totally lost

Mike Johnson suffers his biggest embarrassment yet as his speakership implodes in real time

Mike Johnson

It didn’t take very long for Mike Johnson’s speakership to reach dumpster fire status, with the gay-hating lawmaker angering his far-right cohorts when he struck up a budget agreement with Democrats.

For a possible makeup call, Johnson pursued the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas… only for the vote to fail Tuesday.

Instead of experiencing a political triumph, Johnson was embarrassed. His fellow Republicans did not applaud him for his effort.

“We need to know exactly where we are and we need to be careful not to get out ahead of our skis and put something on the floor that we don’t have certainty on,” Rep. Steve Womack of Arkansas told reporters.

“We behave sometimes like we’re in the minority,” he said.

Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, one of Johnson’s Freedom Caucus antagonizers, wasn’t very kind, either.

“I would have thought that would have been basic,” he added. “They’re good on the other side of knowing that … Is it that hard?”

With a razor thin majority, Johnson couldn’t afford to lose more than two votes. Three Republicans joined Democrats in voting against the resolution, while an additional GOP rep. voted “no” to allow the House to bring up the vote again.

It was a humiliating defeat for the Speaker, who possesses full control over the resolutions introduced on the House floor.

…Or does he?

Marjorie Taylor Greene was leading the charge, and took credit for the disastrous proceedings.

“Absolutely this is happening because I forced that floor vote,” she proudly told reporters.

The chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee, didn’t cover himself in glory, either. Despite not bringing up any reputable charges against Mayorkas, he pursued the inquiry, anyway.

Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse of Colorado exposed Green’s blatant political posturing, reading back to him an op-ed he penned in 2019 against the first impeachment of Donald Trump. In it, Green argues “a lot of bipartisan legislation that enjoys support sits gathering dust while Congress focuses on the impeachment inquiry.”

Five years later, the biggest piece of bipartisan legislation gathering dust is the Senate’s border deal package, which Johnson refuses to bring up… because Donald Trump wants to campaign on immigration.

Green’s actions during the proceedings weren’t very reputable, either. He called Mayorkas a “reptile,” an antisemitic trope.

Mayorkas is the child of a Holocaust survivor, as he informed Josh Hawley last year, when the quick-footed senator insinuated his department condones antisemitism among its rank and file.

Hawley’s smear against Mayorkas was part of an apparent GOP push to make it appear as if the Biden Administration isn’t behind Israel in its war against Hamas. Speaking of Israel, Johnson also brought up a separate resolution Tuesday night that would’ve sent $17.6 billion in aid to Israel with no strings attached.

That vote failed as well.

Prior to these embarrassments, Johnson seldom shied away from interviews. But the Speaker has been more difficult to catch these days.

As the New York Times notes, he’s always on his cell phone in the Capitol corridors! But in Johnson’s defense, maybe he’s phoning a friend?

It’s clear the embattled speaker needs some help.

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