# The Great Ongoing Revolving Speakership of the 118th Congress {Mike Johnson is new speaker as of 2023-10-25} **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 12, 2023, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432 "2023-10-12T02:05:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 87
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/1721 "2024-04-21T12:45:32Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Johnson should instead do the honorable thing and resign so the Republicans could pick a new Speaker without having to go through the live TV humiliation of the last two times. So their strategy is, “We are trying to force you out of one of the most coveted positions in all of politics, so could you do **us** a favor?” ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/1722 "2024-04-21T15:22:05Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > The major of Republicans actually voted AGAINST the bill. That said, politicians vote strategically. They have “good governance” to consider and they have their next election to consider. If you know that the legislation will pass, regardless of which direction you vote, but your district is more extremely MAGA, then maybe you rather your next primary. If you compare Republican senators who are running for reelection this year, to ones who aren’t, and the vote spread between those two groups for foreign aid - that will probably give you a better sense for how much re-election is playing into their choice. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/1723 "2024-04-21T15:23:01Z")
Plus which, they’d have to go through the live TV humiliation of trying to find a new Speaker – one who’s both willing to take this increasingly poisoned position, and who can also get a majority of votes in a House now even thinner on Republicans. That was most of the problem on the first couple of tries, and would be even worse now. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/1724 "2024-04-21T15:54:42Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > McCarthy apparently made scads of promises within the GOP caucus to get the Speakership, even though some of those promises were unrealistic. His m.o. was to rely solely on GOP support, and decline any attempt at cross-aisle negotiations. He was also prepared to break deals he himself had made. And yet, he was outraged that the Dems didn’t support him when his own caucus fractured and voted against him. But why should the Dems support someone who had shown such disdain It has been mentioned before – McCarthy was so goddamn thirsty for that “Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives” line in his bio, and it was so pathetically obvious to everyone that he’d do _ **anything** _ for it, that there was no respect left for him after people saw what he gave up for it. Johnson meanwhile had not allowed himself to be seen begging for it like Kev or giving off the kind of _I Am An Alpha You Wusses Elect Me So I Can Be Your Tyrant_ vibe Jordan did. In both of which cases it boiled down to _“But **I am supposed to be the one**!”_ Well, no, no one is. > [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Green’s co-idiot, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, made his way into _Profiles in Doubletalk_, by standing firm that Johnson should be removed but noting that Johnson should instead do the honorable thing and resign so the Republicans could pick a new Speaker without having to go through the live TV humiliation of the last two times. Ah, classic tactical error – letting others know what _ **you** _ are afraid of. Nope, sorry Mr. Massie, a suicide pact is a suicide pact. This was what you wanted. This is what you get. You can’t be Speaker if every time one of your backbenchers growls you back off on everything you had been working on. And you get the feeling that to Johnson, NOT having invested his whole career in “Speaker or bust” it’s not such a devastating thing to face that challenge as it was for Kevin. So he **will** make deals if he can and if it’s what it takes to keep things together in the big picture. ( **And** he will go over the heads of the MAGAcaucus to visit Mar-a-Lago in person in the middle of the dealings, so the Big Guy feels he’s being respected even if he’s not getting what he wants.) > [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > I don’t see that as personality, but just the basic question of trust: “Can we trust this guy to work with us?” And yes that’s fundamental – ISTM with Johnson they have a better sense of what he will and will not make a deal on, and that if it is not within his power he’ll let them know. As opposed to just running away calling you names just because some Qahoo(\*) made a face at him. ETA: (\* a Q yahoo) ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/1725 "2024-04-21T15:59:07Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Qahoo TIDNL (Today I Did Not Learn) what a Qahoo is. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/1726 "2024-04-21T16:17:43Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > That said, politicians vote strategically. They have “good governance” to consider and they have their next election to consider. Exactly why my GOP Rep (Ron Estes) voted against it. He will proudly say that he voted against more government spending, which leads to more inflation, which has been directly caused by Biden’s economic policies. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/1727 "2024-04-21T16:48:08Z")
