Election Denial Is Not a Reason to Say No

Former Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, and many others in Congress on both sides, in this whole clown show we currently are watching unfold before our eyes as we once again can't seem to pick a speaker are citing Jim Jordan's "election denial" position as a key reason he simply can't be the speaker. 

But do we have short term memory problems here, folks?

Beyond just the tweet from 2017 from Nancy Pelosi that resurfaced after she publicly made the same assertion that denying Biden's win is a big reason to say no to Jim Jordan's bid in which she wrote, "Our election was hijacked. There is no question. Congress has a duty to protect our democracy and follow the facts." What the hell was the entire four years about while Trump was president? What seemed to be the primary function of Congress under Speaker Pelosi's charge?

To deny the election of President Trump and get him out.

The odd thing to me is this. In 2016 there was no evidence that the election did not happen as the voters decided it. And I don't say that as a republican nor as a Trump supporter. I say that because there was literally nothing to suggest that Trump did not win in 2016 other than innuendo and accusation placed by Hillary Clinton and the democrat party that somehow Trump colluded with the Russians to seal the deal.

Something that was clearly debunked at every turn no matter how long investigations ensued trying to make their accusation valid. But of course, they couldn't because it simply wasn't true.

But that didn't matter. Not to the media. And not to the democrat party. In their eyes Trump simply was not the legitimate president under any circumstance and it was their job to oppose him no matter what and oust him from office whatever it would take.

The work of the American people, in their eyes, literally became the removal of a duly elected, sitting president against the will of the American people, and to convince the American people they were doing the right thing.

Going back to that "no evidence" argument regarding 2016, there seems to be quite a bit of it regarding 2020—or if it is not evidence per se, it's at least a lot of question marks that deserve a deeper dive look and some more definitive answers other than, "Biden won, just deal with it."

Look, I am not even so much an election denier as I am simply a concerned citizen who thinks our elections matter, and if there are questions, we ought to be interested in knowing what the real answer is. Perhaps if the media and the then leader of the House, and even the American people had been quick to dismiss the idea of a stolen election in 2016, I could accept a quick dismissal of the same in 2020.

But we have a complete reversal here, and we have since Biden was "elected."

Jim Jordan has simply been one of the more vocal congressmen asking questions and wanting answers. "Let's look into it," he has said. Because again, unlike the Russia collusion hoax which had all sorts of evidence pointing to "it didn't happen," the questions regarding to 2020 at least point to, "it possibly happened."

Without rehashing the suggestions I have made in the past, which I believe are legitimate questions; we know that Trump received 10 million more votes in 2020 than he got in 2016. We know that Biden supposedly got the highest number of votes for any elected president in the history of the United States, and that before mail-in ballots were counted, which were about 90% for Biden, Trump was winning the electoral college.

If nothing else, I think we need to know more about how those mail-in ballots were received. By whom and under what oversight? What checks and balances were there and how were they verified? 

Either way, what we have here is simply a mess of great proportion. And it is costing the American people valuable time. Not only that, but it's also thoroughly eroding any sense by Americans that we can rely on our government and our elected officials to get things done that are critical to our lives and to the nation's needs.

For the past 7 years what we've seen is chaos. Frankly from both sides. And right now, at least on our side, we're seeing massive division that is hurting us, and I think it may hurt us going into 2024 no matter who the nominee happens to be, even if I am convinced to this point it will be Trump.

We cannot be a party divided and stand any more than we can be a nation divided and stand. If the question barring Jim Jordan from the speakership is simply his stance on the 2020 election, well, we've been down this road before with Pelosi. No one complained about her attacks on the election which led to four years of investigations and impeachments. So, why should it be a problem for Jordan?

Granted, I don't want to see more of what we saw under Pelosi. But at the same time, I also think there is just too much work to be done that isn't getting done as bickering back and forth seems to be the only job Congress has any more.

