"The person on the other side of the aisle is not an enemy" : Mike Johnson

[stevenkesslar]

Mike Johnson Told Us What He Really Thinks About Joe Biden, Hakeem Jeffries and Donald Trump

I thought this was a fascinating interview with Mike Johnson.  It's long, but it is worth a read.  It explains a lot to me about why he has turned out to be surprisingly effective.  And there is less gridlock and shit show than I thought there might have been after the House Republican leadership explosion.

I will say this as a caveat.  Johnson's views of The Gays have been repugnant and hateful.  I'll repeat that three times.  Repugnant and hateful.  Repugnant and hateful.  Repugnant and hateful.  There.  So that's out of the way. That said, one of the biggest legislative victories of my organizing career was a bill that funded $10 million a year, annually and permanently, to low income energy programs carried by an anti-Gay Republican in the Oregon legislature.  That's politics. if you want to be effective.  Which is what the interview is all about.

I'll single out a few parts that really resonated for me:

Quote

You get a lot further in a legislative body when you can build relationships with people and work on building trust among colleagues. And that’s what I do. That’s just the way I live. And so I’m not angry at anybody about it. Chip’s still going to be my friend.

Quote

While we don’t agree on many things, it’s really refreshing to sit across the table from someone who is your political adversary and know that they’re shooting straight. I wish that we could have a lot more of that around here because it would solve a lot of problems. Look, I’m a Reagan Republican. I love the way he did the job. He was a happy warrior, you know?

He was a hero to all of us. I think to all Republicans, he’s still the standard-bearer. And the reason is because of the way he did the job. He’s very principled. But he didn’t hate anybody, right?

That resonated both professionally and personally to me.

Professionally, I spent a huge amount of time on Capitol Hill as a liberal low-income activist when Reagan and Bush 41 were President.  It sure helped to have a Democratic populist ally like Bill Proxmire as chair of the Banking Commmittee.  He was not captured by bank money, like Democratic Banking Chair Chris Dodd (not to mention most Republicans) was further down the line.   But anything that got done in the 80's had to be bipartisan.  Especially if you were a liberal.  So these ideas are music to my ears.  This is how lots of important shit got done in the 1980's and 1990's.  In the 90's I did the same thing in the Oregon legislature.  My most fun happy warrior gig was annihilating Enron and getting a huge and permanent fund for renewable energy set up that has made Oregon a renewables leader ever since.  (Sorry, Gavin.)  Again, it had to be bipartisan and coalition building.

Personally, I have been a lifelong Wellstone liberal Democrat (he was my college professor who turned me lefty).  And my Dad, who almost lived to be 100, was a lifelong Reagan Republican.  So I learned early that we had to respect each other, and be able to agree to disagree.  Most of my family is left of center.  A few of my nieces and nephews are pretty hard core Trumpy Republicans.  The line that works with them is that my Reagan loving Dad and I disagreed on a lot of things.  But we could always talk, and respect each other, because we shared the same principles - good principles.  Which, of course, I got from him.  It is a line that works great with the Trumpers in my family.  And it works great because it is true.

The thing I liked most about Kevin McCarthy, as I stated before, is he is the White Republican conservative from a fairly Hispanic area who more than any other national elected official worked hard to bring Black and Hispanic and Asian American conservatives into the US House.  That was actually not good for the Democratic Party.  Since I would rather be able to go after Republicans for being the All White Male Party.  But what McCarthy did was good for the country, I think.  There will be less racism thanks to Republicans being more inclusive.

This spirit may be Johnson's hallmark, no matter how long he lasts.  He obviously believes deeply in the things he is saying, about loving - or, more importantly - respecting and finding common ground with - your enemies.  And it's working.  Maybe someday he'll even show some respect to The Gays!  😉

[Pete1111]

I agree Jonson gives an effective look at how politics can work.  These days that has much to do with which Repubs are pro-Putin or not.  The GOP has as tough a time working with each other as they do reaching across the aisle.

