Politics

Speaker Mike Johnson adds to his list of avoidable embarrassments

Published

1 year ago

November 12, 2024

Speaker Mike Johnson adds to his list of avoidable embarrassments

After voters handed Republicans a narrow majority in the House of Representatives, GOP leaders had high hopes. The party and its members appeared convinced as this Congress got underway that Republicans wouldn’t just rack up victories, they’d also impress the public with their vision and legislative prowess.

So much for that idea.

The GOP-led House has generated one fiasco after another. Resignations in the chamber have reached a generational high. Legislative progress has slowed to a pace unseen in nearly a century. Lawmakers have struggled mightily to complete basic tasks. In the spring, House Speaker Mike Johnson organized a retreat focused on unifying his conference, and most of his members didn’t show up.

Soon after, one of the party’s most radical members launched an effort to oust the incumbent House speakerwhich comes six months after the previous ouster of the last House speaker. It was around this time when a Punchbowl News report concluded, “This is the most chaotic, inefficient and ineffective majority we’ve seen in decades covering Congress.”

Can things get worse. Of course they can. NBC News reported:

Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday yanked a government funding bill off the House floor hours before an expected vote after a growing number of disgruntled Republicans vowed to tank the measure.

The beleaguered House speaker’s original plan was to pass appropriations bills months ago that would fund the government through the next fiscal year. That plan collapsed in July when Johnson’s own members balked.

As members returned to Capitol Hill from their August break, the GOP leader embraced a new plan: The House would, at Donald Trump’s direction, push a temporary spending bill that included cuts and a far-right election scheme called the Save Actwhich would require proof of citizenship to register to vote.

If Democrats opposed the scheme, Johnson said, then Republicans would allow the government to shut down at the end of the month.

The House speaker’s plan faced swift and bipartisan opposition, but he said he was pushing forward anyway. Johnson was backed by his party’s former president, who published thoughtful messages onlineincluding one that said, in reference to federal operations, “CLOSE IT DOWN!!!”

Johnson said he’d bring his plan to the House floor on Wednesday. Then he came to terms with the fact that too many of his own members refused to support his bill — at which point the speaker pulled his bill and scrapped his plans.

No one seems to have any idea what GOP leaders will do next. If the Louisiana Republican continues to insist on pushing a far-right spending bill, filled with radical and unnecessary anti-election measures, he’ll certainly make Trump happy, but Johnson won’t have a bill that can pass either chamber.

If the House speaker backs down and agrees to a clean, bipartisan bill, he’ll prevent a shutdown, but he’ll be dependent on Democrats to save his skin — again — and further weaken his standing within the GOP conference he ostensibly leads.

Complicating matters, Johnson’s latest embarrassment comes on the heels of several months’ worth of similar setbacks.

“Extreme MAGA Republicans have been in the majority for over 18 months,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement in July. “Can anyone name a single thing extreme MAGA Republicans in the House have done in order to make life better for the American people? A single thing that they have done? You can’t. … They are incapable of governing.”

Two months later, the New York Democrat’s assessment continues to ring true.

Steve Benen

Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an BLN political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”

Politics

Kamala Harris backs Jasmine Crockett in bitter Texas Democratic Senate primary

Published

2 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Former Vice President Kamala Harris is wading into the heated Texas Democratic Senate primary recording a robocall for Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the final days before Tuesday’s election.

“Hi, this is Kamala Harris, and I’m calling to encourage you to please go vote for my friend Jasmine Crockett in the Democratic primary,” Harris says in a pre-recorded message, which was first reported by the Texas Tribune.

“Texas has the chance to send a fighter like Jasmine Crockett to the United States Senate. Jasmine has the experience and record to hold Donald Trump and his billionaire cronies accountable,” she continues. “It’s time to turn Texas blue.”

