Good for the Democrats and their House leader Hakeem Jeffries. Their announcement yesterday that they would not allow Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to take down Speaker Mike Johnson is good for the country and there’s even some chance that it might help their own prospects this fall.
Taylor Greene and a handful of other hard-right flakes are furious that Johnson has worked with Democrats to keep the government operating and to provide much-needed military support for Ukraine’s battle to stop Vladimir Putin.
Johnson, who is very conservative and much to the right of where I’m at on most things, seems to believe in a functioning government as opposed to Greene, et. al., who want to tear it all down. He’s also a pragmatist. He understands that, with his razor-thin majority, he has no choice but to work with Democrats. Also, by all accounts, he’s a decent human being and Jeffries finds him to be a man he can work with, which is more than could be said for his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy.
Democrats could have gone the other way here. They could have continued the tradition of never voting for the opposing party’s Speaker regardless of who it might be. They could have made the Republicans go through yet another ugly and self-defeating leadership brawl. It probably would have redounded to their political benefit.
But instead they tossed Johnson a lifeline. That’s what’s best for the country, not only because it helps Democratic initiatives, like help for Ukraine, but because it disempowers Greene and her ilk. Democrats might also hope that the American public will give them some credit for being the adult party in the room. I wouldn’t count on that, but a guy can always hope.
What’s most curious about all this is the silence of Donald Trump. Greene is Trump’s most dedicated follower on Capitol Hill and Trump had opposed aid for Ukraine. But after Johnson visited Mar a Lago a couple weeks ago, Trump went quiet. I’d love to know what’s going on there.
For now, it doesn’t much matter. Mike Johnson represents a welcome return to something like normalcy. Greene and her tiny cabal of nut jobs are no longer able to wag the dog. And my party made me proud of it.
Yellow Stripes & Dead Armadillos 
If normalcy is how this bill is being defined, I’ll take the nut jobs.
Normal:
Funding Ukraine war. Ukraine has lost 500,000 men. They have lost the war. They are one of the most corrupt countries in the world. They are going to get a small portion of the funds allocated. The rest go to military contractors so that we can kill more people. Our representatives waving Ukrainian flags as the bill passes.
Funding Israeli war, which means funding the genocide of the Palestinian children, women and men, and some for humanitarian aid.
FISA on steroids. This is the greatest invasion of privacy in the history of our country. This authorizes our government to spy on Us at any time for any reason without any justification or oversight.
Marjorie Taylor Greene:
Matt Taibbi:
Nut jobs, right?
The Uniparty once again shows who’s boss.
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“disastrous Mideast wars”
What a dishonest framing. When did anyone ever think George W. Bush was the adult in the room? The adults in the room where the ones calling the invasion of Iraq reckless. Many of those same people support aid to Ukraine. Funding Ukraine to defend themselves from an attack by a external totalitarian dictator is completely different. And they have most certainly not lost the war. Russia is feeling pressure from elsewhere now like Georgia and getting spread very thin.
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Completely off his rocker, right?
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Ron Johnson, off his rocker? You betcha. Doesn’t know a darn thing about foreign policy. For one. And he just voted NO on a bill largely written by Republicans to secure the border so that it wouldn’t end up looking like a win for the other team. I could go on, but….
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I agree with you but I remain concerned that something is amiss. What happened at Mara Largo between Trump and Johnson? I feel like we are being led to believe red is pink when it’s really fire engine red. Mark my words, there is a Trojan horse in our midst and time will tell us what it is.
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