How right-wing media firebrands promoted 'high-profile disruption' in House speaker debacle
When Rep. Jim Jordan's (R-Ohio) nomination for speaker came up for a full House vote on Tuesday, October 17, the far-right MAGA Republican didn't fare well. Democrats voted overwhelmingly to make House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) speaker, and the 20 Republicans who voted against Jordan favored Rep. Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana), former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) or other members of the GOP caucus.
That vote wasn't what far-right media figures like Fox News' Sean Hannity and "War Room" host Steve Bannon were hoping for. Hannity and Bannon had waged a concerted effort to bully and coerce House Republicans into voting for Jordan.
In an article published by Washington Post on October 18, reporters Sarah Ellison and Will Sommer cite Hannity and Bannon as examples of pundits who have helped fuel the chaos plaguing the GOP's House majority.
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"Hannity's effort to personally whip up votes for Jordan highlights the central role that right-wing media has played in the weeks-long drama engulfing Capitol Hill over who will wield the speaker's gavel," Ellison and Sommer observe. "At each turn, conservative media figures such as Hannity and former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon have injected high-profile disruption into a process that normally plays out quietly behind the scenes in Capitol Hill corridors."
On October 13, Hannity tweeted, "Any Member of Congress would be crazy to NOT support Jim Jordan for Speaker. He is a natural born principled leader who will lead house Republicans to unite vs the radical left on the house and senate. Call your member and tell them at 202-224-3121."
Bannon, on "War Room," urged listeners to turn up the heat on conservative Rep. Steve Womack — an Arkansas Republican and one of the holdouts — and said of the congressman, "You're in a super MAGA district. You gotta get your mind right." Womack, however, voted for Scalise on October 17.
"Over the weekend," Ellison and Sommer report, "Hannity reached out to several holdout lawmakers who were not supporting Jordan, while one of his producers contacted lawmakers with an e-mail asking why they weren’t backing him."
READ MORE: How risky will it be for America and the world for Jim Jordan to become Speaker of the House?
Read the Washington Post's full report at this link (subscription required).
