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Far-Right Favorite Jim Jordan Launches Bid For Speaker

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) (Image from livestream of Judicial Watch "Deep State Update," April 24, 2018)

Right-wing Rep. Jim Jordan(link is external) announced(link is external) today that he will run for Speaker of the House(link is external) during the next Congressional session. Right-wing groups and leaders began immediately announcing their support for Jordan, including the anti-tax Club for Growth(link is external) and the Religious Right American Family Association(link is external). Fox News has announced(link is external) that Jordan will appear on Sean Hannity’s show tonight.

FreedomWorks, a small-government group associated with the Koch brothers’ political networks, announced(link is external) that it “plans to spend at least half-a-million dollars” to campaign on Jordan’s behalf.  We reported in April that FreedomWorks had launched a petition campaign(link is external) urging Jordan to run and that we wasn’t trying to discourage them. The draft-Jordan campaign picked up steam in May when the Tea Party Patriots released an open letter from more than 100 right-wing activists(link is external) urging him to run and declaring that “a vote to promote any member of today’s House GOP leadership is a vote for the Swamp.”  We noted then:

The letter’s signers are a Who’s Who of leaders from the Religious Right, legal and corporate right, and Tea Party. It includes anti-LGBTQ and anti-Muslim activists as well as anti-tax and limited-government leaders. Among the signers are longtime conservative activists Ed Meese(link is external)Richard Viguerie(link is external) and Brent Bozell(link is external); the American Family Association’s Tim Wildmon(link is external) and Sandy Rios(link is external) and Eagle Forum’s Eunie Smith(link is external); anti-Muslim activists Pamela Geller(link is external)Frank Gaffney(link is external) of the Center for Security Policy and Robert Spencer(link is external) of Jihad Watch; Tim Macy(link is external) of Gun Owners of America; and Ginni Thomas(link is external), a conservative activist and the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Just yesterday, FreedomWorks announced(link is external) that 99.2 percent of its members support Jordan for Speaker. Today, the group’s President Adam Brandon declared(link is external), “We look forward to welcoming more than 1,000 members of our grassroots activist community to FreedomWorks’ September Day of Action on the Capitol’s West Lawn in support of Rep. Jordan."

Jordan was the founding chair of the Freedom Caucus, which functions as the right wing of the right-wing Republican caucus. Not coincidentally, yesterday Jordan and his Freedom Caucus colleague Mark Meadows called for the impeachment(link is external) of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Jordan has been pushing the right-wing conspiracy theory(link is external) that the “deep state” subverted justice to protect Hillary Clinton and take down Donald Trump. A few years ago, Jordan helped promote another right-wing conspiracy theory—namely that the government was buying up bullets(link is external) to keep them away from gun owners.

Jordan’s candidacy could be hampered by allegations(link is external) from a number(link is external) of Ohio State University wrestlers that when he was an assistant coach Jordan ignored the alleged sexual abuse of numerous athletes by the team’s doctor; Jordan has denied the allegations(link is external).