Mike JohnsonIts discursive abilities were built in this direction decisive moment.
On Saturday, after month of color matching, the House of Representatives finally approved aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. Aid to each of those countries—delivered in various forms—is passed individually, with a complex Venn diagram of lawmakers united on each bill.
But there is one constant across all the bills: Republican opposition.
The Israel bill passed 366-58, with 193 Republicans and 173 Democrats supporting the bill, and 21 Republicans and 37 Democrats opposing it.
The Taiwan bill passed 385-34, with only progressive Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) voting. All 34 votes against the bill came from Republicans.
But most worryingly for Johnson, the Ukraine aid measure passed 311-112, with all 210 Democrats in attendance voting for the bill with 101 Republicans, while the 112 no votes all came from the Republican Party. As the bill passed, House Democrats waved Ukrainian flags and cheered solidarity with America's allies. They tried to give the flag to Republicans, but only a few accepted.
After the vote, conservative Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) told Democrats to “throw those damn flags away.”
(All the bills will be combined together, including the bill to force the sale of TikTok and other national security priorities, before the package is sent to the Senate for an up-or-down vote.)
Ukraine's aid cast a shadow over Johnson's entire six-month tenure as speaker. It can also mark the end.
Just days before Johnson picked up the gavel to speak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky begged Congress for more ammunition to defend themselves against Russia's brutal invasion. It seems that the situation is truly urgent and that Congress is ready to act. Hamas had just attacked Israel earlier this month and was also really keen to show support for its US ally, which had not even begun its aggressive bombing campaign.
Naturally, congressional leaders saw an opportunity to combine aid to Ukraine and Israel, bringing two important priorities together to win over lawmakers who might otherwise be hesitant on the issue. or that problem.
But Johnson is just starting his role as speaker, and he doesn't want to upset some Republicans who are staunchly opposed to spending another dime on Ukraine. never mind the truth about the form of aid or where it is actually spent.
Johnson — an untested and little-known conservative — suddenly found himself chairing a fractured GOP convention, delicately balancing the wishes of a fragmented group of lawmakers . He doesn't want to do anything without United's support.
But over the past six months, as Johnson has tried to find a Republican majority that could overcome any Republican preference, he has come to a harsh truth: There is no Republican majority draw.
In virtually any bill that Republicans want to pass without Democratic support, there seems to be at least some Republican lawmakers—because it goes too far, because it didn't go far enough, or just because they were angry about other things—who refused to go with the team.
Johnson had to face the uncomfortable reality that, if he wanted to pass a bill as speaker, he had to do so with Democratic votes.
And now, as Republicans are rising up against him to remove him from office, he is facing an even harsher reality: to remain president, he will Need Democratic votes.
Reply. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) introduced a motion to remove Johnson about a month ago and since then, she has been joined by far-right Congressmen. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ). The trio suggests that more of Johnson's detractors will go into hiding after Johnson delivers aid to Ukraine. (In fact, they don't even need more Republicans to vote against him, if Democrats also vote against Johnson, as they have done in every round of voting when Kevin McCarthy is the speaker.)
All Johnson did was give Ukraine a vote on aid, with the bill passing overwhelmingly. But the modern Republican Party has come to expect that the speaker will block certain bipartisan priorities from moving up or down. It is one thing to introduce legislation that would fail a vote in the House, but to introduce something that would fail a vote is heresy. really pass—that is, if a small conservative minority thinks they are not conservative enough.
But Johnson's patience with those tactics eventually ran out. He put his foot down has publicly expressed his belief that this is the right thing to doand said he was prepared to let the chips fall if possible.
He introduced four separate foreign aid bills—which also included unprecedented restrictions on TikTok—in the name of famous World War II-era British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and not in the name of his predecessor Neville Chamberlain, who was infamous for appeasing Adolf Hitler.
Johnson knew he would face Republican backlash for that decision, and he seemed fully prepared to live with the consequences of his actions.
But just as the Ukraine decision could break Johnson, it could also break him.
Former Democratic Party Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), turned to Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) when asked about whether Democrats should save Johnson. But if there is any indication of what she thinks Democrats should do, she said Johnson has taken the House to a “historic place” despite opposition from his own members.
She added that the motion to remove Johnson “doesn't pay any respect to the institution, because you have to be able to resolve your differences.”
“This institution really deserves respect,” Pelosi told The Daily Beast. “And if people do something wrong then the seat becomes vacant, but if it's a difference of opinion then that's democracy.”
At least two Democrats—Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL)—have said they would not vote to remove Johnson if Republicans intended to throw him overboard over the Ukraine vote.
“You need to prove that this chaotic caucus is not as powerful as they think,” Suozzi told The Daily Beast. “We cannot allow them to punish him for doing the right thing.”
Top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee—Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA)—also shown The Democrats will have Johnson's support.
Former Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said after the vote that “no one should punish the speaker for doing the right thing.”
“The right thing is what 350 people voted for – give or take,” he said. “But I think it's a very positive day for our country, a positive day for the House of Representatives and certainly a great day for Ukraine.”
As Democrats line up to defend the speaker, Johnson is, in effect, ceding power to Jeffries. That has always been part of the calculus of other embattled Republican speakers; if you rely on Democratic votes to protect your right to speak, then you are effectively no longer a Republican speaker.
That may make Johnson's position untenable — especially in the long run — but for now, there are Republicans rallying around him.
Former speaker candidate Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA) told The Daily Beast that if Johnson relies on Democrats to maintain power, so be it.
“There's no one in the Republican convention today who couldn't get 100 percent of the vote from the Republican convention,” Scott said. “And if they remove him, by definition they give the Democratic Party control over who the next Speaker of the House is.”
Other GOP members are holding out hope that Johnson's right wing hates him less than the eight Republican rebels who ousted McCarthy.
“I think they don't trust him as much as they did with McCarthy,” Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) told The Daily Beast. “But he tends to adapt and get on with it.”
For now, the motion to vacate the seat weighs heavily on Johnson, and it's unclear how many Republicans would support an effort to remove him — or how many Democrats would save him.
It's entirely possible that the actual numbers mean a lot. Johnson could preserve some key elements if some Democrats — or perhaps all Democrats — simply voted to remove him. That way, no Democrats would actually have to vote for Johnson, and it would be unclear whether his detractors could actually get rid of him.
But either way, in that scenario, the message would be the same: Johnson is speaker for Democrats. And it's unlikely that Democrats—or Republicans—will forget that.
