Democrats in the House have decided that chaos is worse than Mike Johnson. They say that if Marjorie Taylor-Greene tries to oust Johnson as Speaker, they'll vote to rescue him:
“At this moment, upon completion of our national security work, the time has come to turn the page on this chapter of Pro-Putin Republican obstruction. We will vote to table [Greene’s] Motion to Vacate the Chair. If she invokes the motion, it will not succeed,” the Democratic leadership trio said in a statement.
This doesn't come as a surprise. If Johnson were ousted, Democrats know his replacement would be no better. It would just be weeks of anarchy for no purpose. At this point it's better to let Johnson serve out the rest of the year and hope to fire him at the polls in November.
I dunno. A bunch of "GOP in disarray" headlines would probably be good for the Dems, and its not like the House is going to pass anything else before the election anyways.
Real reason the Dems are saving Johnson while they wouldn't help McCarthy is that Johnson delivered the Defense and Spending bills beforhand, while McCarthy didn't want to deliver anything (and no would trust him to do so even if he made a deal).
Could be just as effective to campaign on all the widely popular stuff the Krazy Kaukus voted against, like lower prescription-drug prices, and tar the whole GOP with responsibility.
A bunch of "GOP in disarray" headlines would probably be good for the Dems,
Maybe, but the effect might be ephemeral, and in the event something really important comes up, it might be better for Biden (and, needless to say, the country) to have the ability to get an emergency measure to his desk.
It's dangerous to have a completely dysfunctional legislative branch.
Dems dont know how this game is played.
You and I don’t know what the Democrats got in return, but it was at least the aid bill, including humanitarian aid for Gaza. And I am glad the Democrats don’t treat this as a game — they placed the national interest ahead of party advantage.
You and I dont know what (if anything) the Democrats got in return.....but somehow you do know?
There is a strong national interest in picking up a few additional house and senate seats this fall. Winning elections is really important.
Do you think the Democratic leadership would have made this statement if Speaker Johnson hadn’t brought the aid bills to the floor?
Seems to me like they came out winners in two ways. First, they got what they wanted (and didn't get what they didn't want) in the foreign aid bills, and that was both not certain and a long time coming. And second, they're further cementing the story that House Republicans are incapable of governing even themselves, let alone the country, AND that Johnson is feckless and weak (since they've had to step in to save his *ss). Good policy outcome AND good political outcome.
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Does anyone believe Johnson would rescue the democrats?
I believe Johnson would keep a deal that he made, which I believe is what the House Democrats are doing as well.
Johnson says a lot of things that sound crazy, but if you parse them carefully, don't commit him to any particular course of action. Which works great on a political stage.
And, I think, if he makes an unequivocal commitment, he keeps it.
it's what I was hoping for when he became Speaker, since it seemed plausible that he was that kind of guy (there are still several R's like this in the House, but they don't get headlines, and they supported Johnson.)
If Johnson doesn't keep his commitments the D's can always pull their support, leaving him at the mercy of the Krazy Kaukus. In fact, this may give them some leverage in the future. They essentially own him now.
In this case, it seems Johnson "paid up front", passing the defense and spending bills, after which Dems announced they'd help him keep the Speakership. So no trust was really necessary, on the Dems part anyways.
That said, Johnson presumably hopes to be Speaker in the next Congress, and if that happens and the Dems still hold the Presidency it seems entirely plausible he'll need Dem votes to pass anything, just like basically every other recent GOP Speaker, so it's probably in his interest to play straight with Jefferies.
Perhaps MAGA Mike has a small quantity of personal integrity after all. If that is the case then his future in the MAGA GOP seems doubtful. Though it appears that a session of kissing both rings and asses down at the Florida hellmouth has the ability of fixing you right up. Just ask "Meatball" Ron.