Rep. Jim Jordan issued a “Dear Colleague” letter to House Republicans saying he “intends” to unite the fractured party. Jordan emphasized that he appreciates what he credits as the conference’s policy diversity, asserting that it distinguishes the Republican party from its opponent.
“We don’t march in lock-step like our Democrat colleagues,” Jordan writes, conveniently glossing over The Squad and the deep Democratic party political divisions that exist between, say, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN).
Belittling Democrats that have demonstrated an ability to compromise, legislate and govern while retaining their differences, Jordan reduces them to a “lockstep” homogeneity, a characterization that allows Jordan to speak of his Republican colleagues’ intransigence and obstruction as valiant in intent and character, needing only a little grease to get the gears back into operation.
Jordan, indeed, goes so far as to reference the “Five Families” of the GOP conference, proudly emphasizing the GOP’s resemblance to the storied New York-based mafia in the United States — a designation made famous in popular culture by The Godfather movies.
Jordan borrows the term from director Francis Ford Coppola and from former Speaker Kevin McCarthy who called the five main GOP caucuses, which have overlapping membership, the Five Families.
These congressional “families” are the Republican Study Committee, the Freedom Caucus, the Republican Main Street Caucus, the Republican Governance Group and the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus.
NEW: Jim Jordan is sending a Dear Colleague this morning. “The role of a Speaker is to bring all Republicans together. That's what I intend to do.” pic.twitter.com/2VB9yGbJ1O
— Emily Brooks (@emilybrooksnews) October 16, 2023
Jordan writes in his appeal that as Speaker he will “make sure there are more Republican voices involved in our major decisions beyond the Five Families.”