When Mike Johnson bucked fellow hardline right-wing members of Congress last week and passed a spending bill that averted a federal government shut down, there was a ray of hope the Louisiana Republican — for all his flaws — had the potential to be a capable U.S. speaker of the House.
Then, Johnson reminded us of his true colors this week by traveling down to Florida for a private meeting with former President Donald Trump.
It’s not yet known what the men discussed. Johnson is a longtime Trump supporter who was a prime mover behind a 2020 GOP amicus brief supporting a Texas lawsuit that sought to invalidate election results in states won by President Joe Biden.
But if there’s anyone a purportedly serious and newly installed House speaker should avoid, it’s a disgraced, coup-plotter of an ex president who is staring down 91 felony counts in four different state and federal courts.
Johnson, who rose to become speaker only last month, made his trip to Mar-a-Lago on Monday where he attended a fundraiser for another Trump-friendly congressman.
Instead of paying fealty to Trump, Johnson should have been taking a victory lap, reminding the public the GOP controlled House passed a stopgap spending bill that allows the federal government to operate into early next year.
But he couldn’t. That’s because Johnson had to work with congressional Democrats to pass the deal — angering his far right GOP colleagues, many of whom are Trump supporters.
This could have been an early, defining moment in Johnson’s speakership, with the lawmaker using the bill’s passage to stand up for the need of political bipartisanship that keeps government moving and benefits Americans.
But Johnson’s trip — on top of his full-throated endorsement of a Trump candidacy in 2024 — shows passing the much-needed government funding bill is a probable outlier in his tenure as speaker.
And that what we’re in danger of getting is a speakership that seeks to retain power by appeasing the right wing — something his predecessor Kevin McCarthy failed to do — while helping set the stage for a Trump return to the White House.
This is shameful. At this critical time, the country needs stable, smart leadership in the speaker’s chair, not an opportunist who sees playing footsie with Trump as part of his job description.
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