Tag Archives: House Speaker Mike Johnson

A Sneak Peak

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, Election 2020, Election 2024, History, Political commentary

Liz Cheney has a book releasing Tuesday, the title of which is “Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning”.  I pre-ordered the book a few weeks ago and it will be delivered to my Kindle at midnight on Monday, and I will probably stay awake into the wee hours reading it, especially after reading Peter Baker’s column in the New York Times from a few days ago.  Mr. Baker, who is the chief White House correspondent for The Times and has covered the last five presidents, received an advance copy of Ms. Cheney’s book and I want to share with you his column highlighting some portions of the book.  I think you’ll agree there are some real jaw-droppers in here!

McCarthy Claimed Trump Was ‘Not Eating’ After Leaving Office, Cheney Says

In a new memoir, Liz Cheney wrote that Kevin McCarthy justified his trip to Mar-a-Lago by saying the former president was depressed after losing re-election.

By Peter Baker

29 November 2023

Former President Donald J. Trump was “really depressed” in the days after losing re-election and leaving office in January 2021, so much so that he was “not eating.”

At least that is what Kevin McCarthy told Liz Cheney in trying to explain why he had traveled to Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, an act of solidarity that many have identified as a pivotal moment in reviving the former president’s political viability.

Mr. McCarthy, the California congressman who was then the House Republican leader, had condemned Mr. Trump for fueling the Jan. 6 mob attack on the Capitol and even suggested that he resign, only to turn around and effectively absolve the former president by embracing him again. In her new book, Ms. Cheney, perhaps the country’s most vocal anti-Trump Republican, reports that Mr. McCarthy justified the Jan. 28 visit as an act of compassion for a beaten ally.

Ms. Cheney wrote that she was so shocked when she first saw the photograph of Mr. McCarthy and Mr. Trump standing side by side with grins on their faces that she thought it was a fake. “Not even Kevin McCarthy could be this craven, I thought,” she wrote. “I was wrong.” She went to see Mr. McCarthy to confront him about rehabilitating the twice-impeached former president who had just tried to overturn an election he lost.

“Mar-a-Lago?” she asked Mr. McCarthy, according to the book. “What the hell?”

He tried to downplay the meeting, saying he had already been in Florida when Mr. Trump’s staff called. “They’re really worried,” Mr. McCarthy said by her account. “Trump’s not eating, so they asked me to come see him.”

“What?” she recalled replying. “You went to Mar-a-Lago because Trump’s not eating?”

“Yeah, he’s really depressed,” Mr. McCarthy said.

Ms. Cheney’s book, “Oath and Honor,” a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times ahead of its publication on Tuesday, offers a scathing assessment of not only Mr. McCarthy but an array of Republicans who in her view subordinated their integrity to curry favor with Mr. Trump. Her account of his subjugation of the party presents a tapestry of hypocrisy, with inside-the-room scenes of Republicans privately scorning “the Orange Jesus,” as one wryly called him, while publicly doing his bidding.

The much-anticipated memoir arrives on bookshelves even as Mr. Trump is in a commanding position to win next year’s Republican presidential nomination. Ms. Cheney, who represented Wyoming in Congress and led the House Republican Conference, making her the third-ranking member of her party, has assailed him as a budding autocrat in more visceral terms than most of his challengers for the nomination.

The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney and a conservative star in her own right who was once on track to become House speaker, Ms. Cheney ultimately paid a price for her opposition to Mr. Trump and her service as vice chair of the House committee that investigated his role in instigating the Jan. 6 attack. She lost her leadership position and eventually her seat in a Republican primary last year. But she has vowed to do whatever she can to keep Mr. Trump from returning to the Oval Office.

Indeed, she subtitled her book “A Memoir and a Warning” to make the point that Mr. Trump represents a clear and present danger to America if he is on the ballot next November. “We will be voting on whether to preserve our republic,” she wrote. “As a nation, we can endure damaging policies for a four-year term. But we cannot survive a president willing to terminate our Constitution.”

