Poor Coward House Speaker Mike Johnson Just Ain't Know What To Do About This Here Ukraine Aid!
The majority of Ukraine supporters in the House can get this around Johnson, if they have the courage.
Is weak and cowardly Trump-serving House Speaker Mike Johnson going to get this Ukraine aid through the House? Or is he going to side with Donald Trump MAGA extremists in his caucus, the people who literally support Vladimir Putin’s genocide on innocent people, who truly in their hearts want Putin to win, to destroy Ukraine and put our European allies in grave danger?
That’s the question that’s headlining all the “win the morning” newsletters today. Playbook says the Ukraine aid the Senate passed 70-29 is going “nowhere fast.” Punchbowl says it “may be dead,” and explains “what can save it.”
And let’s be clear: Mike Johnson knows the stakes. But judging by the number of thumbs he’s currently got dithering up his ass, he’s apparently fine with letting Putin continue murdering, raping, and kidnapping Ukrainian babies, if that’s what’s necessary for his political ambitions. As Greg Sargent reports this morning, Democratic Rep. Jason Crow told him explicitly that Johnson has seen the intelligence, “has sat in briefings that I've sat in,” and knows exactly what happens to Ukraine if America abandons our ally to Russia.
Sargent also reports that, according to Crow, senior House Republicans recently told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the aid would “easily pass,” and that the only thing really standing in the way is the fact that the Christian nationalist extremist with the gavel won’t bring it up for a vote.
Got that? It. Would. Pass.
(By the way, all that comes from today’s edition of Sargent’s podcast “The Daily Blast,” with guest Jason Crow, which we listened to today even though we don’t hardly never listen to podcasts, that’s how important it is.)
Of course, it’s useful to remember that, though Johnson likes to believe otherwise, he’s kind of an airhead who doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing. And he’s desperately frightened of the terrorist wing of his caucus. At least that’s what we’re getting from Playbook, which says he “appears to be a man without a plan.” Maybe if he was a “leader with a firmer grasp on power,” but alas.
We caught up last night with several House GOP insiders, and each one told us it appears as though Johnson is flying by the seat of his pants, polishing his reputation for dithering in the face of tough decisions.
Who’s a chickenshit coward PAB? Mike Johnson is a chickenshit coward PAB. And look how people around him talk about him:
Johnson’s own senior leadership team remains entirely in the dark about what he’s thinking, and there are plenty in that cadre who say flat-out that this ain’t going anywhere — ever.
“I’m as confused as ever about what he wants,” one House GOP insider told us. “He hasn’t given us any direction. … I think right now he’s in survival mode.”
“Kevin would have a strategy, he’d shop it around, then he’d make a play call,” another said. “The more I’m around Johnson, the more it’s clear to me he doesn’t have a plan.”
When people are looking fondly backward on the productive and efficient days of Kevin McCarthy …
Let’s just say that if God chose Mike Johnson for this role, God is a mean and hilarious dick who likes to watch people fail.
Punchbowl meanwhile says “[o]ne of Johnson’s weaknesses is that he seems to think that his members don’t want to be led. They do.” But he won’t, or doesn’t know how, or doesn’t have the courage to lead them.
So what can Democrats and any Republicans who actually care do? There are options, and they are not necessarily easy. But they are doable, in theory.
There’s lots of talk of this thing called a “discharge petition,” which would require Republican help, and would completely bypass Mike Johnson and thump him on his stupid thin-lipped face as it goes by. It would also require pretty much all Democrats to be on board, and Playbook says somewhere between 15 and 35 progressives might not be, because of the $14 billion in the Senate’s bill for Israel.
Basically, without getting too far into the procedural weeds, 218 members would have to be in on it — a majority of the House — to bring a bill without Johnson’s blessing. And one of these discharge petitions already exists, with 213 Democrats’ signatures. Hence needing some Republican help to get it to 218, especially if some progressives take their names off the list because Israel.
So that is why a lot of people are saying this is a longshot.
There’s another thing called “defeating the previous question,” which, uh, let’s let Punchbowl:
Here’s how that would go: Every time the House Republican leadership brings a bill to the floor under a rule, there’s a vote on “moving the previous question.” If that vote is defeated, the Democrat managing debate can amend the rule and effectively bring up any bill they want.
There could be procedural hurdles here. For example, any bill the minority brings up would have to be germane. But Ukraine supporters can overturn that ruling with 218 votes.
MAIN IDEA: If people want to get this shit done bad enough, they can.
They just have to give enough fucks about not selling American, European and Ukrainian security as playthings for Vladimir Putin’s delusional murder fantasies.
Do they?
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***“Kevin would have a strategy, he’d shop it around, then he’d make a play call,” another said. “The more I’m around Johnson, the more it’s clear to me he doesn’t have a plan.”***
Mike Johnson doesn't have a plan because his party doesn't have a plan. His party doesn't have a plan because its principles are officially "Whatever Assmouth wants is what we want too," and unfortunately Assmouth can't be bothered to have a coherent legislative strategy because that's ten syllables and he doesn't have that sort of attention span. So Mike Johnson is, like any subordinate to an autocrat, terrified of making a decision. It's what you get with a party of cowards. And so the only way to pass legislation is to buffalo the cowards out of your way.
To reiterate:
We won't be sending boxes of cash to Ukraine. We will be sending them ammo and weapons system from our stockpiles, and then paying AMERICAN DEFENSE CONTRACTORS to refill those stockpiles.
ALSO: We are getting some GREAT "field tests" on all these new, advanced, hi-tech weapons systems - without having to be at war ourselves. Cynical, maybe. But true......