Analysis: Speaker Johnson's Historic Road-to-Kyiv Conversion

@#2 ... Honestly I don't see how that changes anything, except personally, for him ...

I agree. That's likely why it was stated in an "Oh, and..." type of phrasing.

... because he won this battle is a great way to lose the war in November. ...

That depends upon how and when the Democrats decide to work with Spkr Johnson in order to promote their agenda.

Rep Greene has indicated she is backing down from her threat to oust Spkr Johnson.

Then, I wonder how much this had to do with Skpr Johnson's change of viewpoint?

Donald Trump says Ukraine's survival is important to US (April 18, 2024)
www.reuters.com

... Donald Trump said on Thursday the survival of Ukraine is important to the United States, a shift in tone days before the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives is due to vote on a $61 billion aid package. ...

Still, the post seemed to be one of Trump's first acknowledgements that Ukraine's survival is an important U.S. security interest. During a CNN town hall last year, Trump refused to say whether he wanted Ukraine to win its war with Russia when questioned about the conflict.

"Why can't Europe equalize or match the money put in by the United States of America in order to help a Country in desperate need?" he wrote on Thursday.

"As everyone agrees, Ukrainian Survival and Strength should be much more important to Europe than to us, but it is also important to us! GET MOVING EUROPE!"

Trump's post came the day after he praised Poland, following a meeting at Trump Tower in New York with Polish President Andzrej Duda. ...

That Pres Trump's change of viewpoint came just after meeting with Polish Pres Duda is not surprising. Pres Duda was a friend and supporter of fmr Pres Trump when he occupied the Oval Office.

It's hard to say Trump is lying since the truth doesn't matter to Trump.

But he is lying.

The only reason Trump has changed his tune is because he sees how it benefits Trump to do so.

That is the one and only thing Trump will always be true to: Trump.

Bonus points because this might make it easier for someone else to post his bond.

The rumor is that a dozen or so House Repubs threatened to quit if another Speaker Coup was attempted.

www.youtube.com

"a dozen or so House Repubs threatened to quit"

Come on, coup!
Go coup go!
#MAGA

@#4 ... The only reason Trump has changed his tune is because he sees how it benefits Trump to do so. That is the one and only thing Trump will always be true to: Trump. ...

Again, I do not disagree.

Fmr Pres Trump is transactional.

What benefits him now seems to be what matters to him.

@#5 ... The rumor is that a dozen or so House Repubs threatened to quit if another Speaker Coup was attempted. ...

The result of that might be Spkr Jeffries.

"The rumor is that a dozen or so House Repubs threatened to quit if another Speaker Coup was attempted."

coup coup

The call of the GOP bird ...

"Fmr Pres Trump is transactional."

Absolutely. Perfect description.

He's Lionel Hutz. He always needs to feel like he got the upper hand, in any deal.

Rep Greene has indicated she is backing down from her threat to oust Spkr Johnson.

Not so sure of that (from this morning:

Mike Johnson's Speakership is OVER! He has betrayed Republicans by handing the gavel to Joe Biden, Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, and the rest of the Democrats. He betrayed us on border security. He betrayed us on funding endless foreign wars. He betrayed us on FISA. He betrayed us on fully funding Biden's DOJ. And Mike Johnson did it all by working with the Democrats. It's time for him to resign, so Republicans can elect a Speaker who will work for our party.

Not very backing down sounding.

I have to give props to Johnson, he acted with conscience and bravery which is not something that can be said about anyone from the GOP most of the time.
People are talking about his risking his leadership. I don't think that is the case. I imagine he had a deal with democrats to protect his speakership before he allowed the votes.

What I don't see people talking about is him risking his seat. He's in a reliably red district. Understandable since his district was created in 2000 and has been held by GOP since. Johnson has won with at least 60% of the vote each year he's ran and was uncontested in 2022.
Here's the catch. Louisiana doesn't have partisan primaries. They have runoffs. His cooperation with the democrats may prompt more republicans to jump in and deny him 50% of the vote in November which would then force a runoff between the top two candidates which could both be republicans. Those elections tend to be more unpredictable.