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Time To End the Circus on the Next Choice for Speaker

There are days when I swear, I am but a mere witness to a circus and that bothers me. Because right now a lot of the circus seems to be on my side of the political aisle. And I mean that with all sincerity. Hey look, I have said it many times before and I will say it again, just because I am a republican doesn't mean I am going to overlook reality like the other side does and dismiss what I can see with my own damn eyes!

I supported McCarthy for the speakership when the question came around last time and urged my fellow republicans to simply show strength and rally around the guy—even if they have some reservations. Which, to be fair, we're going to have with just about anyone. No one is a perfect candidate no matter what they are running for. 

The thing for me was about the optics of it all. Take optics for what they are, but the truth is that's exactly what the media wanted everyone to see. Instability, infighting, disarray, discombobulation and lack of direction.

And the months long McCarthy fight did more than provide for enough of that, and even with the now ousting of McCarthy we're still giving the media the same fodder for more bad optics.

Nonetheless, I can also understand some of the arguments in favor of McCarthy's losing the gavel. I'm an honest guy, like I keep saying. Was the decision a bit hasty in my opinion? Sure. Regardless of anyone's opinion overall the reality is that it just adds to the narrative that the republican party is disorganized and unfocused.

But that's for another day.

The two top contenders in the mix right now are Rep. John Scalise (R-LA) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), and so far, it appears Scalise may have slightly more support than Jordan does. Personally, I think Scalise may be the better choice right now, but honestly, I think either would make a good speaker. Jordan in the past, for example, has shown deep interest in getting to the bottom of a lot of important questions, and he's been a bull in Congress in my opinion.

At the same time, I also believe that Scalise has more admiration and respect from the other side and that makes him slightly more suited to the position. Because not only does he need to rally the caucus, he needs to be able to reach across the aisle and be able to bring sensible judgement and ideas to the table working with the president.

Granted, regardless of whatever respect he has from either side, getting the 218 votes he needs to become speaker is no easy task. Especially if the republicans can't make up their minds what they want or need to do. And right now, they are having a really tough time with that.

Throw into the mix the Trump card. It's not the first time his name has come up of course. It did as well when McCarthy was fighting for the spot. His name is in the mix yet again, with at least a couple members supporting the idea, and the infamous Marjorie Taylor Greene saying she won't support anyone other than Trump for speaker.

Trump even went on to post on social media a picture of him holding the speaker's gavel without any text to accompany it, and publicly stated when asked whether he'd consider the role if asked, "All I can say is we will do whatever is best for the country, republican party and the people."

By the way, Trump will never be speaker. At least not in my opinion. For one thing if the battle for Scalise and Jordan are a climb up a very steep mountain, the feat for Trump would be one of astronomical proportion the likes of which we have never seen or may never likely ever see again.

It is, by all measures, simply anecdotal. But again, it adds to the circus even though I might support Trump to land the role—although I am not sure I agree that it would be good for the country, the republican party or the people. And that's not me discounting Trump's leadership capabilities. It's just me being realistic.

And, at the same time, reaffirming my position that what we need right now in the role of speaker is someone who can be less divisive and rally the troops and be able to cross party lines. I think that person is Scalise. Jordan would have difficulty doing that in my opinion, and certainly Trump would not be able to do that.

In fact, going one step further, I think Trump in the role of speaker would also damage some of his chances in 2024 as well as distract him from his own campaign. As I have said many times, the focus needs to be on 2024 and on how we defeat President Biden. And that's as tough a road, despite that it shouldn't be, based on Biden's complete failure of a presidency, as Scalise's ascendency to the speakership. But we're in a very weird time right now and the media's not giving things to us straight and many Americans either don't care or are actually listening to what the media is telling them.

Either way, what I am hopeful for is that we can be swift in our election of a new speaker and keep the infighting to a bare minimum, showing strength and solidarity to the American people who very badly right now need to see a republican party better able to come together.

We need to end the circus. It's gone on long enough and it's gone beyond the clown show. We're in near ridiculous territory.

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