We sure are getting a lot of interesting admissions from Trump’s cohorts these days. It’s always interesting to know that they know what you and I know, and occasionally they let it slip, whether deliberately or in Freudian fashion. Mike Johnson was interviewed by Jonathan Karl today. We have the entire ten minute clip if you want to see it, but here’s the interesting part of their dialogue.
Johnson was asked by ABC’s Jon Karl about Elon Musk spending money to beat Republicans and he answered:
Well, I think it would be a big mistake. I think Elon knows, at the end of the day, the reason he got involved to help President Trump win and to help Republicans win the majority in the House and the Senate is because he understands that our policies are better for human flourishing, they’re better for the U.S. economy, they’re better for everything that he’s involved in with his innovation and job creation and — and entrepreneurship.
The other team’s policies are not good for those things. And — and he knows that at the end of the day. And I think when the emotion settles down, I think he’ll recognize we have no choice. We have to hold the House majority in the 2026 mid-term election, and we will because we’ve got to allow President Trump four full years, not just two.
If — if the Democrats took over control of the House, I guarantee you that they would try to impeach President Trump in the first week of that new Congress in January ’27, and that would be a disaster for the country, for our public policy, for the economy, and everything else.
So, we have to keep this leadership team in place, and we will. And we’re going to deliver for the people and they’re going to reward him.
A couple of notes: Yes, Trump will be stonewalled when Democrats retake the House in 2026. That’s the good news. The news that isn’t being reported is that nobody looks forward to that more than Donald Trump. Trump does not want to be in office, he had to get back in office so that he could fleece the rubes and stay out of prison. But he hates governing. He loves campaigning and criticizing everybody, because that’s theatrical. But actual governance is work and sweat and stress and Trump is a man who never worked a day in his life as you and I understand that term. Even when Trump shot The Apprentice he was undisciplined and only the magic of makeup, staging, lighting and most of all, editing, saved him from revealing himself as the ass that he is.
Trump is no different in Washington, except to be worse. In Hollywood, Trump was the star of a show, but it was reality TV and there were so many other quality shows that it was a running gag, more than anything. Washington is different. Trump wields actual power, enough to destroy himself and all of us along with him.
So in many ways Mike Johnson might not be too sad to see the Democrats regain the House in 2026, either, since his efforts with OBBBA are resoundingly criticized as they well should be.
Who knows how long Johnson is for his post anyhow? We don’t know what the 2026 and 2028 elections hold at this point. It’s hard to say if in a post-Trump world, (let’s just wildly speculate and say that Marco Rubio would rise to lead the GOP,) if Johnson would have any use. Johnson is a freak show in his own right, arising out of the MAGA/Trump freak show. Johnson would never have risen to House Speaker in any normal world and if the man has a lick a sense, he knows that. Johnson got where he got out of sheer exhaustion on the part of the GOP conference, not through intrinsic leadership ability. Johnson is a fifth string player, if that.
I doubt if the Democrats will impeach Trump the first week, although anything is possible and at the rate Trump is going, he deserves to be impeached again. But unless the Senate can also be regained, any impeachment will end the way the first two did, without Trump being removed.
That said, it is only June 8, 2025. We don’t know what Trump is going to do. We don’t know what Musk is going to do. We don’t know what factors the electorate will be reacting to and what it will do. It’s a slim hope that Trump could be removed from office, but my God, would it not be satisfying if it could happen somehow? I know I’m letting my penchant for Hollywood endings run away with me, but imagine the satisfaction.
And it is a satisfaction that we would have enjoyed at the time of the first Trump impeachment, had the GOP had not been so utterly corrupt as it was at the time — and still is. Too bad the Founding Fathers didn’t put in some kind of a Fail Safe mechanism in the event of a corrupt Senate.
**************
We are always in need of donations and if you want to buy an ad-free subscription, that would be great, too. Also, you can hit this link and buy a tote or a coffee cup. We’re pulling out all stops in order to survive around here and we are not alone. Ursula
then house speaker becomes the VP
Actually, no. It does NOT work that way. The line of succession only provides for replacing the President with a direct line of succession (first the Vice-President, then the Speaker of the House, and so on). If the VP does succeed the President because of impeachment and removal or the President dies in office or resigns, then he becomes the President and he selects a candidate to become the new VP (who must then be confirmed by a simple majority of both the House and Senate). The Speaker of the House could certainly be a candidate for the job but he doesn’t automatically advance to that job.
Now *IF* the President and the Vice-President should BOTH be removed before a new VP can be confirmed, the Speaker would advance to the White House but the only time in our history that we’ve come close to that was after Nixon resigned. Ford ascended to the Presidency as he was the sitting VP but the post of VP was then vacant for a little more than 4 months until Nelson Rockefeller was confirmed. At no point, however, did the then-Speaker of the House, Carl Albert, ever take on the role of VP (much less President–although that was considered after Agnew’s resignation–and plans were drawn up in the event that Nixon was removed from office before Agnew’s replacement could be confirmed).
It’s true that Trump hates governing. But he’ll settle for the raw power to oppress people and do whatever the hell he wants. So I’m afraid he does love his “job” and he’s got no intention of quitting. Of course, he will find out one day that not everything goes according to intentions.
Even IF we retake majority control of the Senate in 2026, which is doubtful at this point, there is still no way Trump would ever be convicted in an impeachment trial since that takes a 2/3rd majority Senate vote. Not when pigs fly. When they don space suits and fly to the moon and back.
WRT Trump liking or not liking governing. He wasn’t put in office to govern. He was put in office to essentially tear government down while creating a spectacle of white supremacy. He can do those sorts of things from Air Force 1 in between flights to his golf courses.
I’d say that it is mostly greed. I was just listening to some history of what happened to the Aztecs. (Fall of Civilizations.) Somehow, Coronado reminded me of our … “hero”. He craved power and, like that guy, had a mind to smell it and seize it. He almost got his butt kicked, but misfortune (for the Aztecs) was the day. You’re right that this is all ephemeral, and we may have lost completely already, but don’t forget that history is only written by those far from our time. We can resign, or we can find ways to fight. I know this is not much of a time to encourage hope, but hope we must that somehow, sense will prevail. It will not be the same when this is done, but hopefully, we will not be working in vain.
musk has said he will want to get rid of Republicans who vote for Obba, not Republicans in general. to that end I cab see him possibly supporting a few democrats if he has no other options. mainly I think he meant he would support Republicans to primary those he wants to get rid of. he’s not switching sides. I’m not really sure what he wants or what he’s opposed to. maybe he really does have a problem with the size of the budget if most of it isn’t going to him. I think his plan had been to effectively take control of the actual operation of the government and didn’t quite get there.