In theory at least Mike Johnson is Speaker of the House of Representatives. In practice, despite his increasing insistence to the contrary Donald Trump is the one actually wielding the enormous power that goes with the title and job. Practically speaking Johnson does what Trump tells him to do. Not that Johnson disagrees with Trump on key things like the border, support for Russia and cutting off aid to Ukraine etc. However, Johnson is a weak Speaker by any standard. Even weaker than McCarthy and that’s saying something.
Let’s be clear. Trump never wanted the actual JOB of Speaker any more than he wanted the JOB of being President. With the latter it was the title/prestige, the perks (including and especially using them to grift) and the power that went with being President. To simply issue an order and have minions carry it out. Actually digging in to learn and do the job? Not so much. Hell, during the transition a stunned Trump remarked to Obama he had no idea how much there actually was to the job of being President. I think it’s safe to say he never tried to learn, much less the do the job and his performance proved it.
However, it did come with a lot, a LOT of power to set/control the agenda and the only job in DC that comes even close is that of Speaker of the House. It’s an enormous job, with duties that are wide ranging. There’s a reason you seldom see the Speaker actually up there at the podium presiding even during important debates, at least perhaps until the final round before a vote is held. So, it’s safe to say Trump wouldn’t ever want the actual job, just the title and the power that comes with it. Which he now has, via Mike Johnson. (A reminder for those who might have forgotten – one doesn’t have to be an elected Representative to be Speaker)
Remember the debacle that was the (eventual) selection of Kevin McCarthy to be Speaker of the House? Even before then there was a bit of admittedly wild speculation that some would want Trump. It came up again during that McCarthy circus. It came up again when McCarthy was voted out and it took literally weeks to elect a new Speaker. Which turned out to be Mike Johnson of Louisiana. “Mike WHO?” most people (including some of his GOP House colleagues) asked at the time? Well, Johnson got and still holds the Gavel. At least in name, and the administrative duties (considerable) that go with the job of Speaker. Heaven for Trump would be being “safely” back in the Oval Office with all the protections (from legal trouble) that come with the Presidency. Being de facto Speaker isn’t as good but for Trump it’s enough for now. At least if he can “call the shots” and set things up so that it helps him with his quest to become President again.
At the moment we have the issue of the border deal that’s been agreed to in the Senate, and the linkage between that and aid for our allies in Ukraine and Israel. Trump openly opposes both. As it happens, Johnson has always been the same on two of those three items. However, there’s enough people in the House who want to move on all of them to get legislation passed and on to Biden’s desk. But Trump “doesn’t want Biden to look good” and he knows there are GOPers in both chambers who feel the same. There are other things that Trump wants such as a Biden impeachment that would have already died out, but as far as Johnson is concerned what Trump wants Trump gets.
That’s why in practical terms Trump is in fact running the House. Or at least controlling the agenda despite what Johnson says. As this Rolling Stone article notes Johnson is getting rather upset over the notion that Trump’s calling the shots. The article begins talking of how Trump openly opposes the much talked about border bill, and Johnson telling his cronies Saturday there’s not going to be a vote on any legislation in the foreseeable future. I should note again that’s fine with some House GOPers but far from all of them. Some, for their own political reasons want to get a deal done and move on. Johnson it seems isn’t going to allow that so it naturally raises the question of why he’s being the way he is, and whether he’s acting on direct orders from Trump. He denies that’s the case:
“Of course not. He’s not calling the shots. I am calling the shots for the House, that’s our responsibility,” Johnson told NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker on Sunday.
To paraphrase the familiar line, “Methinks Johnson doth protest too much.” This is after all a dude who admits he’s in regular contact with Trump. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn there’s a version of the “Bat Phone” on Johnson’s desk, a direct line to Trump and vice-versa. However, Johnson as I’ve stated isn’t alone in his thoughts about doing Trump’s bidding and killing a border deal:
At least some Republican members of Congress are listening.
“Congress doesn’t have to do anything to secure our southern border and fix it,” Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) said Tuesday, Rolling Stone reported. “Why would I help Joe Biden approve his dismal 33 percent [approval rating] when he can fix the border and secure it on his own?” he added.