- The result of that might be Spkr Jeffries.
#8

That result was the intended point.

It appears the threat werked.

Sasquatch is a Russian stooge.

@#11 ... Not so sure of that (from this morning: ...

Here's what I saw yesterday afternoon ...

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene blasts Speaker Mike Johnson, says will wait on potential move to vacate
www.cnbc.com

... Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene says she will let her fellow House Republicans hear from their constituents before deciding whether to move forward with a vote to remove Speaker Mike Johnson.

Greene made the remarks to a gaggle of reporters aired on CNN after the House passed four bills in a Saturday session. Three of the bills were for aid to Taiwan, Ukraine and Israel and the fourth approved a potential TikTok ban if its parent company, China's ByteDance, does not sell it.

Greene listed several reasons why she believes Johnson should not be Speaker, but she also said she wants to be "responsible" and not call for Johnson's resignation before garnering enough support. ...

That's why I noted that she seems to have been backing down.

Funny how her opinion changed in less than 24 hours...

(thx for the update, btw)

Funny how her opinion changed in less than 24 hours...

That might stem from the simple fact that she is a dingbat.

Aside from that, these guys have a pretty good gig. Two week break for Easter, work two weeks, and now a week recess.

Lamp, were you also referring to Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus with the headline?

@#17 ... Lamp, were you also referring to Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus with the headline? ...

The headline that I posted on this thread is a shorter (i.e., less than 60 character) version of the article's headline, which is:

Behind the Curtain: Speaker Johnson's historic road-to-Kyiv conversion

So, if you want to know the origin of that phrase, maybe send an email to the authors of the article.

"Fmr Pres Trump is trans"

Got a link to prove it?

Credit where credit is due, I didn't expect a move like this from Johnson. At least in this one case he did the right thing even though it wasn't the easy thing.

It's kinda disheartening seeing so many people praise the flip floppers because they happened to flip a direction you agree with.

Mike Johnson would send your daughters to gulag for taking The Pill if he could. His kinder, gentler machine gun hand isn't better because he pointed the machine gun away from Democrats for ten seconds.

#21 | POSTED BY SNOOFY

One devil at a time.

What would you prefer Snoofy? Everyone should be constantly in a hyper-partisan frenzy and never admit when someone they don't agree with most of the time does something right for once?

Sounds like a terrible way to live. Also sounds like a recipe for making sure "the other side" never does a single thing you might agree with.

The guy did the right thing and that should be acknowledged.

#23 | POSTED BY QCP

After being dragged kicking and screaming into doing it and waiting months.

It's like a fireman showing up at a burning building and taking selfies for an hour; we don't cheer him on for finally getting around to putting out the fire.

... Never before has the party in control of the House of Representatives knowingly and willingly castrated its own power so thoroughly as today's Republicans.

Why it matters: Republicans blew years of potential authority by weak leaders surrendering to keep power. So with a razor-thin GOP majority, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) had to depend on Democrats to muscle through the $60 billion Ukraine bill over the weekend.

- - - "The structural changes they made, made the place ungovernable," a former member of GOP leadership told Axios.

- - - "When you give this many nihilists ... this kind of leverage, this is what's going to happen and it was just a matter of time," they said.

Two mistakes haunt House Republicans, both dating back to former Speaker Kevin McCarthy's fight to win the gavel in January 2023:

- - - Letting any member call a vote on removing the speaker. This gives insurgents like Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) extraordinary power to threaten to oust the party leader any time.

- - - Surrendering authority of the Rules Committee, which sets the terms for how legislation will be handled during votes. After allowing non-loyalists onto the committee, leaders can't depend on getting their way.

Zoom in: The new Rules Committee " with McCarthy-appointed hardliners such as Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Chip Roy (R-Texas) " has become a roadblock. Seven bills were defeated in the past year during the rules process.

- - - This is an unprecedented collapse in control: Former Speakers Nancy Pelosi, Paul Ryan and John Boehner never lost a rules vote.

- - - "By not voting for rules, it forces suspension votes that are by definition more bipartisan. ... They are creating what they profess to hate," one House GOP moderate told Axios about their hardliner colleagues. ...