Trumputin Party has a Speaker!

Yep, finally, after 21 days, no working in weekends, no working with the Democratic side, a Speaker of the House takes his gavel!

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of N.Y., hands the gavel to speaker-elect Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Today, this afternoon, the Trumpublicans finally have selected a Speaker of the House of Representatives! By a vote of 220-209 on the very first vote of the day, Representative Mike Johnson (R-LA) was elected as the new Speaker of the House of Representatives. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries received 209 votes.

Johnson, a 51-year-old Louisiana congressman, who was a prominent supporter of Donald Trump’s efforts to deny Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory, is a triumph for cultural and economic conservatives as the party navigates tensions between an emerging populist wing aligned with Trump and establishment Republicans.

Johnson has longstanding ties to the evangelical activist group Family Research Council (https://www.frc.org/). This could one day prove discomforting to members from swing districts or of a more secular orientation.

In April 2015, Johnson, then a Louisiana state legislator, proposed a bill called the Louisiana Marriage and Conscience Act (https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=937123#:~:text=Const.,or%20moral%20conviction%20about%20marriage.). This bill would’ve prevented “adverse treatment by the State of any person or entity on the basis of the views they may hold with regard to marriage.” Critics called this bill “legalized discrimination against married gay couples”, and the bill failed.

During his acceptance speech, prior to taking the Oath of Office this afternoon, Johnson received a rousing standing ovation from almost the entire floor when he said “The People’s House is back in business!”

Johnson enters Washington’s ongoing budget battles as a fervent advocate of cutting spending. He once called the federal government a “monster” that should “starve” in a local radio interview. Last month he also voted against the short-term funding to prevent a government shutdown.

That deal to keep the government operational is what McCarthy foes, Matt Gaetz and his ‘merry band of 7’, launched their move to oust him on Oct. 3. Johnson is now in a similar hot-seat as a Nov. 17 expiration of that temporary funding extension approaches, and a government shutdown looms only a few weeks away, and, we mustn’t forget, the House is supposed to take a two week break at the end of this week, I do believe.

In a letter this week to GOP lawmakers, however, he backed a temporary spending plan to keep the government open into next year, past a Nov. 17 deadline, in order to allow time for negotiations.

Is it at all possible that Johnson, who was backed by Trump to be elected Speaker of the House, is flip-flopping now to possibly try to get some type of cohesive approach to his new position?

Is it at all possible, even though he was a staunch supporter of Trump’s “Big Lie”, is going to actually try to work across the aisle with Jeffries and the Democrats to try to get things done?

I’ll say this. If he doesn’t, he’ll not accomplish much. The Democratic side of the House strikes me that they are very unified on what needs to be done to benefit all American people, Ukraine, Israel, and everything else that hadn’t been done, or accomplished, all year!

Johnson was previously a skeptic of Ukraine aid, but, he said he is “open to talks on President Joe Biden’s request for more funding to assist the country’s counter-offensive against Russia.” This isn’t the only thing looming the House needs to get done. There’s the aid that President Biden had requested for the Israel-Hamas conflict, the Humanitarian Aid money. Johnson didn’t mention that today in his 25, or so, minute speech.

Yes, Johnson has some baggage. But, name one Republican on that side of the aisle who doesn’t. There’s only a small handful remaining that have been against Trump and all his shenanigans since 2015. The rest are gone. They outright quit, or were voted out of office.

I think it’s now pretty safe to say we have three parties in the House of Representatives. Democrats, Republican (GOP), and Trumpublican (GQP). There’s also a few Independent representatives scattered here and there.

That’s it for tonight.

Remember, we MUST vote BLUE 💙💙💙💙 in all upcoming elections between now and 2030, at least! We must KILL thus GQP MAGA TRUMPUBLICAN PARTY. The ONLY way is at the ballot box for local, state, and federal elections!