That folks gets to the heart of the matter. The GOP on Capitol Hill, and the House GOP in particular agrees with Trump’s openly stated desire to do as much damage as possible to make President Biden look bad. Then they’ll campaign on the mess THEY made to justify putting Trump back in the WH. If the country suffers, if the Israel war in Hamas spreads and becomes a regional war and winds up needing U.S. troops to fight and die in it, if Ukraine winds up losing to Russia, Xi/China invades Taiwan and all manner of other disasters so the f**k what? Making their Mango Messiah President again is ALL that matters!
Right now the border deal, one which many Democratic voters aren’t going to like much is the focus. When someone as conservative as OK Senator Lankford says it’s almost everything conservatives have dreamed of and that the GOP will never get a better deal it’s safe to say I know there will be provisions I don’t like. You too I bet. However, it also contains things that are needed, and the trade-off in unlocking other crucially needed things is almost certainly worth it. Big problems will be solved and too many GOPers simply don’t want that to happen. Starting with Trump who mealy-mouths denials about trying to kill a border deal even though he’s on record saying that’s exactly what he wants:
“A lot of people do call me, they respect me. And they say, ‘What do you think?'” Trump said at a press conference. “If the bill’s not going to be a great bill and really solve the problem, I wouldn’t do it at all. Not for political reasons, just for U.S. reasons.”
However, there are House Republicans who do in fact want to solve problems, to legislate and be able to legitimately take credit back home for doing so in order to get re-elected. However, Trump is out for Trump and Johnson can deny it all he wants. Trump has issued marching orders and that’s that.
Which is why I say Mike Johnson might be carrying out all the painstaking, grinding detail work like a WH Chief of Staff the fact of the matter is that these days TRUMP is the de facto Speaker of the House and “calling the shots.”
There are currently 18 GOP representatives in swing districts up for re-election–Biden won these districts the last time around and the reps somehow managed to hang on through 2022, but the consensus is that this time they are likely to lose. And for some of them, big.
Why? Well, on top of Trump’s drag on the party, if this crazy BS stunt continues forward, with no deal on Ukraine, Israel, the border, etc., then it also appears the government may shut down, the threat this time is for March 2nd for one part of it and March 8th for the other, and there is no way these swing district GOPers will be re-elected………..but will they vote with the Dems and Hakeem Jeffries, or?
I live in a DC suburb and the threat of shutdown is taken very seriously throughout the entire DMV……..it’s a lot of jobs. A lot of income lost. A lot of folks who lose bigtime. It’s not the super grades who are the biggest losers–they have the means to tie knots and hang on for the most part. It is the little folks, the low earners who are affected–the clerical, the maintenance, the food workers, and on and on it goes. And even if this doesn’t resonate with swing district reps in the same ways it does with those serving DMV constituents, still, even their districts are affected–our government is a sprawling employment enterprise everywhere in the country. And the loss of government services affects every-damned-body. Just think back to how pissed folks were when the national parks closed for example.
They look back into the past and see that Reagan got away with treasonously interfering with then current policy to stymie the Carter administration’s dealings with Iran to make Carter look bad and swing the election Reagan’s way – in the same way Nixon had done just the same thing to LBJ with the Vietnamese debacle.
Indeed for nearly sixty years interfering with the then Democratic government’s policies to gain electoral advantage has been the hallmark of their actual policy. That they commit treason and subvert official, voted on and decided US policy, is secondary to their grasp for power.
Brilliantly covered here… https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/1/26/2219696/-The-56-Year-Long-Crisis-of-Treasonous-Illegitimate-GOP-Presidents-is-Happening-Again
The Republican party has long been a bunch of amoral grasping opportunists, the Trumpists are no different.
waaaa, waaaa-I’m calling the shots, waaaaaa.
When the fool made whatever unholy deal he made with the free-dumb caucus/magats, he gave up any possibility of claiming he’s calling the shots. No different than Kavin’ Kevin.
Yeah when Trump stole the presidency with the assistance of putin and his intelligence agencies, and the traitors had the house and senate they sure got a lot done. Why they even destroyed thousands of children’s lives at the border and got Mexico to pay for that border wall…oh wait…scratch that last part. Hey America when the phuck are you gonna smarten up???????