Although some of Rep. Jim Jordan’s supporters in his House speaker bid have praised him as a “fighter,” the Ohio Republican belatedly suggested playing nice on Wednesday as his chances of winning the speakership seemed to wane.
Support for the fiery conservative declined in a second round of voting Wednesday and could reportedly dwindle further on future ballots. Meanwhile, some of Jordan’s Republican colleagues, like Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon, said they or their family members had received anonymous and threatening messages that they should vote for Jordan if they didn’t want to be primaried.
The combination of events put Jordan in an awkward position on Wednesday night. Well, awkward for him, anyway, because this partisan-politician-among-partisan-pollticians was forced to call for, ugh, unity.
“No American should accost another for their beliefs,” Jordan wrote on X. “We condemn all threats against our colleagues and it is imperative that we come together. Stop. It’s abhorrent.”
But Jordan’s calls for unity struck many people on social media as insincere for a variety of reasons.
NBC News reporter Sahil Kapur noted that Jordan only posted his unity statement after Iowa Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks vowed online not to support a “bully.”
One person suggested that Jordan’s post needed a teeny-tiny tweak to be more accurate.
Another noted the challenges that come with having to ask your supporters to stop making death threats.
Bacon, the Nebraska Republican, also had something to say in response to Jordan’s vaguely worded statement.
“Holy crap, it must have been absolutely terrible if someone was accosted and @Jim_Jordan is actually acknowledging it happened,” he wrote on X. “What happened?”