Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, and CIA Director William J. Burns gave Johnson a dire presentation, warning that Ukraine would lose the war without immediate U.S. support. Sullivan briefed Johnson on exactly when Ukraine might run out of weapons, laying out in detail when it would no longer have a single artillery shell or air defense interceptor.

McConnell, Biden, Schumer and Jeffries all stressed the historic importance of the moment, according to a second senior administration official. After the meeting, Biden pulled Johnson aside for a further one-on-one conversation, the official said.

As Johnson strategized, he recognized that different parts of the bill would prompt different defections: Many Republicans would oppose Ukraine aid, while dozens of Democrats could withhold their votes because of military aid to Israel. And many Republican lawmakers had also long demanded the issues be separated.

That's how he landed on the strategy of passing four separate bills: for Ukraine arms, Israel aid, Indo-Pacific funding and other provisions. Each mini-bill would spur defections, but not enough to sink any one of them.

The gambit worked; the four bills passed the House and were then stitched back together and sent to the Senate.

It took months, but finally Speaker Johnson found a way to rise above the cries from party allies and their criminally-indicted presidential nominee, wanting to see US backing for Ukraine collapse, easing Putin's consolidation of his invasion's goal of bringing Ukraine to heel.

While many point to various polling still showing Trump in the lead across crucial swing states, these same people are ignoring that the combination of actual governing - which ignores the GOP's pet hair-on-fire issues - and the increasing daily portrayals of Donald Trump facing civil charges, lawsuits, and criminal indictments throughout multiple courts in multiple states. actually shows a GOP hurtling towards what very well could be a terminal entropy.

So, congratulations to Speaker Johnson for his skill in convincing Trump that the popular aid package for Ukraine would translate into votes for Trump into 2024.

Where are you seeing this reported? I haven't seen a single word about Johnson trying to convince Trump of anything. The only thing I've seen is that Johnson ignored Trump and MAGA because he's Number 2 in line for the presidency and realized that national security trumps MAGA politics. And his son is entering the Naval Academy and allowing Putin to defeat Ukraine would most certainly lead to further European conflicts that would involve placing American troops in harm's way.

There was an article (that I can't locate right this moment) that listed all the things that Trump has demanded his GOP allies do in Congress that haven't been done without any direct repercussions befalling the members. If anything, Johnson's stewardship of the Ukraine aid has shown that MAGAts do not have the power that they think they do in Congress.

I found the passage:

If Johnson has "seen the light" or "turned over a new leaf," I'll reserve my judgement until I see if this about-face is a genuine separation from Trump or a one-off.

That isn't what the evidence shows actually happened. Johnson came to understand the need to fund Ukraine as an existential national security issue, where as Speaker he really didn't have a choice NOT to put the nation's (and the free world's) interests ahead of the MAGA hardliners including Trump.

Johnson just went to Mar-a-Lago the weekend before last so there was no need for Trump to telegraph his messages, he gave them to him personally. Can you think of a single time Trump hasn't spoken his mind to anyone behind closed doors if something is important to him? He blabs stream of consciousness utterances to non-relevant individuals in his incessant quest to be important or to simply show off.

And let's not forget, Johnson also brought the government budget bill to the floor in opposition of the MAGAts and Trump who wanted to see the government shut down, so this is already more than a simple one off. I don't see any need to wait to assess Johnson in this regards. He simply sees and understands a much larger picture in a much more complicated world than the simpleton MAGAts who're only trying to drive their own narratives and unpopular policies based on their nihlistic zero sum politics. Let me put it this way - I don't see Johnson as a loyal partner in the MAGA agenda when said agenda runs counter to what he'd do if he were President in that same moment. And that doesn't mean he's now hostile to MAGA, it simply means he's learned as Speaker the real master he must serve is the US Constitution and the good of this nation especially on existential issues that ultimately transcend insolar partisan politics.

I just found this about the current relationship between the Speaker and Donald Trump: