Should Jim Jordan become Speaker of the House–and as it stands as of this writing, it is the most expedient and least disastrous route for the House GOP–Democratic candidates should send Matt Gaetz a daily Incredible Edible bouquet until Election Day 2024.  (It would accomplish two things:  His interns probably need some fruit in their diets and if kept in the office, they will feed an annoying swarm of fruit flies.)

Gaetz’s stunt lit a fuse on a bomb that has yet to explode, but the panic that it caused exposed the fundamental weakness of House Republicans:  lack of leadership.  The face representing the House GOP with which Republicans in every district will have to partner in the 2024 elections will be… Jim Jordan.  In every swing district, “Jim Jordan’s Far Right Freedom Caucus Agenda” gets pinned to the GOP candidate.

In this case, rightly so:  virtually every Republican in the House will have to vote for Jordan–or whomever ascends–for that person to become Speaker and that means each member casts a de facto vote for that person’s agenda.  And Jordan’s agenda isn’t popular with voters:  he’s anti-choice, pro-censorship, and he sits on the side of the insurrectionists.  In fact, some believe Jordan is a leader of the January 6th attempt to undermine the Constitution.

But look at what else Jordan has done:  he questioned the legitimacy of a 10-year-old girl’s rape claim after she sought an abortion in another state.  There’s the famous video where Jordan wouldn’t say definitively if he spoke to Donald Trump on January 6th.  Jordan later defied a subpoena from a Congressional committee, and now Republicans want to put him in charge of the House’s operation? And of course, how can you expect a man who wouldn’t stand up for victims of sexual assault to stand up to people like Matt Gaetz?  Gaetz literally personifies the type of creep Jordan empowers.

Jordan and Gaetz.  Gaetz and Jordan.  The destiny of the Republican caucus in the House is now in their hands.  Gaetz lit the fuse, and Jordan will explode it if he controls the gavel.  What they don’t understand is that like the Coyote in every Roadrunner cartoon, the only thing they’ll blow up is themselves.