The War Room’s Speaker Victory

As Mike Johnson became speaker of the House, the loudest elements of the MAGA world cheered.

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Rep. Mike Johnson speaks alongside fellow House Republicans after he was elected as the Republican Speaker nominee during a conference meeting on October 24, 2023. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Rep. Mike Johnson’s election as speaker of the House Wednesday was a rare feat for the Make America Great Again movement: a clear victory. After weeks of mayhem that made House Republicans look ungovernable, the loose collection of populists aligned with and empowered by Donald Trump appeared to have settled for a win that reaffirms the GOP’s metamorphosis.

Johnson’s ascension comes after the MAGA movement successfully removed the previous Republican speaker, Rep. Kevin McCarthy. It follows the organized efforts to stop two of the party’s three nominees to succeed McCarthy, Reps. Steve Scalise and Tom Emmer. All three were deemed too spoiled by Washington, too willing to cut spending deals with Democrats. (In reality, with such a narrow Republican majority and Democratic control of both the Senate and White House, compromising with Democrats is part of this speaker’s job description.) And the other failed speaker nominee, the hard-charging, MAGA-friendly Rep. Jim Jordan, was stopped by a rump of institutionalist Republicans who appear to have only delayed the inevitable: a speaker who reflects the conference’s conservative populism and fealty to Trump, but who also seems ready to govern. 

Johnson, now in his fourth term in the House, apparently fits the bill. He is known internally for promoting conservative policies on abortion and same-sex marriage, yet is regarded highly even by his more socially moderate colleagues as a trustworthy person. His most notable act before becoming speaker was as the architect of an amicus brief in January 2021 supporting a Texas lawsuit to throw out the 2020 presidential election results in four states won by Joe Biden—a last-ditch effort to block the counting of the electoral votes. The work earned him plenty of MAGA credibility, and while he is friendly with the populist, pro-Trump House Freedom Caucus, he isn’t a member. Instead, Johnson gravitated toward the wonkier Republican Study Committee, chairing the conservative caucus from 2019 to 2021.

Johnson now faces the headwinds similar to those McCarthy faced, with divided government and a looming spending deadline on November 17. But for the moment, the power players of the MAGA movement are ecstatic about what they have achieved in the fight for leadership of the Republican party. 

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  1. Avatar photo
    Kim

    War Room…Gaetz? 🤢

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    Gibby

    ugh.....A world where Matt Gaetz is happy is not a good place for me.

    I'm back to being a sideline watcher.

    Thanks Democrats for giving Gaetz a stirrup to stand athwart history and watch it burn.

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    1. Francislyo

      I do thank Democrats for giving us an off-ramp from the MAGA boot to our necks that Kevin McCarthy placed after first normalizing and elevating their most extreme members (ex: MTG).

      All we needed were 5 moderate Republicans, could have been from Biden-winning swing districts, to work with Democrats to elect a moderate Republican Speaker. As David French pointed out, it became so much more possible for moderates to do the right thing in this Speakership vote than it was with other off-ramps, like the impeachment vote after Jan 6th. Too many Republicans were needed to win then.

      But all that were needed this time were 5, yet they couldn't muster the courage to free us from our MAGA overlords! The Republican vote for Johnson, even though he led the charge to install Trump by tossing the 2020 votes of 4 states, was unanimous.

      Will we never learn? Will someone please explain to me how keeping MAGA in power by electing Johnson as Speaker is the Democrat’s fault?

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  3. Rune485

    I really wish we’d stop making stupid people famous. Of course Gaetz and Bannon shot their mouths off, and I’m sure Carlson did too.

    I’d just rather hear what someone like a Mike McCaul has to say and where his concerns are with Johnson’s attitude about Ukraine funding. He’s already trying to remove it from the Israel/UKR funding bill.

    So tired of these self-servng, tribalist aholes. The only reason they’re against UKR assistance is because Joe Biden is for it. That’s it.

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    1. Judie Brophy

      A pathetic reason to allow democracy in our world to fall to the CCP and Russia. Where have the principled statesmen gone, who believed in the American form of government.

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      1. Rune485

        They’re there, but we have to ask the people that don’t report or interview them why not. And I’m tired of all the hyperbolic fist-shaking about Dem’s and the latest episode of The View, too.

        If we want serious policy and serious politicians, stop trying to wee-wee up the rage monkeys and start writing serious articles about serious people and serious policy.

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  4. Avatar photo
    Show Jay Janney the 🚪!

    The Dems voted unanimously to remove McCarthy as speaker. Their reward for doing so is Johnson! The thing about chess is you really ought to play more than 1 move in advance, especially when you're sacrificing pawns.

    I think Gaetz and Co. recognize that while they were not lying on their back when they launched this, they clearly screwed up. Johnson buys them an out. So it is a victory for them. Total victory? Of course not. But now they can move on from their screw-up.

