Just how much more embarrassing can the House GOP become?

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Jim Jordan, Steve Scalise
FILE—Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, left, and Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., confer during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, June 8, 2022. The two GOP leaders have emerged as contenders to replace former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy who was voted out of the job by a contingent of hard-right conservatives. Jordan is now chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and a staunch ally of former President Donald Trump. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., has long sought the top post. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Just how much more embarrassing can the House GOP become?

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There are plenty of embarrassing things about the Republican Party currently, but the House GOP’s remarkable incompetence and petty squabbling is quickly rising up the list as one of the most pathetic.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) was voted by the majority of the caucus to be the party’s pick as the next House speaker. A large chunk of the caucus then ignored that vote and decided they wouldn’t back Scalise anyway, so now he has dropped out of that race. The new presumed front-runner is Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), with Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) calling on other House Republicans to back him and saying he could get 217 votes on the House floor.

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Of course, any Republican could get the needed 217 votes on the House floor because there are 221 Republicans. No one is the magic candidate who appeals to every single member, and if Scalise beat Jordan head-to-head in the caucus vote, there is no reason to expect that Jordan can get to 217 if Scalise couldn’t. Even now, there is still lingering support for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).

All it takes is five House Republicans to not be on board with a given candidate to sink him or her, and there is no reason to expect that Jordan or anyone else can avoid five holdouts without people giving up concessions. In other words, House Republicans are up the creek without a paddle in a boat that is sinking because they keep poking holes in the bottom because they would rather be in a different, imaginary boat.

This is what happens when you let your petty personal feuds take priority over beating Democrats. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) were among the eight Republicans who helped 212 Democrats remove a GOP House speaker with no plan for what follows. Supporters of both McCarthy and Scalise made up the majority of the caucus, but holdouts empowered Democrats to sink McCarthy and were going to do it again to Scalise, so now everything is at a standstill.

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Gaetz, Mace, and six others threw a tantrum and helped Democrats score a win, and now the House GOP caucus is at each other’s throats instead of taking on President Joe Biden and Senate and House Democrats. House Democrats in recent years have never had this problem, as the radicals and the dwindling number of centrists are always in lockstep when it comes to advancing the Democratic agenda. Meanwhile, the House GOP is run by petty feuds and brainless “strategy” that empowers Democrats at every opportunity.

Again, if you wonder why Republicans so often lose to Democrats, as Gaetz and his ilk whine about, this is why. This is what losing looks like, and this is what it will continue to look like so long as the House GOP is full of selfish camera-chasers who want to talk tough about fighting Democrats while collaborating with them to cripple the House GOP caucus.

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