A significant amount of inflation is caused by the tariffs that Trump advocated. Probably about half. If you let the whole world become a free-for-all of conquest and might-makes-right, your average cost of living will go up far more than it is now, because we’ve embargoed some percentage of Russian oil. While those do cost us, so did WWII. As a nation, we’re not going to get so many chances to just be the good guy. And in this case, there’s only good outcomes by doing so - and worse by not. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/1728 "2024-04-21T16:52:02Z")
That’s way too complicated! The MAGAts prefer simple statements, like “Biden made my hamberder cost more” ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/1729 "2024-04-21T17:10:22Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > And yes that’s fundamental – ISTM with Johnson they have a better sense of what he will and will not make a deal on, and that if it is not within his power he’ll let them know. Yes, that’s key to opposing groups still being able to work together: each signals to the other where the limits of possible accommodation are. That was what Maggie Thatcher meant after her first meeting with Gorbachev: “We can work with him.” Didn’t mean that they would always be able to agree, and each side would have their own bright lines they couldn’t cross, but they knew where the other stood. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/1730 "2024-04-21T18:06:00Z")
There is still fairly broad support for bipartisanship, even among Republicans, and even despite continual disparagement of the opposing side on the airwaves. Chart from a 2022 poll: [![](https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/310/502/183/831/985/original/76645880e9c8b75a.png) ](https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/310/502/183/831/985/original/76645880e9c8b75a.png) About half of Republicans want the two sides to work together. Dems like bipartisanship more; independents like it most. Cite: [https://bipartisanpolicy.org/download/?file=/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/2206223\_BPC-Monthly-Tracker\_Wave-3\_ANALYSIS-PDF.pdf](https://bipartisanpolicy.org/download/?file=/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/2206223_BPC-Monthly-Tracker_Wave-3_ANALYSIS-PDF.pdf) Hypothesis: opposition to working with the Dems doesn’t come from the base. It derives from the interests of policy-indifferent representatives who want to appear on Fox News. It’s all performative: Johnson needs to figure an efficient way of tossing raw meat to rabid dogs, while quietly moving required legislation forwards. ETA: Oh yeah. The primaries. No single Republican rep will step forwards and advocate a unity coalition on the airwaves, because that would kill him in the primaries. I need to see a chart like the above limited to likely primary voters. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/1731 "2024-04-21T19:01:57Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > He will proudly say that he voted against more government spending, which leads to more inflation, which has been directly caused by Biden’s economic policies. I already replied but I felt like I should make clear, I’m a Republican. Ergo, I was opposed to voting for inflation. I blogged about it back when the rest of y’all that are bad with money were cheering: > [@](#): > > if McDonald’s raised their prices, they would be earning more per burger and cutting back any losses in the system, but that misses the much larger issue that they’re giving away all of their business except some die-hard McDonald’s fans to Burger King. In the long run, it just leaves McDonald’s by the wayside and will eventually cause them to shutter themselves up. It’s just not a viable strategy for success. If you want to go hard against Burger King, you lower your prices below sustainability, and hope that you can go longer than Burger King, before bankrupting yourself. > > […] > > While it’s already stupid for McDonald’s to raise their prices against customers, it’s even more stupid for them to ask their suppliers who make all their cups and napkins and whatnot to kindly charge them more. > **[Siege](https://publius2point0.wordpress.com/2018/08/16/siege/)** > > Despite the popular Hollywood depiction of war, in ancient and medieval times, of men in a large open field running at each other; that is not how wars were actually fought. While it may be that a … I also objected to hiring the guy who was encouraged by his friend Bill Clinton to run for office; the guy who put up a painting of the founder of the Democratic party in his office; who, after running on a “drain