Massie's Move To Fire Speaker Mike Johnson Is About More Than Ukraine Spending

The clock might be ticking on Speaker of the House Mike Johnson's (R–La.) tenure.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R–Ky.) announced Tuesday that he would support Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's (R–Ga.) attempt to unseat Johnson, meaning that her motion to vacate the speakership could move to the House floor at any time in the coming days. In a post on X, Massie advised Johnson to announce his resignation in order to avoid a messy battle over picking a replacement—like the one that left the House in limbo for weeks last year after Kevin McCarthy was fired from the top job.

In a subsequent post, Massie clarified that his decision to support Johnson's ouster was not due to any single issue. "This camel has a pallet of bricks," he wrote.

Greene initially filed her motion to vacate the speakership last month after the House approved a $1.2 trillion spending bill to avoid a government shutdown. In recent days, Johnson has faced more criticism from his own party after the House narrowly voted down an amendment that would have required law enforcement agencies to seek warrants before using the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Section 702 database to spy on Americans' electronic communications. He's also facing opposition over plans to have the House vote this week on a $95 billion package that would send military aid to Ukraine and Israel.

In remarks to Reason last year, Massie predicted that whoever replaced McCarthy (whose ouster Massie did not support) would likely steer the House in a direction he did not like. "We're going to get the Schumer-McConnell special," he said at the time, predicting that a divided House would leave Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D–N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R–Ky.) with the upper hand on key policy clashes.

On Tuesday, Massie reiterated that concern. "We are steering everything toward what Chuck Schumer wants," he said. "If the country likes Chuck Schumer, then the country should like what Speaker Johnson has accomplished in the House."

Johnson has refused to resign."It is, in my view an absurd notion that someone would bring a vacate motion. We're simply here trying to do our job. It is not helpful," Johnson said during a press conference Tuesday.

It's not clear that growing Republican discontent with Johnson will be enough to give him the boot, however. Democrats voted unanimously to oust McCarthy last year, but there are indications that at least some would be willing to save Johnson. Rep. Tom Suozzi (D–N.Y.) penned an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal this week urging his fellow Democrats to "support Speaker Johnson" in order to keep military assistance flowing to Ukraine.

What is becoming more clear is the House isn't really operating like a two-party legislature at the moment. Johnson is, effectively, leading an unofficial coalition government that includes the bulk of the nominal Republican caucus and a sizable chunk of the centrist Democrats, a group that includes Suozzi (who won a longtime Republican district in a special election earlier this year). The coalition nature of the House also explains recent votes on the budget package and the FISA reauthorization, both of which passed with a mix of Republican and Democratic votes. A similar outcome would be expected if the Ukraine and Israel military aid bills make it to the floor this week.

The House's "governing majority (the Democrats plus Republicans who vote to pass the spending bills) continues to diverge from the procedural majority (the narrow Republican majority that selected the speaker)," is how a trio of political scientists explained the dynamic in a piece for Politico earlier this month.

If Greene, Massie, and their allies move to oust Johnson this week, it will be a test of the strength of the unofficial coalition that now governs the chamber. This is a fight over the House leadership and the fate of the military aid to Ukraine and Israel, but it's really the next phase in an ongoing struggle to determine how Congress will operate in an era when political parties have been weakened and electoral majorities are slim.

Thomas Massie Asks Speaker Johnson to Resign – Massie Announces He’ll Support MTG Effort to Oust Johnson

April 17, 2024 | Sundance | 21 Comments

At a certain point after following politics closely, you move away from reacting to events and begin to focus on proactively predicting events. You start to develop a mental tuning fork that finds the frequency of DC compromise. In essence, you begin to assemble data and take notes on visible activity that indicates compromise.

Those notes then becomes predictive data and you keep it visible for later reference when trying to review motives and motivations for the DC schemes. Generally, if you keep close watch and take good notes, you will catch around 80% of the public datapoints that highlight the path of the political compromise. Things that make other things make sense.

