On Wednesday, amidst House debate over the then-pending second impeachment of Donald Trump, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) took the floor and shared mind-bogglingly inane ignorance. He claimed, among other points, that Democrats haven’t been unwavering in their opposition to violence, which is such a tired trope. Over and over and over, Democratic leaders including Joe Biden himself have publicly and unequivocally condemned violence in all its forms, including in the context of anti-police brutality protests that occasionally progressed into riots last year. On Wednesday, Jordan also laughably chalked up this latest impeachment to a favorite conservative boogeyman: “cancel culture,” failing to acknowledge that Trump incited and than justified deadly violence at the Capitol.
After last Wednesday’s Capitol riot, Trump tweeted via his since-removed account that “these are the things and events that happen” when an election victory is stolen — which, of course, did not actually take place, despite Trump’s persistent claims to the contrary.
Ignoring these facts, Jordan commented as follows:
‘In seven days, there will be a peaceful transfer of power, just like there has been every other time in our country, but Democrats are gonna impeach President Trump again. This doesn’t unite the country. There’s no way this helps the nation deal with the tragic and terrible events of last week that we all condemn… Republicans have been consistent: we’ve condemned all the violence, all the time. We condemned it last summer; we condemned it last week. We should be focused on bringing the nation together. Instead, Democrats are gonna impeach the president for a second time one week before he leaves office.’
Republican Rep. Jim Jordan is railing against "cancel culture," saying that Democrats want to "cancel" Trump and that only one side is being allowed to talk and participate in debate. (He is, clearly, currently talking and participating in debate.)
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) January 13, 2021
Subsequently, Jordan petulantly blamed the impeachment effort on the “fact that they wanna cancel the president,” failing to acknowledge Trump’s personal role in the Capitol violence. Prior to the riot, at an outdoor event in D.C., Trump admonished his supporters to “fight like hell,” and — as mentioned — after the event, Trump openly justified the violence that threatened the safety and lives of members of Congress, eventually left one Capitol Police officer dead from his injuries, and left other officers with serious injuries inflicted by the mob. Jordan sounds like he’s trying to present a fantasy reality in which Trump is some kind of poor, persecuted victim of “cancel culture.” In reality, Trump is an unstable egomaniac who publicly incited a violent attack against the U.S. Capitol.
Surreal split-screen right now
1. Rep. Jim Jordan blaming liberals for the end of free expression in America, because tech companies are removing social media accounts
2. Republican lawmakers saying they’re afraid of being killed if they vote their conscience to impeach https://t.co/rSkqkiJ0Zc
— Derek Thompson (@DKThomp) January 13, 2021
Amazingly, as Jordan’s free-wheeling rant went on, he even said that Trump “gave us” the vaccine for COVID-19, which is a laughable assertion. While it’s true that the Trump administration provided financial support for the vaccine development process, this support — considering the dire circumstances — seems like a bare minimum. What did Trump even personally do as a part of the process — sign some papers? He’s not some kind of pseudomessiah who personally ventured into a science laboratory to do the work of “giving us” vaccines. Amidst issues with the vaccine distribution process around the country, Trump recently sounded like he didn’t even want the federal government to take any hands-on responsibility for the effort beyond the point of handing off the vaccine to state authorities!
As if he was trying to make himself look laughable and ridiculous, Jordan subsequently complained that “you can’t even have a debate in this country”… while participating in a nationally broadcast debate on the floor of the U.S. House. Check out his meltdown below:
Rep. Jim Jordan: "The cancel culture will come for us all." #ImpeachmentDay pic.twitter.com/5TU3FKZ2oC
— The Hill (@thehill) January 13, 2021