A re-elected Mr. Trump, she said, would face few checks on his power. “Step by step, Donald Trump would tear down the other structures that restrain an American president,” she wrote. “The assumption that our institutions will protect themselves,” she added, “is purely wishful thinking by people who prefer to look the other way.”

Asked for comment on Wednesday, Mr. Trump, who has openly called for “termination” of the Constitution to immediately remove President Biden from office and reinstall himself without waiting for another election, did not directly address any of Ms. Cheney’s specific assertions but simply dismissed her as a disgruntled critic.

“Liz Cheney is a loser who is now lying in order to sell a book that either belongs in the discount bargain bin in the fiction section of the bookstore or should be repurposed as toilet paper,” Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Mr. Trump, said by email. “These are nothing more than completely fabricated stories because President Trump is the clear front-runner to be the Republican nominee and the strongest candidate to beat Crooked Joe Biden.”

Likewise, Mr. McCarthy did not deny anything in the book, copies of which have also been obtained by CNN and The Guardian. His office released a statement saying, “For Cheney, first it was Trump Derangement Syndrome, and now apparently it’s also McCarthy Derangement Syndrome.”

In Ms. Cheney’s telling, Mr. Trump knew that he lost the 2020 election even as he told the public that he had not — and she cited no less than Mr. McCarthy as a witness. Just two days after the November election, she said, Mr. McCarthy told her he had spoken to Mr. Trump. “He knows it’s over,” she quoted him saying. “He needs to go through all the stages of grief.”

That could in theory make Mr. McCarthy an important witness in the federal or state criminal cases against Mr. Trump, refuting any defense by the former president’s lawyers that he was acting on good-faith belief that fraud had stolen the election from him.

Also depicted as a Trump acolyte is Representative Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican who in recent weeks vaulted from the backbench to the speakership after Mr. McCarthy’s support for Mr. Trump failed to save him from a right-wing rebellion.

Mr. Johnson took the lead in trying to corral support for Mr. Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election. He sent an email to all House Republicans telling them that he had spoken with the president, who expected them to sign onto a friend-of-the-court brief to the Supreme Court. “He said he will be anxiously awaiting the final list to review,” Mr. Johnson wrote.

Ms. Cheney took that as a veiled threat and said she was surprised about Mr. Johnson, whom she had thought of as a friend. “He appeared especially susceptible to flattery from Trump and aspired to being anywhere in Trump’s orbit,” she wrote. “When I confronted him with the flaws in his legal argument, Johnson would often concede, or say something to the effect of, ‘We just need to do this one last thing for Trump.’”

At first, Mr. McCarthy agreed with her that the pro-Trump brief went too far and told her he would not sign it because it would interfere with the power of states to run their own elections. “It federalizes too much,” he told her. But a day later, his name was added to the brief after all.

Mr. Johnson did not back down even after the Supreme Court unanimously rejected the case, sending Ms. Cheney a Fox News poll showing that 77 percent of Trump voters and 68 percent of Republicans believed the election had been stolen. “These numbers are big,” Mr. Johnson said, “and something we have to contend with as we thread the needle on messaging.”

Ms. Cheney noted that Mr. Trump’s supporters believed the election was stolen because Republicans like Mr. McCarthy and Mr. Johnson were echoing his lies.

Other Republicans were willing to toss aside traditions, norms and constitutional processes in the name of satisfying Mr. Trump’s desire to stay in power. When one Republican said during a meeting that they should not claim the election was rigged when there was no evidence, Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, one of Mr. Trump’s staunchest allies, said, “The only thing that matters is winning.”  [emphasis added]

Likewise, she assailed Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, for seeking to set aside the counting of Electoral College votes on Jan. 6 while a commission investigated election results that had already been recounted and certified. “It was one of the worst cases of abandonment of duty for personal ambition I’ve ever seen in Washington,” Ms. Cheney wrote.

In some cases, she found that Republicans stayed loyal to Mr. Trump out of outright fear. One colleague told her he was worried about the safety of his wife and baby if he voted to impeach Mr. Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 attack.