The article seemed unbalanced to me in that it was too anti-Biden/Pro-Trump.  One might expect that in a Mike Johnson interview.  But the "senior moment" accusation was such a softball moment.  Politico made it too easy for Johnson to piss on Biden and even easier to give Trump an anal tongue bath.   

Perhaps Johnson stipulated that he would not entertain criticism of Trump.  But that's not balanced journalism.  

Some say that O'Neill kissing Reagan in the hospital was a made up story.  It does sound almost like a joke, as if O'Neill told it one night, after too many glasses of wine.  He hated Reagan.  A lot of people did.

But in today's light, Reagan does seem quite tolerable.  Those were the days.

 

[stevenkesslar]

4 hours ago, Pete1111 said:

 

The article seemed unbalanced to me in that it was too anti-Biden/Pro-Trump.  One might expect that in a Mike Johnson interview.  But the "senior moment" accusation was such a softball moment.  Politico made it too easy for Johnson to piss on Biden and even easier to give Trump an anal tongue bath.   

 

I agree that it was unbalanced in the sense that it just let Johnson spell out his world view, without really challenging his assertions.  But that was what I liked about it.  It was an interview format.  So for something like that I am okay with just giving him the mike.   

Johnson came out of nowhere when McCarthy was crucified by his own party's whacko wing.  So this is the first thing I've read that really just let Johnson tell us how he sees the world.  And reading it did help me understand why he was chosen, and why he has been somewhat effective.

The thing that delighted me is the Ukraine vote.  And I think that probably speaks to the underlying political dynamics.  At least half of Republicans in the House probably think we should fund Ukraine, because it makes us look weak in the world if we don't.  Again, speaking to this in family terms, it just explodes my brain that my Dad's Reagan Cold War "Tear Down This Wall" Republican Party would say let's just hand Ukraine to Putin.  And the political irony is the Republicans make an okay argument that Biden can't be POTIS because he is very old and very weak and we just can't have an old and weak fuck like Biden be POTUS.  Because, face it, he's fucking old and so fucking weak everyone can see he is just a weak old fuck.  And, in fact, the polls make it very clear most Americans do see Biden pretty much that way.  So the Republicans have what could be a winning argument.  And then they turn around and say, "We Republicans gave out testicles to Putin, and we are happy to let him fuck us in the ass and take whatever he wants."  Sorry about the colorful language.  But I have no idea where this Republican Party came from.  And everyone around the world looks at the Republicans and says, "This is weakness.  This is hypocrisy.  America is a paper tiger."

So I give Johnson credit for figuring out how to work with that and do what, in his mind, Reagan would have done.  The story about Tip O'Neill, as you say, is probably bullshit.  I've read in several places that the supposed love affair between Tip and The Gipper was mostly a myth.  But that in itself tells us something.  Because Reagan clearly wanted to be seen as someone bipartisan who would compromise.  Johnson has now played his cards enough to reveal he is like Reagan in that sense.

The contrast I would make to Johnson is Newt Gingrich.  I think Gingrich is an ideological flame thrower who likes ideological war and is not a big fan of compromise.  I think he should get credit as one of the main architects of that wing of the Republican Party.  There was a long interview I read of Leon Panetta about the Clinton days and the government shutdown.  Panetta said that there was a key moment in private negotiations where POTUS Bill Clinton told House Speaker Gingrich something like, "Newt, I know what you want.  But I just can't give it to you."  The polls showed Republicans were being blamed for the shutdown.  So Dole, who wanted to run for POTUS in 1996 and knew this would hurt his chances, stepped in and cut the pragmatic deal with Clinton that ideologue Newt was not willing to compromise on.  All of that said a lot to me about the kind of pragmatist Dole was, and the kind of ideologue Gingrich is.

