This should not come as a surprise.
Facing an ever-diminishing number of Republican representatives willing to support Joe Biden’s demand for massive and unending spending for Ukraine, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson now tells DC media he will pass the spending with Democrat votes.
Retention and continuation of spending for Ukraine is the ultimate example of a UniParty Congress. The powers that control the mechanics of spending taxpayer money simply don’t care how much opposition exists amid the taxpayers. They will fund Ukraine, and public opinion means naught.
Emphasis mine, because there’s an ancillary story.
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, West Virginia — Speaker Mike Johnson told POLITICO that he expects to pass a future Ukraine assistance bill with Democratic votes, an acknowledgment of the persistent resistance to any new aid within the GOP.
Johnson said in a Thursday interview at the House Republican retreat that aid to both Ukraine and Israel could come up as one or even two separate bills. He said he anticipates it would happen using the House’s suspension calendar, which he’s used often in recent days to overcome pushback from his own party. (read more)
This type of outlook and UniParty ideology is what leads to this next dose of sunlight. President Trump refused to attend the Sulphur Springs retreat and talk to the Republicans gathered there.
(Daily Mail) – Former President Donald Trump rebuffed an offer to speak at the House GOP retreat in West Virginia, instead choosing to appear at a Florida court case related to his handling of classified documents.
The former president joined more than 100 House Republicans who chose to skip out their annual retreat, where GOP leadership hopes to get its free-wheeling conference behind a united message after months of inner turmoil.
Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Thursday he will impress upon members the importance of ‘stand[ing] together’ as they discuss their strategy on the economy, border and foreign policy.
The only way to turn it around is to stop the fighting, so says the speaker.
‘Everyone says the next election cycle is the most important one of our lifetimes. We’re all accustomed to saying that, we say it every election cycle. Everybody knows this one truly is,’ Johnson said.
‘We have entire industries, sectors in the economy facing existential threats … the world is a tinderbox right now, because our stature on the world stage has been diminished,’ he went on. ‘There are so many problems.’
‘We have to stand together stick together. Get the job done,’ said Johnson. I’m absolutely convinced if we do that. They’re going to expand our house majority give us the Senate and the Republicans will take the White House as well and then we will all be in a much better mood next January because the agenda will change 180 degrees.’
But a stay at the plush Greenbrier Resort in the Allegheny Mountains was not enough to entice more than half of House Republicans. (read more)
The MAGA influence is fracturing the Republican apparatus. The traditional GOPe of Wall Street and Multinational donors is now about half of the Republican conference. The other half is MAGA-minded.
It’s progress, but painfully slow. The Ukraine funding issue has helped to identify the two groups more clearly; however, it is going to take a lot more effort to remove the remaining GOPe globalists. Keep fighting.