Behind the scenes, though, other Republicans cheered her on. After she announced she would be one of what would ultimately be only 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach, former President George W. Bush sent her a note. “Liz, Courage is in short supply these days,” he wrote. “Thank you for yours. You showed strong leadership and I’m not surprised. Lead on. 43.”

Her vocal criticism of Mr. Trump grated on other Republicans, highlighting what she called their “plague of cowardice” in the face of the former president. When she contradicted Mr. McCarthy on Mr. Trump’s future role in the party during a joint news conference, Mr. McCarthy complained to her privately afterward.

“You’re killing me, Liz,” he said.

“Kevin, this is about the Constitution,” she replied. “Think of what Trump did. Think how appalled any of our previous Republican leaders would be about this. How would Reagan have reacted to this? How would Bush have reacted? Think of my dad.”

Mr. McCarthy dismissed that line of thinking. “This isn’t their party anymore,” he said.

On that, she wrote, she had to agree.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr …

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, Economic issues, Environmental Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Re-blogs

Our good friend Annie over at annieasksyou has been doing some research, closely following the antics of the fully dysfunctional Republican-majority House of Representatives as we race toward Friday night when the government very well may shut down, less than a week before Thanksgiving.  The things these fools (whose salaries WE pay) are doing are designed to hurt the very people they are sworn by oath to represent.  Not a single one of them deserve their seat in Congress … NOT ONE!!!  Please take a few minutes to read Annie’s work here, ponder and share if you feel so inclined.  The more people are aware, the better chance we have of fixing this problem!

Think the House Republicans Want to Keep the Government Open?

My apologies … I am not yet quite finished with this week’s ‘good people’ post, and I felt that Annie’s needed to be shared, so ‘good people’ will be delayed, but it WILL be here either later today or tomorrow … that’s a promise!  Thanks for your patience and understanding.

The Games They Play …

Posted on by under Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Rants

Yesterday afternoon I wrote about the Republican-majority in the House of Representatives wasting their time in an impeachment inquiry that will come to naught for there is nothing to find, while the clock is ticking loudly toward the November 17th government shutdown and nothing … literally nothing is being done to avert a crisis there.  But it isn’t only the pseudo-impeachment inquiry they’re wasting their time on … oh no, there’s more.

One example is that they (the Republican caucus in the House) have voted to reduce the pay of the Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, to $1 per year.  Why?  Well, if you want to cut to the chase, because he is gay and is in a very happy same-sex marriage.  The motion was presented by none other than Margie Greene, whose only stated ‘reason’ was …

“Pete Buttigieg doesn’t do his job. It’s all about fake photo ops and taxpayer-funded private jet trip to accept LGBTQ awards for him.”

No facts, details, or backup, just that.  Now, no doubt there are other cabinet heads about whom she would say something similar, but … they are not gay, so … that makes the difference.  Not to worry, for the bill would have to be passed by the full House, then the Senate, and then signed by President Biden, so it’s dead on arrival, but it still speaks volumes, a) that they are wasting time on such stupid crappola, and b) that they are such bigots.  Back in September, Greene also proposed cutting the salary of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.  Why?  Oh yeah … he’s Black.

And then … and then, to add insult to injury as if we were naught but a bunch of really stupid children, newly-elected Speaker of the House tells us we should stop worrying about the looming shutdown, calm down and “trust” him!  Say WHAT???  TRUST???  Sorry, Mikey, but trust must be earned, and you have not done one damned thing, nor have your cohorts, to earn our trust!!!  You’re taking our hard-earned money and using it against us, putting our lives, our children’s futures at risk while you play stupid, bigoted, wasteful and hateful games.

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking with only 8 days until the November 17th deadline, and only four of those during which the House will be in session … they are off today for Veteran’s Day, they don’t work weekends, so next Monday thru Thursday is it.  If they haven’t passed either a full set of appropriations bills or a viable Continuing Resolution that can get through the Senate and be signed by the president, then the government will shut down next Friday at midnight.  Less than a week before the Thanksgiving holiday.  What a slap in the face to the people of this nation.

Time For (a nap) Toons!!!

