Column: These California Republicans voted for Jim Jordan and against the good of the country. Remember their names
LA TimesHouse members applaud Rep. Jim Jordan after the Ohio Republican voted for himself to be the next speaker. On Wednesday, California’s 12 GOP House members put tribal loyalty above the country’s best interests and heedlessly cast their votes to make Jim Jordan — election denier, Jan. 6 instigator, political pyromaniac — the next House speaker. John A. Boehner, a former Republican House speaker, called his fellow Ohioan a “legislative terrorist” and said he had never seen “a guy who spent more time tearing things apart — never building anything, never putting anything together.” But setting aside those glaring defects, what is singularly, unequivocally disqualifying is Jordan’s attempts, at Trump’s beckoning, to subvert an election that even Trump officials called the most secure in American history. Just imagine: If Jordan prevails and lasts long enough in the position — a dubious proposition given Republicans’ penchant for political cannibalism — he would preside over certification of the 2024 election. Apart from Calvert, Steel and others mentioned above, the California GOP lawmakers who supported Jordan on both ballots included Reps. Darrell Issa, Kevin Kiley, Young Kim, Tom McClintock, Jay Obernolte and former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.