My takeaway from that interview is Johnson really wants Republicans to win the House in 2024, so he can still be Speaker.  I would bet money that when Johnson talks to Trump privately he says, "We can let Ukraine lose.  But it will be blamed on Republicans and it will hurt your chances of winning in 2024.  Is that what you want?"  As much as I despise Trump and pray he loses in 2024, I am actually glad that someone with more nuanced political skills like Johnson perhaps can make pragmatic arguments about issues like Ukraine that Trump may actually listen to.

[Pete1111]

The Ukraine vote was delayed long enough for Putin to capture more chunks of territory.   That Johnson hears classified discussions in the scif and then heads to Mar A Lago to huddle with Trump is worrisome.  How Politico allowed Johnson to trumpet that our borders are wide open is a reflection of our false lamestream media.    Republicans scuttled their own border bill.  The GOP bring different facts to the mike and the media allows it. 

You mentioned Wellstone.  When he first ran for Congress his campaign set up a booth in Loring Park in MPLS during Pride and staffed it with a hottie.  I still remember the attention he got.  

During a recent John Lovett interview, Al Franken talked about Wellstone.  He had been a champion college wrestler.  What a tragedy we lost such a bright, honorable politician.

Not so honorable, Johnson is clever for sure.   That's a good thing for keeping the lights on when his party is willing to shut the government down.  We might be thankful for his political smarts.   Fingers crossed.

 

 

 

[stevenkesslar]

14 hours ago, Pete1111 said:

The Ukraine vote was delayed long enough for Putin to capture more chunks of territory.   That Johnson hears classified discussions in the scif and then heads to Mar A Lago to huddle with Trump is worrisome.  How Politico allowed Johnson to trumpet that our borders are wide open is a reflection of our false lamestream media.    Republicans scuttled their own border bill.  The GOP bring different facts to the mike and the media allows it. 

You mentioned Wellstone.  When he first ran for Congress his campaign set up a booth in Loring Park in MPLS during Pride and staffed it with a hottie.  I still remember the attention he got.  

During a recent John Lovett interview, Al Franken talked about Wellstone.  He had been a champion college wrestler.  What a tragedy we lost such a bright, honorable politician.

Not so honorable, Johnson is clever for sure.   That's a good thing for keeping the lights on when his party is willing to shut the government down.  We might be thankful for his political smarts.   Fingers crossed.

 

 

 

 

My line about myself is that I have always been a whore.  First I was a political whore.  And then I just became a whore.  So your standards are higher than mine.  What I would sort of expect of the Matt Gaetz/MTG House clown show is that they will whine like bitches about the border and then kill a bipartisan border deal as soon as it becomes possible. 

So basically Johnson scores points with me for simply not being a reckless, cynical clown.  He is acting like an adult in the room.  Which is not easier since he has the biggest man baby in America lording over him.

The scary part of this, of course, is that if Trump wins and manages to carry the House and Senate, Johnson will be just as effective in getting conservative things I really dislike done.  If Biden wins, at least Johnson is the kind of person who lives in the grown up political world.  I really don't think Trump does.  Mostly, I don't think Trump gives a shit about policy.  If there is something that is the opposite of a policy wonk, Trump is it.  Jared Kushner said it best, comparing Trump to the Cheshire Cat Alice In Wonderland.  If you don't know where you are going, any path will get you there.

Which leads me to a few Wellstone stories.  It took him a while to figure out where he was going, too.

I remember early in my college career Paul jokingly tore into one of my best friends, and asked him something like, "When are you going to realize electoral politics is bullshit?"  Paul was basically a protest politics guy at the time.  The irony is that a decade later the friend he teased ended up being his campaign manager.  And they won.  Meanwhile, in 1990 I happened to be a low-income lobbyist putting together a $1 billion program for low-income homeowners with Fannie Mae and a bunch of mortgage lenders.  One of the guys I worked closely with had been a Reagan political operative.  He told me something like, "Your friend has no chance in hell of beating Boschwitz (the incumbent Minnesota Republican Senator).  Boschwitz is great at constituent services, and that is all that matters in the Senate." 

So much for constituent services.  A little trip down memory lane is in order.