memeorandum: House speaker live updates: Republicans weigh Jim Jordan after Steve Scalise quits (NBC News)

12:20 PM ET, October 13, 2023

Top Items:

Fear and loathing grips the House GOP — While Republicans appear to be turning next to Jim Jordan, some are already airing open doubts that he can pull off what the majority leader couldn't. — The House GOP has entered an angrier and more bewildered phase in its leadership crisis.

Discussion: The Guardian, Raw Story, The Messenger, Vox and USA Today

Andrew Solender / Axios:

Bipartisan talk grows as GOP fails to find a speaker — Lawmakers in both parties are expressing growing openness, both in public and in private, to a bipartisan deal to elect a House speaker as Republicans are continually thwarted in their efforts to do it alone.

Discussion: PoliticusUSA, Semafor, NBC News, Political Wire, Kansas Reflector and The Bulwark

Amanda Marcotte / Salon:

House GOP in total chaos: So much for fascist order and discipline! — Aren't far-right movements supposed to make the trains run on time? GOP can't elect a speaker from its own tribe — Nearly eight decades after the end of World War II, the thing we ought to understand most clearly …

Discussion: Axios

Politico:

House GOP rejects — again — bid to avoid messy speaker fight on the floor — Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is now the only declared candidate for the GOP's nod, but he remains short of the support needed to win.

Discussion: Political Wire and Daily Kos

Washington Post:

Live updates House speakership stalled as Scalise withdraws from race — Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) announced at a Republican conference meeting Thursday night that he is pulling out of the race to become speaker. The announcement came after a day full of lengthy meetings with fellow Republicans …

Discussion: USA Today, New York Daily News, Raw Story, Insider, Mediaite, Outside the Beltway, Hackwhackers, Axios, Roll Call, Associated Press, HuffPost, New York Post, Washington Examiner, ZeroHedge News, NBC News and Political Wire

NBC News:
House speaker live updates: Republicans weigh Jim Jordan after Steve Scalise quits

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, El País, Insider and Daily Kos

Politico:
Playbook: The House GOP sinks deeper into chaos

Discussion: NBC News, Punchbowl News and Morning Shots

Carl Hulse / New York Times:
With the World in Crisis, House Republicans Bicker Among Themselves

Discussion: NPR and PoliticusUSA

Steven T. Dennis / Bloomberg:
Top House Republican Wants Help From Democrats to Pick a Speaker

Discussion: Semafor, Media Matters for America, PoliticusUSA, Punchbowl News, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Balloon Juice, NBC News, New York Times, PBS NewsHour, Hackwhackers and Roll Call

Sahil Kapur / NBC News:
Chaos persists as ‘fractured’ House GOP frets about when — or if — it will elect a speaker

Discussion: The Hill, Digby's Hullabaloo, The Atlantic, Diane Ravitch's blog, Bloomberg, Raw Story, PoliticusUSA, al.com, Washington Post and Washington Examiner

CNN:
Steve Scalise drops out of speaker's race as House GOP faces leadership crisis

The Hill:
Steve Scalise drops out of Speaker's race

Discussion: Joe.My.God., NPR, PJ Media, Magnolia Tribune, Raw Story, One America News Network, NBC News, UPI, New York Post, Los Angeles Blade, National Review, Boing Boing, Reuters, HuffPost, American Greatness and Fox News

Wall Street Journal:

Donald Trump's Israeli War Insight — He attacks Netanyahu in a crisis because of old personal grudges. — The front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination for some reason used the words “smart” and “Hezbollah” in the same sentence on Wednesday night.

Dennis Aftergut / The Bulwark:

Will Narcissist Trump's Bizarre Praise for Hezbollah Hurt Him? — DONALD TRUMP HAS DEMONSTRATED YET AGAIN that he is a man without a single ounce of human decency. At an event in West Palm Beach on Wednesday night, just four days after Hamas's brutal attack on Israeli civilians, Trump did the unthinkable.

