The Peanut Gallery: House Speaker Mike Johnson Concocts New Plan to Delay Ukrainian Aid - Attempts to Split Bill
April 16, 2024
Welcome to the Peanut Gallery! Today we discuss traitors and tyrants.
Please remember that I know nothing.
House Speaker Mike Johnson’s job is in serious jeopardy as two far-right lawmakers are threatening to oust him after the embattled Republican leader proposed a complex plan intended to fund key foreign allies during wartime.
Johnson (La.) introduced a four-part proposal Monday night to decouple aid for Israel, which faced a barrage of missiles and drones from Iran over the weekend, and help for Ukraine in its fight against Russia, along with two other measures. But his angry right flank — which has for weeks threatened to wrest Johnson’s gavel — escalated its attacks Tuesday morning, also vowing to sink a procedural measure needed to consider his plan.
No, Mike Johnson—the time for discussion was four months ago when this whole nonsense began, when the Democrats agreed to the border compromise. We can’t reopen negotiation halfway through fucking April just because the GOP’s caucus is falling apart!
Deep breath.
Here’s the problem: a significant portion of the GOP has been compromised by the Kremlin. Either through kompromat, or bribes, or threats—they don’t work for America anymore. They work for Putin. Putin does not want Ukraine to receive funding, so he’s pulling every lever at his disposal to freeze the American political system. The United States is under attack.
That’s the bad news.
The good news is that Putin's been unsustainably brazen with his efforts. The Freedom Caucus’ sudden and illogical about-face on the border compromise (after literal months of negotiation) destroyed the Republican majority in the House. Their continued dithering and complete inability to govern will soon cost them the 2024 Election. And no amount of wailing and flailing will keep Trump’s Depends-wearing ass out of an orange jumpsuit.
Many Republicans left Tuesday’s meeting frustrated that their colleagues are once again pushing to derail the legislative process and that they may have to rely on the minority party to govern. Republicans are privately griping about what it means to be a conservative lawmaker under such circumstances — and the dysfunction has made some so angry that more members are privately telling colleagues they may retire.
On Friday the GOP’s two-seat advantage will shrink to one when Congressman Mike Galagher...retires? Resigns? The dude’s forty so pick the verb you like best. Either way it means the Democrats are but a single heartbeat away from restoring sanity to American governance.
The GOP’s “majority” in the House of Representatives is a majority in name only. The only frayed rubber band holding their caucus together is the indignity of losing control of a branch of government in an election year. That’s it. That’s all there is to it. Nobody wants to be the first to pronounce the Grand Old Party as dead as the Whigs. It’s going to happen, though. If not this year then after the November election.
Their discord leaves Mike Johnson in a difficult position, one where he’s facing two extremely unpleasant options:
Johnson maintains his obstinate obstruction of American interests, ensuring the continued death of Ukrainians and Israelis alike...and possibly catapulting us into a war with China over Taiwan.
Johnson brings the Ukrainian aid bill to the floor, thereby triggering a recall from the Freedom Caucus...because...well, their sole purpose of existence is to prevent that from happening. Big Daddy Putin will show the world all their naughty deeds if they fail. For them this battle is existential.
The first option isn’t even sustainable in a fantasy. The sane branch of his party threatens to sign the discharge petition. If he continues to dither many of them will, and once that happens it means the death of the GOP and the end of his Speakership. (Where’s your Divine Mandate now, asshole?) Republican unity is like cast iron, hard yet brittle.
The second option is also intolerable because it will expose the GOP’s dysfunction for all the world to see. It will take this fight—the fight currently happening in back rooms and conference calls—into the public space. And like Pandora’s Box, once opened there'll be no closing it. The battle will carry on through the summer and into the November election.
During a weekly Republican meeting Tuesday morning, Rep. Thomas Massie (Ky.) upped the ante when he stood and called on Johnson to resign after announcing that he had signed on to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s plan to depose him, known as a motion to vacate.
Johnson clearly hopes to create a third option by chopping the bill into pieces. Doing so enables vicious back-and-forth with the Senate, along with plenty of opportunities for delays, and removes the mutually supporting (yet controversial) provisions (like Israel funding). It’s all sorts of bad and it has no purpose beyond dragging this out.
Fortunately, the Democrats don’t appear willing to humor his little attempt at self-preservation.
Democrats have signaled they will help pass the procedural motion needed to consider the foreign aid bills, but only if those measures are identical to the Senate-approved package. They’ve expressed similar sentiments about saving Johnson’s job if he moves a robust foreign aid bill. But the situation is extremely fluid, and anything could happen.
Bit-by-bit the Dems whittle Johnson’s options down—this is what political pressure looks like, folks. It ain’t pleasant.
To be honest, I have no idea how this whole thing is going will turn out, but I have faith in America’s institutions. This argument? This fight we have now? It’s not about the money. America stands on a precipice, one where our nation must decide whether we will continue as a democracy, or fold to tyranny. It’s a decision we’ve contemplated countless times before...and each time we chose Liberty. We chose freedom. America will do so again.
Ukrainian officials continue to warn that Russian forces are systematically and increasingly using chemical weapons and other likely-banned chemical substances in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Support Forces Command stated on April 5 that Ukrainian forces have recorded 371 cases of Russian forces using munitions containing chemical substances during the last month and 1,412 cases of Russian forces using chemical weapons between February 2023 and March 2024.
Please give Ukraine what they need to bring this war to an end.
‘Q’ for the Community:
How do you think this obstruction in the US House of Representatives will resolve? Will America send Ukraine the weapons she needs to survive?
Curiosity sparks revolution. Join us as we rant and rave and learn together. By subscribing, you're not just staying informed — you're choosing to join a conversation. Share this article, talk about it. Let's change the world.