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    1. Francislyo

      The Democrat's gamble was that 5 moderate Republicans could step up to the plate and join Democrats in electing a moderate Republican Speaker. David French pointed out that this Speakership vote needed so few Republicans to do the right thing that is was in realm of possibility to free us from MAGA.

      It turned out that not a one stepped forward, but I agree with previous commenters that it's doubtful that this continuation of MAGA rule hurts Democrats. And from their perspective, saving My Kevin was not the hill to be primaried on.

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      1. Avatar photo
        Show Jay Janney the 🚪!

        Pelosi, Jeffries, and several others are secure enough they wouldn't have faced serious primary challenges. The Dem leadership is strong enough they would have survived. They chose not to support McCarthy (which again is their right). But when they made that decision, their real gamble became whether Republicans could unite around someone without their support, which they did. So now, Johnson owes them nothing. It may still work out for them, we'll see over the next 13 months.

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        1. Francislyo

          It would have required ALL the Democrats, not those few you mentioned to save McCarthy. And had they done so, many would have been primaried, for no gain to Democrats.

          As David French pointed out, only *5* Republicans were needed to unite with Democrats to free us from MAGA rule: manufactured crises, cutting off aid to Ukraine, election denialism, etc. I honestly thought 5 would care. I still can't figure out why it was so hard for Republicans in districts that voted for Biden to do the right thing this time.

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          1. Avatar photo
            Show Jay Janney the 🚪!

            No, it wouldn't have. 212 Dems voted for McCarthy to be replaced, along with 8 Republicans. They needed 8 Dems to keep McCarthy. I'd add quite a few crossed the aisle to support a CR, far more than needed to retain McCarthy.

            Again, politicians are self-interested. If they think voting yay or nay (or "present") benefits them, that's how they'll vote. Republicans who didn't unite with Dems didn't think it'd benefit them. Dems didn't vote for a republican because they thought it best for them, as well.

            As for the Biden district republicans, do you think crossing the aisle makes their re-election easier? Dems will still oppose them, so doing "for the good of the country" isn't gonna happen. I think a better case could have been made for continuity for the speaker, than that.

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    2. Matt

      I'm not convinced that the Dems are going to see this as a negative - they still control the senate and the white house, so it's not like there's going to be a sudden flood of MAGA policy being passed into law.. Johnson may not quite write the attack ads himself like Jordan would have, but by all accounts he's still got plenty of past positions and comments on abortion/lgbt/election denial issues that arn't going to play well with swing voters. Big picture, I'm not convince that the Dems aren't in a solidly better position than they would have been had they saved McCarthy.

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      1. Judie Brophy

        Certainly Johnson is practically a caricature of a Maga supporter. His stance on all the topics is completely predictable. And I am sure the Magas will follow him off the cliff when his piping about the anti-Christ has charmed them all.

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      2. Avatar photo
        Show Jay Janney the 🚪!

        Long term we'll see who it benefits; it's an empirical question. But it is early yet: it is very unclear right now if Biden has coattails or not, or what will happen to benefit/harm democrats. We don't know what will be the 2024 political issues. At this point in 2020, it looked very smooth sailing for Trump, and very unclear for Biden. Then covid happened. IDK what will be the defining issue.

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        1. Avatar photo
          Porouke

          If anything, swing voters have shown that they are happy to differentiate among and between the parties. Crazy loses in competitive races. Rather than coattails, it may very well come down to individual candidates.

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  5. Avatar photo
    Bill Nelson

    Ah, I miss Air America.

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  6. Avatar photo
    Mick.Staton

    Bannon, Gaetz and company are trying to save face after losing out on Jordan. They didn't want Johnson. They settled for Johnson.

    The media is enjoying trying to point out all of Johnson's "MAGA" credentials but ignoring the fact that he is not a Freedom Caucus member. He was in the Republican Study Group which, until MAGA needed to claim success in the Speaker's fight. was considered a bunch of RINO squishes by the Freedom Caucus and MAGA world.

    MAGA hopes that Johnson's inexperience will allow them to influence and control him, but for Johnson to get the help he needs to lead Congress he is going to have to lean on leadership experience. That means people like McCarthy, Scalise, and Emmer.

    You have to remember that this fight was not about policy. McCarthy was booted because he put forward a "clean" CR that lasts about 45 days. Johnson has proposed putting forward a "clean" CR that would last all the way to April of next year and Gaetz and co. are ok with that.

    This was all about tearing down the institution and trying to assert control of the party. The MAGA crowd has to declare victory or else they may lose influence over the base. They can't be seen losing to the moderate squishes, so they take the fact that an inexperienced Christian Conservative from a safe red seat that has not served long enough to make any enemies becomes speaker and declare victory.

    The proof of the pudding will come in what kind of legislation comes forward. Will we see efforts to block Ukraine aid? Will Johnson stonewall budget negotiations and promote a shutdown? It's fun to be a purist in a safe red seat and no responsibility, but when you are in leadership you actually have to lead, and that means making deals.

