The pending crash-in-flames of Republican Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan’s run for the House Speakership will bring to an end an unexpected ascension of the jacketless nihilist who infamously has been in Congress since 2007 and has never written a bill that’s become law.  A meeting Thursday night between Jordan and 22 Republican opponents reportedly wasn’t an effort for Jordan to lobby the group, according to MSNBC, but more of the group urging Jordan to drop his effort because they are never, ever, ever going to support him.

Jordan’s career as a leader of the House GOP is effectively over.  He’ll still be the Republican leader on committees due to his seniority, but he will never be considered for a whip or Speaker position again.  His influence will seep away:  in the House, if you’re static, you’re dead.  He doesn’t have any coattails to ride on anymore; he’s burned all those bridges thanks to the threats his loyalists issued to try to get him Kevin McCarthy’s old job, and he screwed his buddy Steve Scalise along the way.

Not to be overlooked:  Jordan’s public, embarrassing tumble likely ends any influence the Freedom Caucus has.  Jordan, the group’s founding chair, couldn’t rally the Republican conference around his nomination; it’s a tangible sign of the faded influence of the Freedom Caucus movement, the successor of the Tea Party movement.  With MAGA’s ascendance, the Freedom Caucus will fade away as the Republican Base’s rage factory.  MAGA will likely not survive 2024 intact, as its leaders face jail and Trump fails to win the popular vote again, so what spin the GOP takes on its absolute obstructionism in the next decade is unknown.  But you know Jim Jordan will try to glom on to it to save his career.