The origin of MTG’s dark motives and her individual compromise originates in the timeline of her marital breakup, sexual exploits with former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and eventually divorce. MTG, Lauren Boebert and Sean Hannity all have this origination timeline in common. I’m not sure what originates the Deep State compromise with Massie yet, when that initial touch took place, but I do know it goes back much further in the timeline of his congressional tenure.

Thomas Massie now joins with MTG in calling for the removal of Speaker Mike Johnson.

Let there be absolutely no doubt, removing Johnson right now is giving the speaker gavel to Democrats. This Machiavellian way to remove Donald Trump has always appeared to be the Deep State insurance policy.

When the U.S. Supreme Court reinstituted Donald Trump on the federal election ballots of the five leftist states who removed him, the high court noted that disqualifying a person from presidential office could only be done by congress, not by the individual states.

If the Democrats take control of the House, disqualifying Donald Trump from federal office will be the purpose of their first legislative act. They already hold the Senate. They will do this. Thomas Massie knows this.

So, ask yourself, who exactly is controlling the action of Thomas Massie; remember, he’s the former endorser of Ron DeSantis on behalf of the Sea Island multinationals (banks). Does the question answer itself?

Accept things as they are, not as you would prefer them to be.

When we *think* we have found the bottom of the corrupt and conniving state within the DC system… Pause, have a nice cup of coffee, then remind ourselves we’ll never find the bottom of this level of corruption; it’s ‘effen bottomless.

AHEM… Gnome’ sayin?

WASHINGTON DC – […] Massie’s decision was not well received during the meeting, according to several members in the room. And Republicans across the conference, including some members of the Freedom Caucus, quickly pushed back on the idea of booting Johnson, noting it would spark chaos without a clear successor — a repeat of the House’s nightmare in October.
[…] Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said after Tuesday’s conference meeting that he still thinks they can avoid a vote to terminate Johnson’s speakership. But one GOP lawmaker, granted anonymity to speak candidly, was less optimistic: “Folks are very discouraged. … We are screwed.”
The simmering rebellion isn’t a total surprise after Johnson on Monday evening announced his plans to send four separate bills to the floor — on aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, plus a fourth with other miscellaneous provisions. That sparked pushback from Greene and some other conservatives, who have long opposed attempts to send further cash to Ukraine. And that opposition to Johnson could grow as the week goes on.
His first major hurdle on that package will be getting it through the Rules Committee, where hardliners of his conference hold three GOP seats. But he’s expected to succeed there; while conservatives could block the bill if they unite with Democrats on the panel, Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) said on Tuesday that he will vote for the rule, which sets the parameters of the House’s floor debate, in committee.
But it gets tougher from there. To even bring the package up on the floor, Johnson will need a majority of the House. And given conservative opposition he’s almost certainly going to need Democratic support. Typically, the minority party does not help on so-called rule votes, but some have signaled they’d make an exception for Ukraine aid. (read more)

If Johnson caves on giving the Left everything they want, what difference will it make?
***********
The difference is that FISA and Ukraine aren’t the only issues that matter to patriotic, anti-communist, heterosexual Americans.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The thing is, there is a vast MAJORITY of Republicans in Congress willing to help our allies Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan from the Islamo-NeoSoviet-Commie-Alliance’s agressions, invasions and annexations. That hideous alliance is composed of IRAN/Hamas-Russia-Belarus-North Korea-China. Historically speaking, they are not exactly our friends... right?

Aren’t we supposed as “white, heterosexual Americans and Westerners” to act against Communism, Neo-Sovietism and radical Islam?? Trump did that! thank God!

Trump decided to end Obama’s Anti-Ukraine policies which only sent pillows and blankets to Ukraine. Remember?

Trump initiated the whole process of shipping large quantities of high-tech US weapons to Ukraine. He imposed massive sanctions on Russia, expelled 60 Russian diplomats from America, gave the orders to massacre 300 Russian soldiers in Syria... and the list goes on and on...

Trump proved that he was the one having the will to Make Russia Lose Again.

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Thomas Massie Asks Speaker Johnson to Resign – Massie Announces He’ll Support MTG Effort to Oust Johnson

April 17, 2024 | Sundance | 21 Comments

*AHEM*… Gnome’ sayin?

AHEM… Gnome’ sayin?