and what was discussed around January 6? His discombobulation was ridiculed, parodied, and played repeatedly on cable news. He came across as someone with something to hide about January 6 which, of course, he did and still does.
The blog was about Jordan’s legal problems. Or rather expected legal problems. At that point in time, he had decline to respond to a subpoena from the House Select Committee. Steve Bannon had too. In his case, the Justice Department filed suit against him for failure to comply. He was found guilty comparatively quickly. Thanks to our slow moving system of justice, he remains free pending the decision on his punishment. During that time he has continued broadcasting daily from his War Room as if nothing had happened.
THE SPECIAL COUNSEL
In that blog last June I wrote:
For so long we have been hearing about how aggressive Jack Smith was as a prosecutor without any overt sign that anything was happening. Yes, there was witness after witness being subpoenaed and called to testify … apparently more than we knew, but no indictments seemed forthcoming. Meanwhile the presidential election cycle commenced. More and more candidates came forward. Finally even one willing to confront Trump and his criminal family by name declared his candidacy. It was as if everyone else was holding back, waiting for the dam to break, waiting for the moment when Trump became not only a loser but a federally indicted loser as well. Now we are at that moment as well. It is time for people to decide whether they wish to join Trump or does self-preservation come first. Does Jim Jordan really want to go to prison?
Obviously a lot has happened since then. There have been federal indictments in Washington and Florida plus state in Fulton County.
Still, there seems to one significant gap in the charges and evidence at least publicly revealed. That refers to the actions in the War Room. I wrote back in June:
The same [tell the truth or get thrown under the bus] applies to the other members of the inner cabal. I am referring to the people in the so-called War Room. I am referring to the members of the House of Representatives to whom Trump referred in his call to Georgia. At some point these people will realize that this witch hunt is for real. It is time to start thinking about saving their own skin.
Lately we have been hearing more and more about the financial difficulties of the co-defendants in the Georgia case. And this is even before the first trial has begun. Those expenses will only continue to mount in the weeks and months ahead before the main trial commences. But still the War Room remains untouched.
Cassidy Hutchinson has given us some insight into what occurred there. We know that Mark Meadows was a participant if only by phone. We know that Rudy Giuliani was so exuberant about what was soon to happen on January 6 that he sought to celebrate with Hutchinson in the excitement against her will. We know that the President of the United States sought to drive to the Capitol to lead his armed followers into the House chambers until prevented to do so by his Secret Service. Finally, we know that Bannon’s listeners knew that something was going to happen but not anything like what they expected so strap in. And we know that Jim Jordan knew everything as well.
So the question now becomes, what is Jack Smith waiting for? Why hasn’t he breached the War Room barricades and hauled its occupants to testify? One speculation is that he wants a clean case. Unlike the Georgia sprawl, he wants a simple straightforward case focusing mainly on one individual and his criminal actions rather that get bogged down in motions by a host of lawyers. Then once this case is underway, he can bring in the unindicted co-conspirators in their own case.
At some point then, Jim Jordan is going to be asked to testify to the very department he has been seeking to defund. At some point he will defy the subpoena which can lead to separate charges against him. At some point, he may testify under oath and become Roger Stone or Eric Trump. The person hell-bent on getting Hunter Biden and Joe Biden will find himself in the position of taking the 5th on everything. This will be another unprecedented act in American history – A Speaker of the House in defiance of the Department of Justice and/or admitting he has something to hide. Perhaps there will even be a vote to vacate the position of Speaker.
This scenario is dependent on his becoming Speaker in the first place. That prospect still seems unlikely given the vote totals inside the House Republicans. Whether he does or does not, there still remains the open issue of when he will be indicted as a co-conspirator in the January 6 insurrection. His inability even now to admit that Joe Biden won the election does not bode well for the future of this country.
UKRAINE, ISRAEL, GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN
Meanwhile, the world has not stood still while the Republican clown show continues in the House. One may anticipate that the Democratic members of the House will not choose to ratify Jordan if he is nominated. At that point, only a few Real Republicans need to show enough moxie and intestinal fortitude to give Jordan the MAGA treatment and deny him the necessary 217 votes to become Speaker.
If he does becomes Speaker, then he will be the dog who finally caught with the car. Now what? He will be the one taking leadership positions on Ukraine, Israel, and the Government shutdown. He will be the recipient of instructions on what do from the real head of the Republican Party. As the latter’s Hezbollah and Israel comments show, the immature child with the emotional maturity of a three-year old remains the same ignorant moron he has always been as he awaits his trials.
A deal between Real Republicans and Democrats over the Speaker position is becoming more and more likely especially as the clock keeps ticking on the government shutdown. The clown show is not over yet and probably won’t be until after the 2024 elections if then.
