(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . My Mixed Feelings About New Speaker Johnson [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-28 I have mixed feelings about Speaker Johnson, as many of you may too. In the long term, there is no doubt he is a political Gift from God for the Democrats in terms of the 2024 election. Before you even get into the details of who he is, you have the fact that every single House Republican voted for him, including all 18 of the vulnerable Republicans from Biden won Districts. Each one of the 18 and probably more will have to answer to numerous campaign ads and Press questions as to why they voted for an ultra conservative and how they thought that represented the will of their left leaning and moderate constituents. Also, keep in mind that many of these Republicans got elected by telling moderate voters that they were willing to work with Democrats to get things done. Each of them had plenty of opportunities to do just that during the several days and rounds of Speaker voting. Jeffries and the Democrats held out the Olive Branch several times to support a Bipartisan Republican candidate, only to have them reject it and in the end vote for the least Bipartisan and most extreme right wing MAGA dude they could find. This alone clearly shows their claims of bipartisanship were and are total BS. Then when you look at the specifics of who Mike Johnson is, it even gets better for our team. Take the abortion issue alone. This guy is the poster child for anti-abortion crowd, advocating for a complete ban, with no exceptions. He makes it easy for us to credibly claim that Republican control will mean a total national abortion ban, which polls show is only popular in the reddest of red Districts. So there is no doubt that in the long run, Mike Johnson is a political good thing for our side. But in the short run ( between now and the 2024 election) he scares me. I worry about how much damage he could do to the country over the next year. Granted he has said he is in favor of a CR to keep the government running through January, but does anyone really trust such a MAGA extremist? Even if he keeps his word to keep the government running until then, it will only be for the House to pass Appropriations Bills with massive cuts that Biden and the Dem. Controlled Senate will never accept. Sooner or later he will either have to continue passing CRs to keep the government funded through 2024 or draw a line in the sand and shutdown the government. Which do you think he will do? Then we have Ukraine. He is a pro-Putin Republican who has previously opposed Ukraine funding. He will certainly put forward an Israel only funding Bill to try to separate Israel and Ukraine funding. The Senate will then have to either separate the funding or keep it together which would block aid to Israel. A possible back channel around the Speaker’s blockade of Ukraine aid would of course be a Discharge Petition for a separate Ukraine funding bill. But that would require at least 5 Republicans to sign on and publicly defy the Speaker they just elected. Also, keep in mind that Mike Johnson is a loyal servant of Trump. One has to wonder how far will that loyalty go? Will he simply let Jordon continue on with his phony Biden impeachment Hearings or will he go farther, bowing to each and every Trump demand? Demands like defunding Jack Smith (which he really can’t do but could try) or impeach Merrick Garland. So in the short term I’m pessimistic, but in the long term I’m optimistic. How bout you? [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/28/2202214/-My-Mixed-Feelings-About-New-Speaker-Johnson?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/