A new Speaker of the House portends more chaos in Washington

Congress elected Mike Johnson to serve as the new Speaker of the House, despite his history of spreading dangerous disinformation—and the prospect of escalating conflict across Washington.

Over the past three weeks, Congress reduced itself—and democracy in America—to an international laughing stock. Some may perceive the election of a new Speaker of the House as a step forward after three weeks of rudderless vacancy.

But the election of Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) to serve as Speaker will ultimately only prime the pump for escalating crises that will continue to besiege Washington in the weeks and months ahead.

Johnson’s agenda portends not unity, but increasing division.

Disinformation inviting election controversies

Johnson was among the lawyers defending Trump from the first of his impeachment proceedings. While his demeanor was less brash than some of his GOP House colleagues, he was no less committed to the same revolutionary right wing goals.

Image from Wikimedia

Johnson denied that Biden won the 2020 election, yet is now second in line for the presidency behind Vice President Kamala Harris. He also played a key role among Republican election deniers in Congress, constructing an argument—described by the New York Times as “narrow and lawyerly”—to reject the vote counts from several states based on how they had changed voting rules to accommodate public health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Not only did Johnson propose that legal theory, but he organized support for it among his colleagues, 100 of whom co-signed an amicus brief he wrote and filed in Texas seeking the invalidation of votes from four key swing states.

What do those documented actions indicate about his potential posture vis-a-vis the 2024 presidential election? That contest has already reduced itself to a farce, with the exception of a visionary poised to expose the complicity of the corporate political parties against the American people.

But, setting aside the overt fraud in blocking debates and effectively coronating nominees more than a year before the election, allowing a figure like Johnson to lead the House—which plays a formal role in certifying the eventual vote—is a recipe for disaster.

In the wake of Johnson’s election as Speaker earlier today, President Biden responded to questions about his potential role in denying the results of the next election. Biden responded that he was unperturbed, “just like I was not worried that the last guy would be able to overturn the election. They had about 60 lawsuits, and it went all the way to the Supreme Court and every time they lost. I understand the Constitution.”

If Biden understood the Constitution, he might realize that the Supreme Court has the power to arbitrarily decide what it requires, and has recently used that authority without any concern for institutional restraint or popular legitimacy. 

If you thought the chaos after the 2020 election was disappointing, you might want to strap in for 2024.

An impending showdown over military “aid”

I’ve written time and time again about the military-industrial corruption that tends to unite Washington behind whatever Wall Street or the Pentagon want. I’ve also noted that, while some figures in the GOP have mouthed concerns for long overdue Pentagon accountability in the context of the ongoing war in Ukraine, they remain hawks too willing to subsidize weapons for Israel or to posture vis-a-vis China.

Johnson seems to typify that observation. He has been outspoken against continued support from Washington for the proxy war against Russia in eastern Europe. 

But Johnson’s stance against military-industrial corruption is like a broken clock telling the right time for two fleeting moments each day.

He’s right about one thing: Washington has already spent way too much money for weapons for Ukraine, and each penny more represents institutional disdain for the struggles of working Americans embattled by medical debt, student debt, rising gas prices, diminishing opportunity, and a continued race to the trough by billionaires heaping scorn (and debt, and desperation) upon their workers and customers.

Yet Johnson is no less committed to Israel—despite its escalating human rights abuses—than Biden. The corporate parties in Washington might differ on some things, but when it comes to selling weapons or promoting international authoritarianism, they tend to quickly find common ground.

Even if Johnson pushes back on Biden’s latest request for weapons for Ukraine, expect the pattern of continuing subsidies for weapons to continue under his tenure as Speaker. Biden sought $106 billion from Congress last week, only $25 billion of which is for Ukraine. Johnson might conceivably work to deny that portion of Biden’s request, but the remaining $81 billion will likely sail through Congress like a kite blown by a bipartisan breeze.

Remember that it would take about $20 billion to end homelessness and finally get a roof over the head of each of America’s half million inhabitants without shelter—many of whom, perversely, are veterans.

Get ready to rumble

A casual observer might emerge from today’s news with the impression that Johnson’s election resolves the stalemate that has kept Congress unable to conduct its work over the past three weeks.

That, however, would be an inaccurate impression.

The reason a vacancy emerged in the first place was because the previous Speaker, Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), joined forces with Democrats a month ago to pass a stopgap bill to keep the federal government running beyond a previous debt ceiling deadline.

That bill only covered spending for about two months, meaning that yet another government shutdown is looming in only three weeks. And the rancor that led to McCarthy’s removal continues to simmer.

On the one hand, Johnson has articulated a seemingly thoughtful proposal to schedule appropriations bills for the various federal departments in sequence over the coming weeks. But his schedule is admittedly “ambitious,” and presumes that the House will be able to find consensus on each of them without extended debate.

The House, meanwhile, hasn’t even been able to agree on who its own leader would be for the past three weeks. Expecting policymakers to easily find agreement on a dozen different appropriation bills is not unlike expecting the war in Gaza to magically resolve itself without any further civilian casualties.

If you thought Washington was dysfunctional before, just wait.

Paid subscribers can access a few reflections on why I find myself praying for Joe Biden’s health today, despite recognizing his role in creating so many crises that Americans—and people far beyond our country—are grappling with today. In a world full of ironies, this bizarre confluence of factors is enough to make anyone’s head spin.