Tag: Mike Johnson

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Congress GOP Healthcare

Mike Johnson: Republicans Have No ‘Intention’ Of Cutting Medicare, ‘But…’

Throughout the 2024 election season, Donald Trump and his Republican allies repeatedly promised they would protect and secure both Medicare and Social Security and not make a single cut to either program.

That, however, was then, and now that the GOP has won control of both the White House and Congress, it’s clear that they have every intention of taking a meat cleaver to social programs so they can give another round of tax cuts to rich douchebags like Elon Musk.

How do we know that Republicans are going to cut the two programs? All you have to do is listen to what Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) said at a press conference today.

CNN correspondent Manu Raju asked Johnson what the GOP had planned for the two entitlement programs.

“Look, the president has made very clear, Social Security and Medicare have to be preserved,” Johnson replied. “And we are not, no one is coming in with the intention of cutting benefits in any way or anything.”

Johnson quickly added, “But we have to look at all spending and look at it very deliberately while maintaining those commitments. The Republican Party is not going to cut benefits, okay? We’ve made that very clear over and over and over.”

“We do know, however, at the same time, there are many, many areas of fraud, waste and abuse.”

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Republican doublespeak, here’s what Johnson actually meant: We promised not to cut Medicare, but we lie about everything and we lied about that, too. Cuts are coming. You can count on it.

So don’t be the least bit surprised when the first GOP budget after Trump’s inauguration features cuts to food stamps, programs for seniors, and enormous tax cuts for the richest Americans, including greedy South African douchebags like Elon Musk, who personally bankrolled Trump’s victory to the tune of at least a quarter of a billion dollars.

Bend over, America! Republicans are about to screw all of us while saying it’s for our own good.

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Congress Donald Trump Elections GOP

Looming Battle Over Next House Speaker Could ‘Indefinitely’ Delay Certification Of 2024 Election

One of the first duties of any Congress after a presidential election is to formally certify the results and declare who will be the next president and vice president of the United States.

However, that normally routine procedure could be put on hold for weeks or even months if the House of Representatives cannot elect a new speaker when they return to Washington on Jan. 3.

According to a report from Newsweek, current Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) is facing an insurrection from hardline members of the GOP caucus, and that could seriously complicate matters when the lower chamber of Congress is supposed to certify the 2024 balloting three days later on Jan. 6.

Representative Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) told Fox News, “If we have some kind of protracted fight where we can’t elect a speaker—the speaker’s not elected; we’re not sworn in. And if we’re not sworn in, we can’t certify the election.”

And that concern was echoed by Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY).

“To ensure President Trump can take office and hit the ground running on January 20, we must be able to certify the 2024 election on January 6. However, without a speaker, we cannot complete this process,” Tenney fretted.

House Democrats are also not going to cross the aisle and try to save Johnson, according to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who told MSBC’s Jen Psaki, “There will be no Democrats available to save him or the extreme MAGA Republicans from themselves based on the breaching of a bipartisan agreement that reflected priorities that were good for the American people.”

What would happen in such a scenario? Joe Biden would remain as president until the House manages to elect a new speaker. And you can bet Trump will kick and scream in rage if his inauguration, which is scheduled for Jan. 20, is delayed for even a second.

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Congress GOP

Mike Johnson’s ‘Extremely Tenuous’ Speakership Is Coming To A Humiliating End

When the next Congress is sworn in on Jan. 3, 2025, one of the first things you can expect to see transpire is a vote to remove Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA).

On Thursday, Johnson watched as a bipartisan funding bill to keep the U.S. government running through the holidays went down in flames after both Donald Trump and Elon Musk signaled they didn’t want it to pass.

Mychael Schnell of The Hill explained Johnson’s precarious position as he tries to please members of the House GOP caucus and the Trump-Musk coalition, which appears to be a co-presidency, even though Musk wasn’t on the ballot.

“The fact that Mike Lee and, for example, Marjorie Taylor Greene also are floating other people for speaker, including Elon Musk, is a reflection of their discontent with speaker Johnson, and that’s the significant part here,” Schnell noted. “The House is going to gather in the chamber on Jan. 3 to select the next speaker of the House, and while Mike Johnson was unanimously nominated by his conference last month for the gavel, his grip on that looks extremely tenuous right now.”

“There’s at least one Republican, Tom Massie, who’s already saying he will not support Johnson on Jan. 3,” Schnell added. “I’ve spoken to a number of others who say they are uncertain, and they are very upset with how speaker Johnson is currently handling the spending deal. Talking about Marjorie Taylor Greene for a second, she was somebody who led the motion to vacate against Johnson earlier this year, then ultimately said she would support him. The fact that she is now floating somebody else shows how deep this discontent is with the Republican conference, and it is a worrying sign for Mike Johnson as he heads into the speaker vote next month.”

“I will note the whole conversation in the lead up to this spending fight was Republicans were saying, we are watching so closely to see how Mike Johnson handles this, this will determine if we can support him in January,” Schnell concluded “Right now, it’s not going well for him.”

While it’s certainly fun to watch Johnson get dealt a giant dose of karma, his imminent downfall raises a troubling question: Who will replace him? Might it be a hardcore MAGA maniac like Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) or some other right-wing extremist who is only too happy to do the bidding of both Musk and Trump? If so, we could be in for some very dark days ahead.

 

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Crime Donald Trump GOP

Liz Cheney Slam Dunks Mike Johnson After He Shows Up At Trump’s Hush Money Trial

Former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney (WY) couldn’t contain her disgust when it was reported that Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) would be in attendance today at failed former president Donald Trump’s New York hush money trial.

Earlier in the morning, The Hill reported that Johnson would indeed become the latest Republican to appear and offer moral support to Trump.

In a statement confirming Johnson’s appearance in Manhattan, the Speaker’s office called the hush money case “the sham prosecution of President Trump” and railed against “left-wing Manhattan district attorney” Alvin Bragg, who led the investigation into the former president.

On Monday, Sens. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) were at the Manhattan courthouse. Both spewed fact-free conspiracy theories about Trump’s prosecution for falsifying business records and illegally interfering in the 2016 election.

But having the current speaker show up was a bridge too much for Cheney, who lit into Johnson on Twitter.

Others on social media also joined in mocking Johnson.

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Congress Donald Trump Elections GOP Social Media

Mike Johnson Accidentally Trolls Himself And Trump With An Obsequious Online Photo

In a desperate and self-serving attempt to prove his devotion to failed one-term former president Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) posted a photo and message on President’s Day that quickly came back to bite him and the Donald right on their asses.

The posting was made on Twitter/X, which has become a haven for right-wing extremists since it was purchased by Elon Musk in 2022.

Be sure and notice that the photo Johnson shared features him with Trump and both of them are standing beneath an exit sign, which is appropriate when you consider that both of them need to be kicked to the curb in November.

The irony of Johnson’s photo wasn’t lost those who saw it.