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, Raw Story, Florida Politics, The Times of Israel, Washington Examiner, USA Today, New York Post, The Hill, Washington Times, The Daily Beast, Louder With Crowder, No More Mister Nice Blog, MyStateline.com and HuffPost

Washington Post:

How 91 felony charges boosted Trump's standing in the GOP — Interviews in multiple states show that Trump's constant message of victimhood has seeped in with voters — David Alexander, an engineer who attended the Iowa Faith and Freedom dinner last month, called the absent Donald Trump …

Discussion: The Messenger and Raw Story

Stephen Collinson / CNN:
Trump's turn against Israel offers stark reminder of what his diplomacy looks like

Discussion: New York Times, Politico, Fox News, Raw Story, Chicago Sun Times, IJR and Washington Examiner

Eric Albeen / Fox News:
Former President Trump on Israel, Speaker's race, Nikki Haley & RFK, Jr.

Discussion: Joe.My.God., New York Times, Raw Story, The Messenger, PoliticusUSA, Althouse, The Washington Monthly …, Louder With Crowder, Daily Kos and The Hill

Associated Press:
Trump says Netanyahu ‘let us down’ before the 2020 airstrike that killed a top Iranian general

Discussion: Fox News, Digby's Hullabaloo, Raw Story, Washington Post, USA Today, Politico, Slate, The Daily Beast, Arizona Capitol Times, The Messenger, CNN, Semafor, The Hill, New York Times, Washington Monthly and Rolling Stone

Judy Kurtz / The Hill:
De Niro warns democracy 'won't survive' Trump reelection

Discussion: The Guardian, Breitbart, Boing Boing, The Messenger, The Moderate Voice and HuffPost

Associated Press:

Israel orders unprecedented evacuation of 1 million in Gaza as possible ground offensive looms — Gaza's energy crisis risk hospitals turning into morgues — Israel Defense Forces release footage of assault on Gaza-adjacent outpost — Israel's military told some 1 million Palestinians …

Associated Press:

Hamas practiced in plain sight, posting video of mock attack weeks before border breach — Less than a month before Hamas fighters blew through Israel's high-tech “Iron Wall” and launched an attack that would leave more than 1,200 Israelis dead, they practiced in a very public dress rehearsal.

Discussion: The Hill, Financial Times and The Messenger

Reuters:
Hamas tells Gaza residents to stay home as Israel ground offensive looms

Discussion: The Messenger, New York Daily News, ThePrint and Power Line

Associated Press:
Israel-Hamas war: Strikes devastate Gaza as Israel prepares for possible ground assault

Heather Cox Richardson / Letters from an American:

October 12, 2023 — We are in a bizarre moment. — If the U.S. government were operating within its normal parameters, my first story tonight would be about new federal charges that Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) was acting as an agent of Egypt while chairing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Emily Jacobs / Washington Examiner:
Fetterman calls on Senate to expel Menendez after foreign agent charges

Discussion: Joe.My.God., RedState, The Messenger, The Hill, The Daily Caller, PoliticusUSA and New Jersey Globe

Washington Post:

Fraudster freed from prison by Trump faces prosecution under Biden — Philip Esformes received clemency from Trump in the final weeks of his presidency after well-connected supporters pushed for his release. — Philip Esformes beat the system. Or so it seemed.

Discussion: Raw Story and Kim Kardashian

Barbara McQuade / MSNBC:

Jack Smith tells Trump to put up or shut up — Smith's demand that Trump and his lawyers clarify his strategy is important because an affirmative defense would trigger two significant consequences — Jack Smith is asking former President Donald Trump to put his money where his mouth is.

Discussion: Raw Story and HuffPost

Mark Sherman / Associated Press:

Supreme Court Justices Avoid Falling Chunk Of Marble In Courtyard — Democratic institutions in D.C. are literally crumbling, apparently. — LOADING — The Supreme Court avoided a catastrophic accident last year when a piece of marble at least 2 feet long crashed to the ground …

Discussion: The Hill and USA Today

Politico:

‘America wants me’: How GOP Rep. Wagner recalls a private Scalise-Jordan conversation — The Ohio Republican's spokesperson disputes the Missourian's recollection. But her frustration illustrates that Jordan has a speakership race problem.

Discussion: ZeroHedge News, KOIN.com, Breitbart and Political Wire