The Republicans managed to elect a new speaker to the House of Representatives after a long struggle. The stages of the presidential mess once again show Trump’s power, writes ‘s U.S. correspondent Iida Tikka.
WASHINGTON The internal chaos of the Republican Party seemed to have subsided for a moment, when the party elected a new speaker from its ranks after a struggle that lasted for three weeks.
A representative from Louisiana was elected as the new speaker Mike Johnsonwhich few had ever heard of before this week’s vote.
Here are five things to know about Mike Johnson, the Washington Post headlined its article, probably at least in part because only five things are known about Johnson. The new president is not familiar to the vast majority of Americans, wrote news agency AP.
Journalists from Washington tried to quickly familiarize themselves with Johnson’s history and previous political policies. From Europe’s point of view, the biggest question is how the new president, who criticized Ukraine’s support, will approach the matter in the future.
It’s not up to him though. Immediately after the vote, it was clear why an unknown name was chosen as speaker. Johnson had the former president behind him Donald Trump’s seal of approval.
In the future, it is Trump who will therefore have considerable power over how laws and budgets are approved in Washington.
Mike Johnson is only at the beginning of his political career. He was elected to Congress for the first time in 2016.
Somewhat surprisingly, this unknown name succeeded where the more established Republican faces failed. The first candidate, also representing Louisiana Steve Scalise dropped out of the race in the early stages, even though many Republicans supported him.
Well-known Trumpist from Ohio Jim Jordan did not receive enough support from the House of Representatives in the vote, despite the fact that in an aggressive campaign, the Republican extreme encouraged voters to make pressure calls to Republican representatives who opposed Jordan.
Minnesota representative Tom Emmer withdrew from the race at the last minute, even though Republicans chose him as their nominee for speaker in a closed-door meeting. The reason for Emmer’s withdrawal was most obviously Trump, who publicly opposed Emmer’s election as speaker.
Johnson instead was fine, as he has proven his loyalty to the former president many times.
Johnson opposed the confirmation of the 2020 presidential election result. He not only voted against ratification, but campaigned to turn other Republicans against it. Johnson was also part of Trump’s defense team in the impeachment trial.
How Johnson would feel about confirming the election result as Speaker is a mystery. When a reporter tried to ask about Johnson’s election policies at a news conference on Wednesday, Johnson’s supporters drowned out the question with boos.
A more urgent question than the election however, is how Johnson’s actions affect government funding and support for Ukraine.
An agreement has not yet been reached on the state budget, but the administration is currently running hastily on the back of the agreed-upon continuation of funding. Its limit is approaching, and the regime’s lockdown is a real threat.
Perhaps an even more pressing vote is coming up on whether Congress will give the president its blessing Joe Biden for the requested support package of 100 billion, which is to be directed to the support of Ukraine and Israel and border security.
Johnson has previously been reluctant to support Ukraine, twice voting against it. It does not directly mean that, as the new speaker, he would block the vote on the continuation of the support. However, as Speaker, Johnson can decide when and under what conditions the vote will be held.
For that, Johnson certainly wants the blessing of his most important supporter, Donald Trump. Trump, on the other hand, has said that the war in Ukraine is not as important to the United States as it is to Europe. What that means in practice is unclear for now, but will become clear soon.