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, cartoons, Economic issues, education, Environmental Issues, Global Issues, Humour, Political commentary, Social commentary

We seem to be hurtling at warp speed toward the end of another year … WHERE does the time go?  It seems that the older I get, the faster the days/weeks/months fly by.  Last I recall, it was June, and now I’m looking at the calendar and thinking that in just two weeks I’ll need to buy our Thanksgiving turkey!  I think I’ll take a bit of a break this afternoon, read a bit, maybe even catch a bit of a nap since I haven’t been sleeping all that well of late.  Meanwhile, though, my collection of political cartoons is once again overflowing, so it’s time to share a few of them with you.

Live And Let Live, Mr. J

Posted on by under education, History, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, religion, Social commentary

This Mike Johnson who now holds what is arguably the third most powerful elected seat in the federal government of the ‘United’ States, seems to think that the country is a ‘Christian nation’ rather than the secular one called for by both the Constitution and precedent.  In a number of articles I’ve read in the past few days, I’ve seen him referred to as a ‘christofascist’ … perhaps a bit hyperbolic and who even knows precisely what that means?  But some things do come to mind when I see a picture of him and his cronies on bended knee within the Capitol, or hear him speak of his wife spending “weeks on her knees in prayer …”, or unnecessarily invoking the word ‘god’ multiple times in interviews and speeches.

On the subject of religion, the 1st Amendment to the Constitution states that …

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

That’s it.  “Congress shall make no law.”  This can mean a lot of things, but let’s make it perfectly clear … the United States is not a ‘Christian nation’.  The United States is a secular nation where any and all religions are welcomed and none are prohibited, nor are any sponsored by the state.  Get that?

It seems to me that ‘freedom of religion’, as the 1st Amendment clause has been dubbed, means each of us are free to believe as we will, to consider ourselves Christians or Muslims or Hindus or Jains or Jews or atheists or agnostics.  You cannot say there is freedom of religion … but only so long as you are Christian!!!  More and more this is what it seems the Republicans, as now personified by Donald Trump and Mike Johnson, are saying to us.  Where does that leave those of us who are not believers in the Christian religion?

What I would ask Mike Johnson regarding his desire to turn this nation into a Christian nation:

  • What would you say to the one-third of this country who are citizens, taxpayers and voters but are not Christian?  What would you say to my neighbors who are U.S. citizens and followers of Islam?  What would you say to my good friend who is a U.S. citizen and a Jew?  And what would you say to me, a citizen, taxpayer and voter who is an atheist?  How would you reassure us that our rights and freedoms in this nation are as important as those people who are Christians?

Throughout history much harm has been done in the name of religion – ALL religions.  Each religion seeks to impose its will upon all, to force its tenets and beliefs upon every single person within its realm.  It’s rather like saying … my favourite colour is green, and therefore everyone’s favourite colour must be green, else … BANISH THEM!  Because Christians think their holy book (written by men) tells them that women should be subservient to men, that women were created only for the pleasure of men, then men should be able to tell us what to do with our own bodies.

Look, I don’t care … I honestly do not care what anybody chooses to believe, whether a person ascribes to a religion or not, believes in a deity or not, and if so which one.  In my view, all religions are designed to control and manipulate people, but that’s my opinion and I don’t attempt to force it on others — in fact I typically avoid discussing religion at all or tippy-toe into it as I’m doing today.  By that same token, though, I will not have others force their views on me.  That’s why I find it so disturbing that Mr. Johnson brings his religious views to work with him and tries to slip them into the communal coffee pot.

This nation began as a democratic republic, not a theocracy.  While it is true that we seem to have shifted toward becoming an oligarchy – rule by the wealthy – we must guard against religion playing a role in the decisions by our government that affect ALL of our lives.  I hear people mock and shun the very idea of the Islamic traditional Sharia Law, and yet … isn’t that the same direction in which we are headed if we force school children to say Christian prayers and read only those books that are approved of by Christian standards, if our lawmakers are guided by their own religious beliefs rather than the good of all people?

