So after all this drama, Mike Johnson suddenly gets unanimous Republican support and is our new Speaker of the House? wtf? These people are crazy.
51 thoughts on “Mike Johnson is Speaker of the House”
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Cats, charts, and politics
Cats, charts, and politics
So after all this drama, Mike Johnson suddenly gets unanimous Republican support and is our new Speaker of the House? wtf? These people are crazy.
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He satisfies all the requirements:
1) Insurrectionist traitor.
2) Not on Trump's shit list.
3) Howling-at-the-moon reactionary, both economically and culturally.
4) Putinist.
4) Avuncular personal manner; not an abrasive asshole in the same way Gym Jordan is.
That was enough to get the so-called moderates to fall in line.
That said, we'll see how long this lasts. This guy has to navigate either a CR or a budget through the House that's acceptable to the Senate and won't get him McCarthy'd, or have a big old holiday shutdown.
+1
He slicker and less repulsive than Gym Jordan but essentially both spawned from the same cesspool. Unfortunately he will be a less effective "repellent" to try to spray onto the so called moderate Republicans next year than good old Gym.
That "big old holiday shutdown" is a feature, not a bug, for the Republican caucus.
"I know, let's try the soft spoken version of Jim Jordan. After all, we know it's Donald Trump's soft spokenness his fans love so much."
In the battle between the ultra-right-wing-MAGA-crazy-caucus and the "moderates," as they've been called, the "moderates" proved they never had a real objection to the ultra-right-wing-MAGA-crazy-caucus, they just didn't like Jim Jordan.
No one should ever use the words "moderate" and "Republican" in the same sentence again.
Buckle your seatbelts.
MRINOs.
+1
"Mrino" is probably an actual Czech word.
From Bing below. I don't think it is a good name for Republicans.
"According to my web search, “mrino” is not a word in any language, but it is a name that has some meanings and origins. For example, Mrino is a boy/girl name that means honesty, sacrificer, and admirer1. It is also a variant of Marino, which is an Italian and Spanish form of Marinus, an ancient Roman name derived from the Latin word “marinus” meaning "of the sea"2."
"the "moderates" proved they never had a real objection to the ultra-right-wing-MAGA-crazy-caucus, "
They do object to the MAGA, but they are scared to vote against them after Trump got involved.
Think he promised the NYers CAP reform. They only possible bacon they can bring home to NY to get re-elected.
A bunch of Jordan's past wrestling trainees arriving in DC to tell the world about their old coach's cover-up of systematic sexual assault in college suddenly prompted "moderates" to discover their principled objection to having to endure another Hastert affair, this time over a Speaker still in office.
This is a guy who once suggested that abortion should be illegal because we need women to produce more workers to keep Social Security solvent. He seems nice.
We'll see if he still agrees to the one-person MTV rule that Gaetz used to shiv McCarthy. There's certainly no hope that we get any other kind of cooperation with Democrats. It's going to be non-stop feral howling from the GOP for the forseeable future.
It's not a matter of him agreeing to it or not; it's currently in the House rules. If he wants to change those he needs a majority behind him, and the Democrats aren't gonna help him.
"We'll see if he still agrees to the one-person MTV rule that Gaetz used to shiv McCarthy."
With Trump behind him he doesn't need to worry about this.
What is the one person mtv rule? Never mind. I got it.
MTV is "Motion To Vacate". The "one-person MTV rule" is the rule that allows a single member to invoke it.
Only one person can have their music video playing on the house floor at one time.
So "My Kev" thought...
"My Kev" was never really acceptable for Trump, because he had a position of power without Trump, and would become much more powerful if Trump lose influence. Therefor Trump couldn't trust him.
Johnson wouldn't go that far without Trump, so he has to be obedient, and Trump can trust him much more.
I thought that the rules adopted at the opening of a Congress remain the rules throughout. Do you have a source that says there is a do-over?