    My prediction is that Johnson will regret becoming speaker as he is forced to cut deals with Democrats to get a budget, gets attacked as a sellout by Gaetz and company, and then gets primaried for his seat next year for his apostasy.

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    1. Avatar photo
      C C Writer

      I guess about all we can hope for from this is increased infighting in MAGA world.

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      Stephanie

      Maybe this sounds cynical, but the MAGA people had a close call, because their inability to govern spilled out into the daily news and was on the front pages even with the Israel massacre and Gaza crisis. They probably don’t want a repeat in just months. Voters forget fast, but not if the same screw-ups keep happening.

      My sense is that when Johnson does make a deal with Democrats, there won’t be a peep about it and the spinmeisters will declare it a victory over the Democrats. Johnson has the clean-scrubbed Little Lord Fauntleroy look that is a really good front for extremism. He seems like a smooth talker. I don’t think he’ll be jettisoned unless he does something so heretical that it can’t be explained away.

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      Aylene Wright

      This was basically my read of the situation as well, that MAGA wanted Jordan and settled for Johnson, and it's annoying that a TD reporter so easily fell for the spin that they got exactly what they wanted.

      It's not like Team Trump hasn't done this kind of thing before. In the Alabama Senate race, Trump initially endorsed Mo Brooks, at that time a Freedom Caucus firebrand, over the Establishment candidate, Katie Britt, a former staffer for the retiring Shelby. Britt beat Brooks handily anyway, and Trump unendorsed him, and endorsed Britt. Then, he of course claimed credit for her general election win. 🙄

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  7. Cegoodman85

    When Trump, Gaetz and Bannon endorse someone, that ought to be disqualifying. I had begun to sympathize with the "moderates" in the party, but no more. They deserve whatever headaches they get.

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    HappyCow

    Whelp, Johnson expressed support for Ukraine in his interview with Hannity, so I guess that'll be the end of his Speakership.

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    Gtcarp

    I dreamt that the "squishes" from both parties joined hands and formed a "uniparty" of centrists. They voted in a centrist speaker, and declared the only way to keep this country running and perhaps even make incremental progress is to work together. That there is a common good and sacrifices to be made. The "uniparty" voted as a block and it was wonderful.

    And en masse the "uniparty" declared that Donald Trump could kiss their collective a--es on 5th Avenue at high noon. Then I woke up and MAGA ruled the House...

    Thanks to the Dispatch for continued clear reporting and wonderful commentary.

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    1. J. Everett Schubert

      Oh, if only there were a "uniparty." But alas, it exists as a convenient bogeyman only in the minds of MAGA.

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      1. Avatar photo
        Show Jay Janney the 🚪!

        I am hoping that Anthony Davis runs for office when he retires from the NBA, so he can lead the "unibrow" party.

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      C C Writer

      I like that declaration.

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    Scarlette Tarte

    Matt Gaetz, toady to the MAGA movement, saw that this Republican party is fully MAGA, and, pushed by folks like Bannon, knew that getting a MAGA speaker was important, so they could pursue a MAGA agenda, which is basically doing anything Trump wants, not cooperating or compromising with Democrats, undoing any of the civil rights gains of gay people, trying to control the schools, etc.

    So he went after McCarthy, because he was just too "squish" even as he blamed Democrats for stuff Republicans actually did, a very MAGA thing to do.

    Bannon does assist in this stuff...but the biggest control is the MAGA voters. There are too many of them for Republicans to ignore. The party of cowards, which, in the modern era has never had any backbone, has just rolled over to the mob.

    This guy Johnson, for all his "Christianity" has no moral core. If he did, he would not have tried to overthrow an election. Maybe he thinks if he supports Trump, he can get the theocracy he craves, the kind that all Americans still living there will have to live under, while he makes exceptions for the "elites", like Trump and himself.

    The party is fully MAGA. Even the so called "normie" repubs, are no longer normie, they have rolled over to the reality of MAGA in their districts.

    The only repubs who might suffer for this are the ones who won in districts Biden carried. Which would be enough to hand power in the house to the Dems.

    Which, as a Democrat, I am hopeful for. But I am not hopeful for America, that these people are in charge. I am not hopeful for America that these people have won so many court cases.

    We were never a Christian country. We were never a country just for European descendents. But MAGA seems to believe both. Keep it up, and just like all thru history, when these movements have arisen, America, as we have known her, a secular Democratic Republic, born of the enlightenment, will end. She will not be what her founders intended, but rather, a theocracy, with people who do not hold to those beliefs, given second class status. Don't act surprised when it happens...they already are pushing for "common good constitutionalism" and they have a track record.

    It's a coming battle. If you don't want to lose the idea of equality under law, I suggest getting in the fight. Vote up and down the ticket for the Democrat. Because not a single Republican, at least at the federal level, can be trusted to "protect and defend" the constitution.

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