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(NewsNation) — The House speaker fight has exposed the absurdity of the extremists on the far-right.

No votes were taken Thursday, as Congressman Jim Jordan refused to abandon his bid to become speaker. But he doesn’t seem to be making much progress.

Moderates are holding firm. In part, that’s because of some of the vile tactics employed by Jordan allies and others who want him to become speaker.

As we noted Wednesday night, it’s taken courage for these more moderate Republicans to hold the line. Thursday, we learned the families of at least three House Republicans opposing Jordan have received violent threats.

But these moderates clearly recognize the importance of the moment. It’s potentially a gamechanger, and a signal to the extremists that their scare tactics won’t work anymore.

Thursday, we saw why it was so important for the moderates to fight back. The extremists proved they don’t have answers or a plan, they just want disruption. They just want chaos. They even resort to threats and intimidation if they deem it necessary, and they count on their opponents to cower and give in to their demands. When those opponents stand up and fight back as they’ve done this week, the extremists get exposed.

Congressman Matt Gaetz, who helped start this whole mess by leading the revolt against Kevin McCarthy, gave up the plot with some incredibly candid comments, when he was asked if he regretted taking McCarthy out.

Gaetz said: “We’re shaking up Washington, D.C. We’re breaking the fever. And it’s not clean, and it’s not orderly. And the lobbyists and the special interests hate it. But I don’t seem to mind too much.”

Gaetz doesn’t mind. He got exactly what he wants out of this whole thing: TV time and he nearly got Jordan elected speaker. He also, according to multiple reports, nearly got a punch in the face by Rep. Mike Bost of Illinois, who got into a shouting match with Gaetz that almost came to blows. Apparently, the altercation happened during a four-hour closed door verbal brawl among House Republicans.

Afterwards, McCarthy described the incident and didn’t mask his contempt for his colleague from Florida.

“I was at the mic. I was speaking and Matt Gaetz tried to interrupt … I told him to sit down and he sat down,” McCarthy said. “I told him to sit down. I think the entire conference screamed at him. The whole country, I think, would scream at Matt Gaetz right now.”

But, he’s only part of the problem. Republicans have not been able to come together for a new leader. And they couldn’t even come together on a plan to get the House back to business by temporarily empowering Congressman Patrick McHenry as temporary speaker. Why? Because that plan would have required some compromise with Democrats, who have signaled they’re willing to talk about a compromise. But to extremists, compromise is a dirty word.

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene raged against the prospect of House Republicans doing some actual governing in a blistering rant drenched in hypocrisy.

“I do not support this plan. Republican voters worked too hard to give us the majority for us to enter some sort of temporary speakership. Our conference has a responsibility to the American people, to our districts, to work together and unify. And this conference is absolutely broken,” Greene said.

It’s broken and she helped break it. Greene calling for unity is like a burglar calling for better security. She’s one of the biggest reasons why the Republican House is so divided. Her slash and burn tactics have done nothing but sow disharmony, distrust, dysfunction. Now, it’s all coming home to roost.

Congressman Jim Banks of Indiana also railed against the proposed deal with Democrats.

“We’re handing our majority back over to the Democrats by going along with the power sharing agreement. It’s absurd. It’s the biggest F-U to Republican voters I’ve ever seen,” Banks said.

Maybe it’s an “F-U” to voters on the extreme right, but not to the majority of Americans who want compromise, who want government to work — the group I call the marginalized moderate majority. There are many, many Republican voters in that group.

A recent Pew Research poll showed the Republican-controlled House has a 59% unfavorable rating among Republicans.

Democrats have their extremists, too. We’ve seen some of the absolutely crazy things that Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib has said over the last week, as well as Cori Bush and Ilhan Omar. The rhetoric about Israel from some of them has been outrageous and offensive.

But here’s the thing. Many Democrats called out Tlaib, for example. Congressman Ritchie Torres, Congressman Josh Gottheimer and Senator John Fetterman have all denounced Tlaib’s rhetoric. Many Democrats have shunned her. They’ve treated her like the radical that she is. Not all of them have, but again, I’m focused on the moderates who are willing to call out the extremists.

By opposing Jordan, the more moderate Republicans took a big step in the same direction. They refuse to elevate one of their most radical voices. They decided Jordan won’t speak for them.

And Thursday, the extremists showed us all the stakes of this crucial fight. The extremists keep screaming because it’s all they know. But if, we, the moderate majority band together, this week has shown that we may not be marginalized forever.