The House can repeal, change or adopt any rule at any time by a majority vote of its members. The House is, by design, unfettered by any external force except the Constitutional mandates that it do nothing without a Speaker and pass bills in the prescribed manner.
" Constitutional mandates that it do nothing without a Speaker"
Are you sure about that?
The constitution says the House needs to select a Speaker, but does it say it cannot anything without a Speaker?
Implictly. Basically "shall" means "must" in governmentese, and it says "shall chuse." If they haven't chosen their officers, they can't move on to other stuff.
Yes, it's the rules that put the speaker at the center of House operations (see GPO's _House Practice_). OTOH, a House without a speaker should be considered constitutionally deficient, hence unable to do anything official with respect to other institutions of government, or to fulfill any constitutionally-defined responsibilities that don't relate to internal organization and rules.
Kevin, you are surprised that the spineless Republican 'moderates' caved?
MAGA just wore them down.
I think the most significant question in my mind is whether he bargains in good faith, or traffics in lies and broken promises and "tricky maneuvers". In some sense, that's what did McCarthy in. If he had kept faith with Democrats, they probably would not have let the Motion to Vacate pass.
Political performance is a thing. It does not correlate especially well with how people negotiate in private with the opposition.
So, we'll see.
"he bargains in good faith"
The idea of good faith bargaining by a Republican is dumb, because it is never going to happen.
It not only has happened before - Remember John Boehner - it was happening this year, on the Armed Services Committee, for instance. It's just low profile, because MAGAs hate it and think it's a sign of weakness, which it isn't.
This very idea came up in some remarks Members made in the last 3 weeks.
Now of course, Trump doesn't believe in bargaining in good faith. Bad faith is strategy A with him. So yeah, him and all the MAGAs hate and mock it. Just like they hate and mock soldiers, sailors and airmen.
By "Republicans" I was referring to the current caucus as a whole and its leadership.
Duplicity and betrayal, combined with ritual attacks on the Democrats whose votes he relied on, was exactly how McCarthy ran the House. There was just no room in there for keeping his word to Dems, any more than for keeping his word to the ultras. And it worked until it didn't, when a few ultras who didn't think he should betray *them* (no problem with betraying Dems, just not them) took advantage of an unusual situation to throw him overboard.
Now they have the inoffensive-looking guy with the credentials and commitments they want, who they seem to think won't betray them. What does that mean? It means he's pledged to be the one person in all of America who singlehandedly shuts down the government and stops aid to Ukraine and forces the Senate and executive to bend to his will on spending. And not incidentally forces an end to investigation and prosecution of trump.
That seems like a lot for one guy to carry through on. What are they going to do if his singlehanded powers aren't quite up to all that?
Well, for sure he can't stop the investigation and prosection of Trump by Georgia, but he certainly can make funding the Justice Department dependent on dismissal of the Special Prosecutor. Whether Biden and Garland can scrape up enough couch change to keep Smith going will be interesting to see.
The R's can impeach both of them for so doing, but the Senate will not convict.
The House can't do anything without the approval of both the Senate and the president. Do you really think the Senate would "make funding the Justice Department dependent on dismissal of the Special Prosecutor", when they can just strip that provision out of any bill the House sends them?
They can, and the House Republicans could shoot the hostage i.e. refuse to pass as amended and shut the Federal government down. There were enough of them willing to make a deal the last times on the debt ceiling and CR, but ‘past performance is no guarantee of future results’.
There needs to be a pool on when the next motion to vacate happens. I say November 27.
I don't think so.
The moderates have been terrorized to submission, Johnson has got Trump behind him and he is a "good honest" Trumpist. Basically the House is under Trump's control, and they will just go along with it.
Trump wants the House to hold government funding hostage to the dropping of DOJ charges. Will the ‘moderates’ choke that down?
I think either moderates will go along (presumably means shutdown because senate doesn't agree), or Trump realize that this is a "bridge too far" and doesn't force it.
