By J Robert Smith
- April 22, 2024
- 5-min read
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has been joined by two of her House Republican colleagues in calling for Speaker Mike Johnson’s ouster. These three have ample cause. But when – not if – Johnson is booted matters. Trump wants Johnson to stay, saying, “I stand with the speaker, we’ve had a very good relationship.” Lindsey Graham claims Trump helped win Ukraine funding. But after the elections are over, Trump needs to ditch Johnson. The speaker has all the signs of being another Paul Ryan.
As conservative activist Ned Ryun remarked about Johnson last Sunday on X:
“I say this as an evangelical: this guy is one of the worst combinations you can ever have in politics. A smarmy evangelical who bends to the will of Democrats and the administrative state. And thinks he’s righteous in doing so.”
Last Saturday, the U.S. House, led by Speaker Johnson, committed an outrage. House Democrats and Republicans passed a stand-alone $60.8 billion funding bill for Ukraine, though there’s a carve out to “replenish [U.S.] weapons and stocks.” There’s also $13.8 billion for “advanced weapons systems.” The defense industry must get its kickbacks.
To flaunt their victory, uniparty members waved little Ukrainian flags on the House floor.
Despite Johnson’s oft-stated concerns for border security, not a penny was approved to stop the illegals deluge. Johnson’s words are meaningless. His actions speak volumes.
The uniparty’s display was one of defiance. Such congressional brazenness might be a first for the Republic. Democrats and a Republican faction showcased their contempt for the people’s will. Their votes were a statement. They’re jobs are to promote establishment interests. Those interests? A crass drive for money.
Mike Benz, a former State Department cyber security expert and analyst stated at X:
“Ukraine “Aid” & The Blob Uniparty: it ain’t about ideology, it ain’t about democracy — it’s strictly business.”
Benz offers a deeper dive about “The Blob” in his February 16 interview with Tucker Carlson.
Despite Marjorie Taylor Green’s very public attacks on Johnson, he isn’t going anywhere. Only one member of the GOP caucus is needed to cause the speaker’s chair to be vacated. Removing Johnson now and starting another speaker’s election – surely contentious and protracted – may satisfy a political blood lust but would make all sorts of trouble as election season kicks into higher gear. It’s trouble for Trump on his flank. Trump is picking his way through a perilous minefield as is.
Booting Johnson for his weak-kneed leadership risks more defections by establishment Republicans. Given the one-seat margin House Republicans enjoy, it wouldn’t take a RINO stampede out to flip the lower chamber to Hakheem Jefferies. If you don’t think Jeffries and his collection of statists, America haters, and cultural degenerates would make worse legislation on a broader range of issues, think again.
Tipping the House to the Democrats means that they’d control the presidency and Congress for the balance of the year. For the sake of discussion, let’s say that regardless the rigging, Democrat insider anticipate Biden losing. If that’s what they believe, then it’s damn the torpedoes as Jeffries, Schumer, and Biden’s handlers ram through legislation to create all sorts of problems for Trump come January.
As of now, which party controls the House next January is rated a tossup. Republicans gaining the Senate has better odds. Let’s look at a possible scenario. If GOP control flips to the Senate, and Trump captures the presidency, repealing burdensome legislation passed by a House Democrat majority and signed into law by Biden isn’t happening. In 2025, with a Jeffries-run House, repeal efforts would be nonstarters. Jeffries would spend two years impeaching Trump again.
Johnson is toxic because he’s caved to the DC establishment in two critical ways. The Ukraine war being lost, he’s agreeing to more funding for that misadventure. He’s raised the white flag on shoring up border security, which is monumentally politically stupid. For voters, the border is a top concern.
The impact of eight million or more illegals having entered the country – more flooding in every month – will soon enough be felt in communities that aren’t just blue, like Chicago and New York. How red states handle that deluge is another matter.
That’s not to suggest that if Democrats were willing to cut a deal to fund border security – in exchange for Ukraine monies – Alejandro Mayorkas would lift a finger for enforcement. Mayorkas – Biden’s handlers’ sock puppet – has been impeached once and isn’t sweating a second impeachment, anyway. Enforcement will not happen as long as a Democrat occupies the White House. Schumer has Mayorkas’ back. Yet, pushing funding, Johnson would have sent a message to voters about the side he’s on.
As with any practiced politician, Johnson makes all sorts of excuses for his volte-face on the border and Ukraine funding. He’s taken to using DC jargon for his restricted briefings from the Pentagon and intel agencies. Being briefed in the “SCIF” (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility) has wowed Johnson, so much so that his previously declared positions have melted away.
The Louisianan has been cleansed of his parochialism and initiated into the complex world of very sophisticated DC insiders. Us plebians can’t grasp what Johnson knows about Russia’s intentions. So, we uninformed need to shut up and sit down. The armaments industry, military resumé polishers, and high-paid lobbyists have our backs.
The speaker’s apparent trust of the military and intel agencies to shoot straight exhibits a gullibility that’s hard to fathom. Johnson has been around Washington long enough to grasp how the place works. Sleight of hand is standard operating procedure. “Ulterior Motives” should be Washington’s motto. Some commentators wonder aloud if Johnson has been blackmailed into doing one-eighties. Nothing has surfaced to substantiate that.
Threatened is another matter. Establishment threats could be as simple as drying up monies to Johnson’s district. Or they could be personal in nature, touching on career opportunities and access to top universities for his kids. The possibilities are many.
After the elections, Johnson may not be sunk by his caucus. Losing a combined handful of seats in California and New York, to cite two blue states, is all it would take for the GOP to lose its House majority. Johnson as speaker becomes academic. He certainly doesn’t have the stuff to be minority leader. That job – done well – requires edge, fight. He’s too much a milquetoast.
The best case for Republicans is that Biden underperforms (even with creative balloting) and Trump overperforms expectations this autumn. Kennedy’s vote tallies may help that. Trump, then, generates coattails to drag along enough Republicans to retain the House.
But a new GOP House majority needs a speaker with the stones to aggressively push through an agenda that helps make America better, not caters to the narrow interests of the DC establishment and the wealthy elites they serve.