I have no doubt that Speaker Mike Johnson is sincere in his religious beliefs, and I respect that, but they are his beliefs and he has no right to force them upon a diverse nation.  This is not Iran or Saudi Arabia … it is the United States of America. We need to remind certain of our elected officials of that, it seems.

What Keeps Me Awake …

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, Global Issues, guns, Political commentary, Social commentary

Tonight, I have much detritus bouncing around in my mind.  So much so that I skipped my afternoon post earlier (Friday) because I was sick and tired of writing about Mike Johnson, about Donald Trump, about Republicans, about the war between Israel and Hamas … is there nothing upbeat to write about anymore?  So … here are just a few of the thoughts bouncing around in my head and destined to keep me awake until the wee hours again tonight …

I cannot in good conscience support Israel’s attacks against innocent civilians in Gaza.  This is not an anti-Semitic remark … I am not anti-Semitic and in fact have Jewish roots in my own ancestry.  This is a humanitarian viewpoint.  I also cannot support Hamas’ attacks against Israel.  But two wrongs do not … never did, and never will … make a right.  I fully support the right of the Jewish people to live in peace in their nation, but at the same time, I support the right of the Palestinian people to have a nation of their own and also live in peace.  The continued murdering of civilians will fan the flames of conflict throughout the Middle East and before you know it, the entire Middle East will be inflamed … we’re almost there already.

When Representative Tom Cole nominated Jim Jordan for Speaker of the House a couple of weeks ago, Cole said that one of Jordan’s leading qualifications is that he is committed to cutting Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. The media yawned.  Now here we are a couple of weeks later, the Republicans have chosen a relative unknown, one just as nasty as Jim Jordan, as their Speaker, and he too supports cutting Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.  I read part of an article yesterday that said, in essence, that we elderly people should get off our arses, that we are stronger and healthier than seniors in previous generations, and that we should go back to work and stop being a drain on the younger generations.  WTF???  I went to work full-time at age 13 and now, at age 72 and in poor health, I am receiving the promised benefits from my decades of contributions.  Every damn paycheck I paid into the fund for Social Security and Medicare!  And now, our elected officials are trying to deny me the right to survive?  Mr. Jordan and Mr. Johnson are both strongly against women’s rights, against abortion, but they support the genocide by neglect of the elderly.  Something about this picture disturbs me.

George Santos, of whom I’ve written before, is a consummate liar.  He has lied about so many things I’ve lost count, and he does so with a shit-eating grin on his face … he really doesn’t even care that people know he’s telling outrageous lies. He faces 23 federal criminal charges, including identity theft. He does NOT belong in the United States Congress.  Finally, there is a proposed resolution to expel Mr. Santos (if that is even his real name, which is in doubt) from the U.S. House of Representatives.  The House will vote on his expulsion next Wednesday.  But wait!  Not so fast there!  The newly-elected Speaker doesn’t want to expel Santos.  Why?  Because, as he plainly stated in an interview with Fox’ Sean Hannity …

“We have a four-seat majority in the House. It is possible that that number may be reduced even more in the coming weeks and months, and so we will have what may be the most razor-thin majority in the history of the Congress. We have no margin for error.”

If Santos is expelled, it is almost a certainty that he will be replaced with a Democrat, and THAT, my friends, is what strikes fear into the tiny dark hearts of the House Republicans like Johnson.  It isn’t about what’s best for the country anymore.  It’s about money and power in the Republican Party.  If you aren’t one of them, then you are the enemy.

The shooter who killed at least 18 people and injured at least 13 more in Lewiston, Maine, on Wednesday night has been found dead with what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.  Other than that, details are sketchy, but at least the people in the area can come out of their homes and breathe a brief sigh of relief tonight.  I had hoped that law enforcement would take him alive so we could learn of his motive for what seems to have been a random killing spree, but … at least he’s no longer a threat.  I imagine further details will be forthcoming soon.  I don’t imagine Congress will do more than send meaningless “thoughts and prayers” … why would they if they didn’t after all the school shootings?

And on that note, I’m going to bed and read for a while … something non-political, something like maybe a murder mystery to soothe my troubled mind.  Have a great Saturday!