Who will speak for the GOP? House Republicans must find a real leader

Though it may seem far longer, it was only three weeks ago when eight radical House-smashing Republicans overthrew Speaker Kevin McCarthy and cast their majority conference and the Congress into chaos.

This morning, the 221 GOP members will have a secret ballot vote to decide which of nine contenders will be their leader and presumably the next speaker. The qualifier “presumably” these days is a must. And the man they choose — who will be second in line to the presidency — must be able to lead the House and not be an ideologue.

That only two of the nine voted to certify the 2020 presidential election results when Donald Trump baselessly challenged Joe Biden’s victory in Arizona and Pennsylvania is scary. And only five of them voted to keep the government from shutting down starting Oct. 1. It was that necessary act that precipitated the revolt against McCarthy.

This is the sixth internal secret head count since the Republicans narrowly won the chamber last November. On Nov. 15, McCarthy won a conference vote 188-31. He then struggled through losing 14 floor roll calls in January before making enough concessions to the far right to stumble to victory on the 15th vote. But he gave his No.1 enemy, Matt Gaetz, a weapon — a privileged motion to vacate the chair by a single member — that Gaetz would later use to off McCarthy, as happened on Oct. 3.

Then there was another secret ballot vote to pick a new speaker. On Oct. 11, Steve Scalise beat Jim Jordan 113-99, with Trump endorsing the loser. Unable to get to 217 on the floor, Scalise didn’t even try and dropped out the next day.

Back they went into closed session the day after, Oct. 13, with Jordan prevailing over Austin Scott 124 to 81. To make sure, they polled themselves again to see if Jordan would have the floor votes and it was only 152 pledging to back him and 55 refusing. But Jordan went ahead, assuming Trump’s support would put him over the top. Nope, as Jordan lost three floor tallies, each with few votes.

We note with pleasure that Jordan did not quit. He did not drop out. Using wrestling terminology befitting him, he was pinned. He lost a secret ballot to remain the GOP leader by 86 to 112.

All these secret votes in conference would be funny if it didn’t also mean that the United States House of Representatives was paralyzed. There is a speaker pro tempore, Patrick McHenry, but his powers are limited to presiding over a vote for the permanent speaker. Even a reasonable effort, backed by Jordan, to grant McHenry full powers through the end of the year was rejected by the GOP members.

So the only option is more conference secret ballots to find a new leader, who will then try to win a majority on the floor. That hasn’t happened since January.

The right wing doesn’t want anyone who will govern responsible, as McCarthy tried to do, which is terrible. Meanwhile, the moderates don’t want a bomb thrower, like Jordan, which is excellent.

It’s too bad that there can’t be new elections right now and let the American public decide who should be in charge of the Congress. But who knows, the GOP has wasted three weeks; can they dawdle until next November?