Not 100% confident of this. More like 80%.
So apparently Johnson isn't an idiot.
His big plan is to pass a CR until sometime next year, and he fully endorses the Gaetz plan of breaking up the appropriations process into something like twelve single-subject bills they pass one at a time.
This isn't idiotic. But it also isn't going to work. Because the clear plan here is "fund the stuff we like, then let the stuff we hate just shut down. This lets us slash-and-burn while still keeping the lights on, it's brilliant."
This, however, is DOA in the Senate, as the Schumer will obviously go "we're not taking up a single one of these until we have all twelve in hand, and if we don't like all twelve none of them are going through," with Biden standing next to him nodding. They're not dumb. They can see an obvious slight-of-hand.
Do you think that Manchin and Sinema will go along with that demand? I seriously doubt it, especially since Manchin might run for President himself and would love to see Biden damaged. Now that "Big Jim" is going to be his opponent, Manchin knows he's toast.
Sinema's ego is bruised because her style choices aren't being lauded as "cutting edge" any longer. Now "the media" just calls them like they are: "cutting-room floor".
I hadn't seen this, thanks. IIRC, the Senate versions of these appropriations passed quite a while ago, and with very broad support across the board. Those House-Senate conferences on these bills are sure going to be lit!
And that's when the chance of a long shutdown can really go up. That would be during primary season and/or the summer before the election? Wow
I have been poking around for a source for Johnson's plan for a CR. Where did you find it?
Guy on twitter had screenshots of the official letter he published. No direct link to the letter itself in a non-twitter format, alas.
From Kevin: "These people are crazy."
Kevin, awakening from his 20-year Rip van Winkle nap, makes a startling discovery!
Say what you will about Matt “ MAGA-is-ascendant” Gaetz Donald Trump but the reality is that they’re both walking away from this debacle for the Republican Party significantly strengthened and empowered in terms of their personal brands. Every single Republican has now bent the knee to Trump and MAGA.
And, given the Democrats obsession with being “bipartisan” and essentially apolitical, the odds are very strongly against their making “moderate” Republicans pay a price for elevating about political policy and religion are very far from acceptable to the vast majority of Americans.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/maga-is-ascendant-matt-gaetz-celebrates-mike-johnsons-win-as-what-victory-feels-like/ar-AA1iPY28
"they’re both walking away from this debacle for the Republican Party significantly strengthened and empowered"
I mean, I guess. In the same way that somebody who intentionally vomits on the floor at the office can feel "strengthened and empowered" that they thereby chased everybody out of the conference room and caused the janitororial staff to clean it up. Sure, that somebody made a thing happen that wouldn't have otherwise, but it benefited them zip and in the process they pissed off a bunch of the colleagues they depend on.
Yeah, Gaetz is the guy people cross the hallway and duck back behind doors to avoid and yell at when they can, the one whose shoes they "accidentally" splash in the bathroom. OTOH he's reportedly planning a run for FL governor so he's already had one foot out the door and wanted to go out with a bang. A completely self-sufficient asshole who really could care less about being roundly hated. Maybe he even prefers it.
Trump, though. Trump now owns the House in an explicit and operational way that wasn't the case before. Information will come to him that he couldn't get from McCarthy. And he has things he wants done for him.
I wrote yesterday on another site, "I think the MAGAts are going to keep tanking anyone but people like Jordan, Johnson and Donalds, and sooner or later the so-called "moderates" will fold and vote for one of them."
The alternative was for five of them to put the nation's interests first and become independents, voting for Jeffries for Speaker. Naturally that was unthinkable for principled men like themselves.
You called it. I thought the MINOs would hold out longer; they collapsed sooner than I thought they would. Of course they did, hard to stand firm without a spine …
The Republicans who claimed they wouldn't support an insurrectionist, caved, apparently. Like most things in life, it's hard to stick to your beliefs on account that doing so means being excluded from the tribe.