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Who Says Johnson Is a Novice?
One of the main concerns about Mike Johnson (I shared it too) was that he was too inexperienced to be speaker. He has only been a representative for six years and has never even chaired a committee.
But today he unveiled a masterpiece – $14 billion in aid for Israel paid for by cutting IRS funding the same amount. He separated aid to Israel off from that ginormous, $106-billion swamp bill that would provide aid to Israel, Hamasistan, Ukraine, and Taiwan and supposedly secure the southern border, which is just good policy. Instead of dumping everything in one pot, you make much better decisions if each thing is voted on separately.
If you vote against Mike Johnson’s bill, you tag yourself as an anti-Semite (Rashida, we’re looking at you). And you side with more audits for ordinary Americans.
He is swimming in a pool full of sharks, but today he made one sure-footed movie.
Published in Foreign Policy
I wonder how many Democrats won’t vote for this (in addition to the 15 who refused to vote for the resolution in support of Israel in the wake of the 10/7 massacres citing the cuts to IRS funding? I support the bill, but it also gives the pro-Hamas caucus an excuse for their no vote.
I’m sure most Democrats will vote against it. But pairing the aid to Israel with cuts to the IRS is great politics, as well as good policy. But some Jewish Dems and those who have large pro-Israel constituencies will vote for it. And some Dems in purple districts will hesitate to vote against it because their constituents don’t like the IRS.
In the end, it might only be 5-10 Dems who will vote for the bill, but most of them will have heartburn because of the position that Johnson put them, even if they do vote against it. A lot of politics is about forcing your opponents to play defense instead of letting them do it to you. When you can pair that with good policy, you’ve got a winner.
He probably has more worthwhile experience than some Presidents.
Definitely has more functioning brain cells.
I enjoyed the response I saw to concerns about Rep. Johnson’s lack of experience reminding us that Joe Biden has over 50 years of experience in government, and look where that’s gotten us.
Including the present one. The key is “worthwhile experience.”
I didn’t know who he was until he won the Speakership. Since then his comms director has been filing my email box and texts. His tenure – 6 years – is about right for someone of his age to learn the ropes and cement constructive relationships. Either he was the requisite cat-herding and political warfare skills, or he doesn’t. His first moves and the teeth-gnashing and bizarre accusations of the Donkeys suggest he does. He also presents as a stable, moderate, “nice” guy. A good trait for us. Don’t scare the horses while quietly pushing the Caucus to the right path. He’s moving very sure-footedly now. I hope he continues and McCarthy is an aid, not a barrier. I’m still angry with all those who precipitated this mess, and continue to loath Gaetz. I don’t buy the self-serving arguments this was a “fight we needed to have now”. It wasn’t, and the outcome is not of precipitators’ doing. However, it happened, the process was unnecessarily messy, but the outcome is hopeful.
I pretty much agrre with you here, though I don’t dislike Gaetz as much as you do. I definately view him with a skeptical eye but agree that the ‘outcome is hopeful’. I found it interesting that no one has refuted his narrative on McCarthy sandbagging the various speaker candidates (with the plan being him voted back in) when he was on with Steve Bannon (another operator I view suspiciously).
This move of Johnson’s of the Israel funding is shrewd – seems to change the dynamic of having to pick off the votes on our side to having them, make that decision. Get the Democrats and the Uniparty on record, out in the open.
When you only control 1 chamber the key is to make the opposition take tough votes. This is something I think the Republicans should have been doing all along. Glad to see Johnson is adopting this policy.
“But today he unveiled a masterpiece – $14 billion in aid for Israel paid for by cutting IRS funding the same amount. He separated aid to Israel off from that ginormous, $106-billion swamp bill that would provide aid to Israel, Hamasistan, Ukraine, and Taiwan and supposedly secure the southern border, which is just good policy.
Absolutely spot-on! My great wish is to defund nebulous, not to mention menacing governmental bureaucracies and enemy states and use our tax dollars to 1) defend ourselves aka the military and its remarkable technology, and 2) provide foreign aid to allies such as Israel and Taiwan.
History has proven that financial (or any kind) of appeasement never works and consistently threatens our best interests. We can’t be all things to all people (hence the $33 trillion dollar debt) so let’s streamline our priorities.
It has to be now. There is no more time. Never thought I’d be quoting James Carville (!) but he was correct in observing “This is only the second inning, folks.”
Hello Lizzard.
Here you are again.
And while you still are (not for long I bet) I’ll take the opportunity to wonder why it is, once again, that those who hate this place and the people who post here so much (I can quote you, chapter, line and verse, on at least three other sites when it comes to the nasty things you’ve said about us) cannot stop trying to get back on. In Ricochet’s case, dozens of times.
And yet:
Here I still am.
Happy trails. Love to ST. (Remember him?)
The current state of the world, is the result of experienced politicians and expert bureaucrats.
Lets give a novice a try out.
You know the old saying “The Ark was built by a Novice (sometimes hobbyist) and the Titanic by experts” This was a huge part of the appeal of Donald Trump.
We’ll see how determined they are. Wouldn’t be the first time a bold move was followed by a hasty collapse.
Are you talking about the release of the J6 tapes?