the swamp”/anti-corruption platform, as a near first act in office appointed a guy who was formally convicted of bribing politicians, to head the RNC finance committee; pardoned a slew of Democratic politicians; got his Democratic son-in-law to pass legislation to reduce crime sentences and be more lenient on crime, a la California and San Francisco; issued an executive order to restrict funding to police agencies who are mean to crooks (a la, “defund the police”) while claiming that his opponent - the guy who increased the number of crimes that get the death sentence during his time in the Senate - would be the one to defend the police; passed a huge money give away that ballooned the stock market, juicing the economy right before the election; and so on and so forth. Once you don’t vote for a Democrat and you don’t vote for inflation then you can bitch about inflation and you can bitch about Democrats. Up until that point, get off my lawn. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/1732 "2024-04-21T22:42:30Z")
Happy cake day, ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/1733 "2024-04-21T23:07:47Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Once you don’t vote for a Democrat and you don’t vote for inflation then you can bitch about inflation and you can bitch about Democrats. I can’t not make out what the point is here. Tax cuts for billionaires? Economy! Perhaps an analogy would muddy the waters. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/1734 "2024-04-21T23:12:36Z")
Those are some great drugs. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/1735 "2024-04-21T23:23:22Z")
Looks like Margerine Traitor Greene is going to [push for a vote](https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/21/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-calls-on-johnson-to-resign-after-house-approves-ukraine-aid/index.html) to get rid of Johnson, because she did not like the way he stood up to her hero, Putin. " ‘If he doesn’t (resign), he will be vacated’ says Comrade Greene. No, actually he won’t. You have what… 9, maybe 12 votes in Congress? Go back to the kiddie table. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/1736 "2024-04-21T23:58:31Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Once you don’t vote for a Democrat and you don’t vote for inflation then you can bitch about inflation and you can bitch about Democrats. Up until that point, get off my lawn. CPI inflation over the past year is 3.5% and falling. For core inflation it’s 3.8%. In Dec 1988, the last month of St. Ronald’s term, CPI inflation was 4.4%. Higher. Moreover, the most consequential anti-inflation act any US President has ever done was performed by… Jimmy Carter. Who appointed Paul Volker to the Fed in October 1979, 3 months before an election year. Still props for grasping that Trump is unsuited for the Presidency. That really shouldn’t be a high bar for conservatives, but it is. Disturbing, though now familiar. My take is that conservatives have always been more about tribes than the particulars of policy; so that looking for a through line past 2016 is a mug’s game. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/1737 "2024-04-22T00:19:35Z")
Yeah I’m getting sick of people equating Democrats with inflation and saying that every government dollar spent makes Baby Jesus cry. Government spending doesn’t cause inflation and sending arms to Ukraine certainly doesn’t cause inflation. If you want to fight inflation, don’t vote for the stooge that promises to raise tariffs because he has no clue as to who pays for them. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/1738 "2024-04-22T00:24:01Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Yeah I’m getting sick of people equating Democrats with inflation and saying that every government dollar spent makes Baby Jesus cry. Government spending doesn’t cause inflation Yeah- and did you notice that the debt is only an election issue when the Dems are in power? When the GOP is in charge, the merrily increase the debt, and never mention is. Biden has massively decreased inflation, Great article on Politfact about it. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/1739 "2024-04-22T00:25:31Z")
The vote to expel Marge from the House is 2/3rds. With all the Dems and the fed up Republicans; doable? (At least threaten it!). Then slowly eject the rest of the FreeDumb cactus 😀 Better check my temperature; I think I was having a fever dream. 🙃 ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/1740 "2024-04-22T00:27:41Z")
One other thing you NEVER hear about when Republicans are in power: homeless veterans. When a Democrat is in the White House and wants to help an ally, there is wailing and gnashing of teeth on the right about homeless veterans. Mind you, I’m all for giving vets the training and financial help needed for life after service, but there are homeless veterans during Republican administrations too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432.md?page=86) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432.md?page=88)