Let me begin by stating that Mike Johnson's tenure as Speaker of the House of Representatives has exceeded my expectations which, granted, were not very high in the first place. When he became Speaker last October, I thought there would be a government shutdown and that no aid would be forthcoming to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
It is safe to say he also exceeded the expectations of most Democrats who helped quash Marjorie Taylor Greene's motion to vacate the chair last week. Johnson also had the backing of defeated, former President Donald Trump.
But I think Trump's backing of Johnson and him not objecting to the foreign aid package came with a price. That price came in the form of Johnson traveling to New York today to lend his support to Trump at his criminal trial for business fraud. Johnson was among a coterie of Republicans who came to show Trump their fealty along with the likes of former presidential rivals and possible VP running mates Vivek Ramaswamy and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum along with Florida Congressman Byron Donalds. Johnson stated:
They are doing this intentionally to keep him here [and] off the campaign trail. I am disgusted by what is happening here, by what is being done to our system of justice.
Among the atrocities here: the judge’s daughter is making millions of dollars doing online fundraising for Democrats.
Johnson's claim is dubious as his claim that Judge Merchan is "a Biden donor judge." A $15 donation hardly buys you lunch especially when you consider how Trump personally profited in the hundreds of millions of dollars from foreign entities during his presidency.
Former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney took Johnson to task for his solidarity with Trump. Cheney took to X to write:
Have to admit I'm surprised that @SpeakerJohnson wants to be in the 'I cheated on my wife with a porn star' club. I guess he's not that concerned with teaching morality to our young people after all.
I cannot say that I am surprised. When it comes to Trump, morality doesn't enter into the equation. Johnson wants to avoid Kevin McCarthy's fate and to do so he must stay in Trump's favor. One way to stay in favor is to show up at Trump's criminal trial and call the proceeding an "atrocity", a peculiar choice of word if there ever was one.
Johnson can ill-afford to step out of line. How else does one explain Johnson's actions today not to mention his introduction of a so-called "election integrity" bill last week? So, we can expect a lot more of this from Johnson in the coming months because otherwise he might not be so lucky next time Greene decides to move to vacate.
Then again if Johnson does more of these kinds of shenanigans, Democrats might not bail him out next time. On the other hand, if there is a new Republican Speaker, there's a good chance that he or she will be infinitely worse than Johnson and be unwilling to play ball with Democrats and shut down the government.
But let's say Johnson survives until the election and somehow Republicans keep and expand their majority in the House. Given his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his desire to curry favor with Trump, there is no way in hell he will certify the results of the 2024 election if President Biden is re-elected.
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