And by doing so, to reclaim — at least for this moment — what Republicans once believed about America’s essential place in the world.
The hardest part was the badly needed $60 billion for Kyiv, which is struggling to fend off Russia’s invasion. As Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) put it on the House floor: “Traditional conservatives, led by Speaker Mike Johnson, have risen to the occasion.” After the overwhelmingly bipartisan vote, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also singled out the speaker, writing on social media: “I am grateful to the United States House of Representatives, both parties, and personally Speaker Mike Johnson for the decision that keeps history on the right track.”
All of this praise might seem excessive, given that allowing the House to work its collective will is the essence of a speaker’s role. But doing what’s right, or even normal, is not how the Republican Party, locked in the grip of Donald Trump, rolls these days. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) — who, like others on the far right, parrots Kremlin propaganda — has already filed a “motion to vacate” that could remove Johnson from the job if she calls for a vote on it.
“If I operated out of fear over motion to vacate, I would never be able to do my job. Look, history judges us for what we do. This is a critical time right now,” Johnson told reporters last week. “I can make a selfish decision and do something that is different, but I’m doing here what I believe to be the right thing. I think providing aid to Ukraine right now is critically important.”
What convinced him, Johnson noted, was “I really do believe the intel and the briefings that we’ve gotten” — something that in itself is heresy these days in the GOP, given how Trump has savaged the credibility of the “deep state.”
In all of this, some Democrats see hopeful signs in Johnson’s leadership. “What we get caught up in, and it’s a reality, is the obstruction of a small group of people who take the institution hostage,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, told me Saturday. “I have to believe, at some level, the speaker made the decision he was not going to be held hostage by these people.”
Expectations could hardly have been lower for Johnson when he was plucked from obscurity last fall to become speaker after 21 days of chaos in which his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, had been cast out and a handful of right-wingers used their leverage to deny the job to three top leaders who sought to replace McCarthy.
To the degree that Johnson was known at all, it was for his alignment with Trump in his efforts to oppose the certification of the 2020 election results. Nor have some of Johnson’s moves since taking the gavel inspired confidence — among them, smothering a border security deal that Trump opposed and pursuing the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on the flimsiest of grounds. Less than two weeks ago, Johnson was kissing the ring at Mar-a-Lago, appearing with Trump at an event to promote an unnecessary, conspiracy-theory-driven measure to require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections.
All of this, however, reflected in no small measure the degree of difficulty Johnson faces in leading what is a GOP majority in name only, shrunken to the point where the speaker can afford to lose no more than one vote to prevail on party-line measures.
Less noticed have been some early moves to restore at least a semblance of normalcy to how the House operates. “He has done what many thought was impossible,” Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) told me. He ticked off how Johnson has gotten appropriations bills unstuck, found his way to a complicated deal to keep the government open, defied his party’s hard-liners to pass the annual National Defense Authorization Act and, earlier this month, overcame far-right objections to win reauthorization of a government surveillance program.
All of this, it should be noted, has required votes from Democrats. And if Greene decides to follow through on her threat, Johnson will no doubt need a few of them to save his job. There have been, and no doubt will be, many more matters on which Democrats disagree with Johnson. But I think this accidental speaker has earned a chance to show how far he can go to bring back order to the House.
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