The praise that Speaker Mike Johnson received in recent days for finally bucking his party’s right wing and allowing a Ukraine aid bill to pass in the House may have seemed a little overblown.
After all, a speaker’s entire job is to get legislation through the House, and as Saturday’s vote to pass the bill showed, the Ukraine measure received overwhelming support. But Mr. Johnson’s performance was not so different from that of another embattled Republican who faced a difficult decision under enormous pressure from far-right Republicans and was hailed as a hero for simply doing his job: former Vice President Mike Pence.
When Mr. Pence refused to heed former President Donald J. Trump’s demands to throw out the 2020 election results while presiding over Congress’ counting of electoral votes on January 6, 2021 – even as angry mobs with baseball bats and pepper spray marched in invaded the Capitol and chanted “Hang Mike Pence” – the normally unremarkable act of carrying out the duties of a vice president’s job description was hailed as courageous.
Mr. Pence and now Mr. Johnson represent the most prominent examples of a harsh political reality: In today’s Republican Party, taken over by Mr. Trump, taking the norm-preserving, consensus-driven path can incur the wrath of your voters and mean the end of your political career .
Mr. Johnson and Mr. Pence, both soft-spoken, fiercely conservative evangelical Christians who have put their faith at the center of their politics, occupy a similar place in their party. They have both undergone contortions to accommodate Mr. Trump and the forces he has unleashed in their party, which in turn are ultimately after them. Mr. Pence spent four years dutifully serving the former president and defending his every word and deed. Mr. Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, played a leading role in trying to overturn the election results on Mr. Trump’s behalf.
But at two critical moments, when they faced intense, sometimes violent pressure within their party, both chose a more difficult path.
Mr Johnson faces a growing movement on his right aimed at ousting him from his job. Even after he stood by Trump at Mar-a-Lago and appeared to have his support, top surrogates for the former president, including his son Donald Trump Jr. and one of the leading contenders for vice president, Sen. JD Vance from Ohio, have reprimanded him over the decision to move forward with the security package.
“He has not met the moment, and Mike Johnson must go, as must Kevin McCarthy,” Stephen K. Bannon, the former Trump adviser and host of the influential right-wing War Room podcast, told Mr. Mr. at a conservative retreat in Florida on Friday . Johnson’s predecessor as speaker.
Because of his hard break with Mr. Trump, Mr. Pence’s short-lived presidential campaign struggled to raise money and never gained traction in the polls, which were dominated by the former president from the start.
On social media this week, Mr. Pence called on Democrats and Republicans alike to “rally around Speaker Johnson.” Unsurprisingly, his post was besieged by commentators who called both Republicans “traitors”; One said it was an example of “Judas supporting another Judas.”
Mr. Pence has privately encouraged Mr. Johnson in recent weeks as he confronted growing discontent from the far right.
“I think they are both courageous,” said Marc Short, Mr. Pence’s former chief of staff, arguing that their Christian faith gave both men support in difficult moments.
Sarah Longwell, a prominent anti-Trump Republican politician, said it was remarkable when Republicans in Washington “do the right thing, and they deserve credit for defying the forces within their own party.” She added that “there still needs to be a robust apparatus to encourage people to do the right thing and maintain that expectation.”
On Saturday morning, some members of the House of Representatives tried to do just that. Representative Mario Diaz-Balart, Republican of Florida, praised Mr. Johnson’s “strength” to move forward even “in the face of formidable obstacles.” He called the simple step of submitting a security package to the House of Representatives with broad, bipartisan support a “testament to his character.” On Friday, a group of about 70 former congressmen, foreign policy experts and other Ukraine aid advocates sent a letter to Mr. Johnson to support his efforts.
“We are grateful for your courageous leadership,” wrote the group, led by the Ukraine Freedom Project. “Your demand that America return to being a country that defends freedom and opposes tyranny is a signal for our times.”
Even Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, praised Mr Johnson within minutes of the bill’s passage. “I am grateful to the United States House of Representatives, both parties and personally to Speaker Mike Johnson for the decision that sets history on the right track,” he wrote on social media.
Not everyone was eager to heap on the praise.
“I’m so glad that Republicans are finally recognizing the gravity of the situation and the urgency with which we must act,” Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Rules Committee, said Friday as the House neared the vote stood to clear the way for the bill. “But you don’t get any awards here for doing your damn job.”
At a news conference later in the day, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the minority leader, refused to give Mr. Johnson any credit, despite repeated pressure to assess the speaker’s performance and weigh whether Democrats are contributing would save his speakership.
“As much as I would like to believe that the American people care about what I have to say about my colleagues’ job performance, I don’t believe that is the case,” Jeffries said. “What the American people care about right now is meeting their needs in a very dangerous world, standing with our democratic allies. This will be the ultimate test by which Speaker Johnson, I and all of our colleagues in the House of Representatives on both sides of the aisle will be judged.”
Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former top adviser to the Trump administration, was lukewarm at best in her praise for Mr. Johnson, who she said hesitated for months before moving forward with aid to Ukraine even though it was clear there was a large majority There was consensus that help was crucial.
“It’s remarkable that this is seen as a brave or heroic move – simply bringing a bill to the House for a vote that has bipartisan support,” she said. “During the time that Johnson was dithering over whether or not to even allow a vote on this, Ukraine was losing ground and Ukrainians were being killed by Russians.”
Last week, Mr. Johnson told reporters at the Capitol that “history judges us by what we do,” adding: “I could make a selfish decision and do something different, but I’m doing what I think is right here.” hold.” thing.”
Even after his impassioned comments, he hesitated to release the text of the bill, leading Democrats to worry that his indecision and desire to appeal to the far right would prevail again.
On Saturday, some of them verbally shrugged their shoulders at Mr. Johnson’s plight, arguing it was the brutal reality of what he had gotten himself into when he threw his hat into the ring for the thankless job of Republican speaker.
“He didn’t volunteer for an easy job,” said Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, Democrat of Maryland. “And he knew exactly what context he was operating in.”
Carl Hulse contributed reporting.
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2024-04-20 21:49:29
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