Harris’ endorsement marks a major jolt for Crockett in her intensifying primary fight with Texas state Rep. James Talarico on the final day of early voting in the state. The outcome of the Democratic primary, and the equally turbulent Republican primary, could prove pivotal in determining whether Democrats have a chance of taking control of the Senate.

Crockett and Harris have forged a close relationship — Crockett served as a co-chair of Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign and spoke at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, where she detailed Harris’ mentorship when she first arrived in Congress. In a December interview, Crockett said she sought advice from the former vice president before entering the Senate race.

Crockett’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The endorsement comes as Crockett has drawn criticism for her handling of media coverage of her campaign. A reporter for The Atlantic said Crockett’s campaign removed her from an event due to her past coverage and her campaign reportedly called the police on a CNN reporter who visited a campaign office. Crockett has said there is “no evidence” the reporter was ejected from a campaign event.

Since her 2024 defeat, Harris has only weighed in on a handful of electoral contests, but this is her first time backing a Democrat ahead of a contested primary. She traveled to Tennessee in support of state Rep. Aftyn Behn’s closer-than-expected defeat to Rep. Matt Van Epps in December.

She also endorsed some other close allies who sought higher office, including New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno, who worked on Harris’ 2019 presidential campaign before running for mayor last year, and Dan Koh, a former White House aide in the Biden administration running in Massachusetts’ 6th Congressional district.

The endorsement offers a test of Harris’ political capital in the wake of the 2024 election. In interviews and appearances tied to her book tour detailing the whirlwind presidential campaign, Harris repeatedly refused to rule out running for political office in the future, despite passing on running for governor of California.

Politics

Bannon blasts Trump campaign aides in Texas Senate showdown

Published

14 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

DALLAS — When President Donald Trump pops up in Texas for an event at the Port of Corpus Christi on Friday, he’s not expected to put his finger on the scale in the closely watched Republican Senate primary between incumbent John Cornyn, state Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt — all of whom will be in attendance.

But Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign team’s involvement with Cornyn’s reelect is opening a fresh wound for some pro-Paxton MAGA types.

Tony Fabrizio, Trump’s top pollster, is working for Cornyn’s campaign, and Chris LaCivita, one of Trump’s top campaign hands, works as a senior adviser for the pro-Cornyn super PAC Texans for a Conservative Majority. Steve Bannon, the longtime MAGA torchbearer, has taken issue with Fabrizio and LaCivita’s involvement.

“My belief is the Trump team should have stayed out of this race, absolutely,” Bannon told Blue Light News from a rented ranch in North Texas, where he’s been broadcasting his “War Room” show.

Asked about Bannon’s criticism of their involvement with Cornyn’s reelection efforts, Fabrizio did not respond — but LaCivita texted Blue Light News a fiery reply: “Associating with Senator Cornyn is better than being a lacky [sic] for Epstein,” he said, an apparent reference to Bannon’s newly surfaced ties to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The Justice Department’s release of documents in January revealed extensive exchanges that Epstein had with Bannon as he mounted a political influence campaign across Europe. Bannon has said little publicly about his relationship with Epstein, but he did previously call for an independent investigation into the files. Bannon didn’t respond to a request for comment on LaCivita’s response.

The intraparty conflict also foreshadows what’s likely to be an increasing number of such battles for the future of the Republican Party. Bannon, who’s all in for Paxton, is portraying the expected runoff between Paxton and Cornyn as nothing less than the battle for the soul of MAGA.

“The Paxton situation is critical, because he has been the MAGA guy since Day One,” Bannon told Playbook. Paxton, Bannon said, is more than just a candidate in a contested GOP primary. “He is a symbol of the heart of the grassroots MAGA movement.”

A White House official told Blue Light News “the president is neutral until he’s not,” and added that “John Cornyn votes with the President.”

LaCivita declined to share the backstory of how he and Fabrizio ended up working with Cornyn.

But the White House doesn’t seem bothered. “We don’t regulate the business/political choices of private individuals — if they are a part of our world — in a race where the President is neutral,” the White House official said.

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