Jim Jordan is living with the consequences of trying to burn down the House

Jordan created a House where a handful of Republicans could stop the House GOP dead in its tracks. Now he’s on the other end of it

The crisis of the House speakership is about to roll into its second week. On Friday, as House Republicans left Washington, it looked like Jim Jordan would struggle to win over the members of his conference. During the first vote among Republicans, more than 80 members voted against him and in the second round, 55 Republicans voted against him.

The votes revealed his weaknesses as a congressional leader. He passed on having a roll call vote rather than a secret ballot. Having a roll call vote would have told him whom he needed to call during the weekend, whom he needed to win over and what promises he needed to make his opponents to get them to yes.

The tide seems to be turning in his favor. On Monday, Rep Ann Wagner of Missouri, who had vehemently opposed Mr Jordan, said she would get behind him, saying she spoke with the Ohio Republican and “he has allayed my concerns.” Similarly, Rep Mike Rogers (R-AL), the chairman of the Armed Services Committee who many might remember for nearly fighting Rep Matt Gaetz (R-FL) in January, threw his support behind Mr Jordan.

But the fact remains that Mr Jordan still needs to get to the magic number of 217 votes. Friend of the Inside Washington newsletter Haley Talbot of CNN, whose spreadsheets on social media do a better job of counting votes so far than any candidate for speaker, noted that four Republicans remain skeptical of Mr Jordan and two Republicans – Florida Reps Carlos Gimenez and John Rutherford – will only back desposed speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Even if Mr Jordan somehow wins over all of his skeptics and earns enough votes to become speaker, he will largely live with the consequences of his life’s work: Allowing any single member to object to the will of congressional leadership and cause the House to descend into chaos. Similarly, his years of doing so rather than learning the mechanics of governing will likely make him ill-equipped to tame those impulses from House Republicans.

Many Republicans come to Washington as bomb-throwers who later mature, learn how to govern and advance conservative goals. John Boehner went from being an insurgent who later worked with Ted Kennedy on education, and Paul Ryan passed budgets with a Democratic Senate.

But Mr Jordan never needed to “grow up.” Rather, since he arrived in Congress in 2007, he chose to cater to right-wing media and the overwhelmingly conservative base of the Republican Party. By the time he got to Washington, the incentive structure to “grow up” no longer existed. As a child of the Tea Party, the anti-GOP establishment movement, learning how to work within the system would be antithetical to his persona.

Democrats and Republicans alike have noted how he’s never authored legislation that became law. That would have taught him a vital skill, how to count votes, since speakers need to know how many votes they need to count votes on bills and dollars for fundraising to keep their majorities.

As a right-wing provocateur, he’s spent more time opposing spending bills, famously teaming up with Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) and other conservatives to shut down the government to try and defund Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, despite the fact Mr Obama was still president. Indeed, when he was offered an opportunity to become a member of the prestigious House Appropriations Committee when Republicans took control in 2011, he passed and chose instead to become Republican Study Committee chairman.

All of these choices will come back to haunt him. They already have. Mr McCarthy, fearful that Mr Jordan would mete out the same medicine he gave to Mr Ryan and Mr Boehner, chose to keep Mr Jordan close to his side. Mr Jordan seemed to enjoy being close to leadership to amass power.

But in January, despite Mr Jordan supporting Mr McCarthy, Mr Gaetz emerged as a further-right bomb-thrower who nominated Mr Jordan, which took the House to 15 rounds to pick a speaker.

Now, rather than having a unified Republican conference, Mr Jordan’s influence showed that any Republican could raise objections and gum up the House to get attention, even if they do not have specific demands. This will be unlikely to change even if he wins the speakership. And if he falls, it will be on the sword he laid down.