And in doing so, at least for now, it will restore what Republicans once believed about America’s important place in the world.
The hardest part was that Kiev desperately needed $60 billion as it struggled to fend off a Russian invasion. As Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D.Y.) said on the House floor, “traditional conservatives, led by Speaker Mike Johnson, rose to the occasion.” Immediately after the overwhelming bipartisan vote, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy also singled out the speaker, writing on his Telegram channel: Take the right path. ”
All this praise may seem excessive, given that the essence of the Speaker’s role is to enable the House to exercise its collective will. But doing the right or normal thing is not the Republican Party these days under President Donald Trump. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who, like other far-right politicians, parrots Kremlin propaganda, has already filed a “motion to remove” from Johnson if she demands a vote. There is a possibility that he may be removed from his position.
“If I had acted out of fear of an eviction complaint, I never would have been able to do my job. You see, history will judge what we do. This is a very important time. ,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson told reporters last week. “I could make a selfish decision and do something different, but I am doing what I believe is right here. I think it’s very important.”
He noted that what persuaded him was that Mr Johnson “really believes in the information and the briefings that we have received.” That in itself is heresy in the Republican Party these days, given how much President Trump has discredited the “deep state.” ”
Amid this situation, some Democrats see signs of hope in Johnson’s leadership. “What we are dealing with, and it is, is sabotage by a small number of people who have taken the facility hostage,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee. State) told me on Saturday. “At some level, you have to believe that the Speaker has made the decision that he is not going to be held hostage by these people.”
When he was plucked from obscurity to become speaker last fall, after 21 days of chaos in which his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, was ousted and a small right-wing group used leverage to deny the office to three people, Mr. Expectations couldn’t have been this low. Top leaders sought to replace McCarthy.
Mr. Johnson’s presence was partly known because of his collaboration with Mr. Trump in opposing the certification of the 2020 election results. Nor have there been any moves by Prime Minister Johnson since taking the gavel that have inspired confidence. These include blocking a border security deal that President Trump opposed and pursuing the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on the flimsiest of grounds. Less than two weeks later, Mr. Johnson appeared with Mr. Trump at an event promoting unnecessary conspiracy theory-based measures that would require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections, and in the ring at Mar-a-Lago. They were kissing.
But all of this reflects in no small part the extent of the difficulties Mr. Johnson faces in leading a nominal Republican majority, measures that have shrunk to the point where he only needs to lose one vote to win on the partisan ticket. .
Initial efforts to return House operations to at least some normalcy have not received much attention. “He accomplished something that many people thought was impossible,” Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Florida) told me about how Johnson cleared the logjam on the spending bill. He spoke of how he had fought back and found his way to complicated agreements to keep the government functioning. The party’s hardliners passed the annual National Defense Authorization Act and just last week won the reauthorization of government surveillance programs over far-right opposition.
It’s worth noting that all of this required votes from Democrats. And if Mr. Greene decides to follow through on her threats, Mr. Johnson will no doubt need some of them to protect his job. There have been, and undoubtedly will continue to be, many issues on which Democrats disagree with Mr. Johnson. But I think this accidental Speaker has seized the opportunity to show how far he can go to restore order to the House.
