politics
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January 3, 2025
Yes, he was elected Speaker of the House after 1.5 tries. But he still doesn’t have control of the room.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson delivered remarks after being re-elected speaker on the first day of the 119th Congress.
(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“You can start cutting off my fingers. I won’t vote for Mike Johnson tomorrow.” Rep. Thomas Massie says he embarrassed former Rep. Matt Gaetzthe brand new anchor of Thursday night’s Wing Nut One America News. The Kentucky conservative’s bloody images foreshadowed the ritual torture Mr. Johnson’s skeptics hoped to inflict before returning the speaker’s gavel. The dozen or so rebels who did not take as strong an opposition line as Massey but did not pledge their support wanted to symbolically cut off one or two of Mr Johnson’s fingers before pledging their support. It seems like it was. They demanded a deal that Johnson said he would not take.
In fact, Mr Johnson attended Friday’s meeting and said he was confident of winning the first vote, with the only one he could afford to lose – the stubborn Massey who voted for Tom Emmer as promised – the only one he could afford to lose. It was a vote. According to my calculations, the former speaker (at that time) was wrong. They lost two members: South Carolina Congressman Ralph Norman, who voted for extremist Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan, and Texas Congressman Ralph Self, who voted for Florida Congressman Byron Donald. Six members of the Freedom Caucus refused to vote when called upon. When called for the final time, everyone voted for Johnson.
As with all speaker votes, all Democrats voted for Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
But in the end it didn’t matter. Johnson wisely didn’t end the session, taunting Norman and Self and twisting their arms. At one point, he walked out of the chamber with his head down, but then remembered the cameras, looked up and waved. Good optics.
It remains to be seen how Johnson turned those two men over. Maybe it’s because I made a promise I can’t keep. Officially, the House of Commons went ahead with another open vote, Mr. Norman and Mr. Self changed their votes, and Mr. Johnson’s opponents did not get the chance to chop off a figurative finger or two.
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People call this a first-vote victory. I think he won with 1.5 votes.
Sometimes astute MSNBC contributor Brendan Buck teamed up with doomed former Republican Party chairmen John Boehner and Paul Ryan to simply lose three votes and gain back two to help Johnson. He claimed it was good news for him. perhaps. But I don’t think there’s any good news for Johnson after today.
Indeed, Mr. Johnson benefited from the fact that no Republican congressman opposed him, and President-elect Donald Trump enthusiastically supported him. But Mr. Trump also caused some of Mr. Johnson’s past and future pain by poaching three members of the Republican caucus to his Cabinet. The beleaguered Speaker will continue to rely on the Democratic Party to pass legislation. This raises the possibility that, despite Friday’s victory, Mr. Johnson will not survive his term in office.
Still, this should be called Trump’s first victory as co-president with Elon Musk. We know that Musk helped defeat a bipartisan continuing resolution to keep the government open last year, before President Trump considered his own reservations.
Musk then went to war with President Trump’s top MAGA allies over H-1B visas, which allow talented non-citizens into the country, claiming it is a boon to American capitalism. Trump ultimately sided with Musk over longtime allies like Steve Bannon and Laura Loomer. Mr. Musk went too far and told MAGA critics to “take a big step back and FUCK you in the face” in response to an X user who said H-1B shouldn’t exist. “I’m going to go fight this issue that you’ll never understand.”
And just a few days ago, after Trump gave his full support to Johnson and Kentucky’s Massey voiced his displeasure. Mr. Musk slightly underperforms President Trump. By tweeting Massey, “You may be right, but let’s see what happens.”
Although Massey lost this battle, he still had a chance to win the MAGA war.
For Democrats, the dramatic moment comes as Virgin Islands delegate Stacey Plunkett, who does not have a vote in Congress, announced that representatives from the territories and colonies could sit in the chamber and that they would have a symbolic seat on important decisions. It was a time when he vehemently criticized the unfairness of only being given opinions. , but does not determine its future. Democratic lawmakers rose to praise her, but she was voted out of order. If Democrats do more than praise Plunkett and at least address Puerto Rico and D.C. statehood and more equal status for other states, our political reality may change. .
Instead, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries vowed to “put down the sword and pick up the plowshares to make life better for ordinary Americans.” It was an unsettling moment for me. “America is too expensive. Too many Americans are living paycheck to paycheck,” he said. Why does Jeffries gaslight as if both parties are opposed to solving economic inequality? It’s only the Republicans.
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Yes, he promised to protect Social Security and Medicare from anonymous adversaries. He also made several other rants. But we’ve seen this movie before. He did not name Republicans. He referred to “the opposition.” He saved himself a little by mocking people who pretend Joe Biden lost in 2020, pointing out that Democrats are the ones who accept elections both when they win and when they lose.
There is so much confusion within the MAGA “movement” that it is the only thing that makes politics bearable right now. But you can’t change a country with schadenfreude. And the current leadership of the Democratic Party probably won’t be able to change the country. I hope I’m wrong.
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