Speaker of the House Mike Johnson went on Fox News after President Biden’s State of the Union (SOTU) speech, in which President Biden confronted Republicans for rejecting the bipartisan border bill. When the Fox News host asked him if House Republicans rejected the bill offered by Democrats that would have fixed the border problem Speaker Johnson said that the bill did not pass the senate.
What Speaker Johnson said was true. But what he did not say was that congressional conservative Republicans were fine with this bill until Donald Trump informed them that he was against it. Conservative senator James Langford of Oklahoma was negotiating the bill along with Democratic senator Chris Murphy and independent senator Kyrsten Sinema. Further, Speaker Johnson did not say that when Trump implied that he wanted them to reject it; led by Trump’s sycophants, all the Republicans fell in line and did as they were instructed to do.
They did this without even reading the text of the bill, to which many of them had provided input. Another thing that Speaker Johnson did not say was that although negotiations on this bill had been going on for four months and were almost complete, he (Speaker Mike Johnson) informed the senate that the bill would be dead on arrival in the House before the senate had even voted on it.
Among those senators who voted against the bill was Senator Katie Britt who gave the response to President Biden’s State of the Union speech. She skewered President Biden for not doing anything about the border situation even after many of the things that she suggested should be done about the border were in that bill. In her response, she talked about how Republicans are in support of in vitro fertilization (IVF). Yet, Republicans in Alabama had just passed a law that said frozen embryos were children. This caused IVF clinics to immediately halt services for fear of being prosecuted for murder if any embryos were accidently damaged to the extent that they were unusable: Senator Britt is from Alabama.
Senator Britt even told a story about an immigrant that was raped and implied, without revealing that it occurred, according to MSNBC host Joy Ried, “under another president’s administration and in Mexico not America, that this was President Biden’s fault because of his border policy. When on Fox News she was given the opportunity by the host to provide clarification on her raped immigrant story and walk it back, she did not.” Senator Britt’s response was meandering, short on facts and worthwhile substance. It seemed designed only as pabulum to get viewers’ votes.
In the meantime, Speaker Johnson made sure to mention how partisan that President Biden’s SOTU speech was, and to emphasize just how partisan it was, he said that it was a campaign speech. To remember all the partisan stuff that President Biden said and be sure to label it a campaign speech must be the reason why Speaker Johnson forgot to include key details, like those mentioned above, as to why the bill failed to pass the senate. You know, like in that TV commercial that says in order to remember something, you have to forget something else. While Speaker Johnson was busy forgetting the “something else” in order to remember all the partisan stuff that President Biden said, other Republicans complained about how they thought and hoped that President Biden would give a unity speech, something that would bring people together.
As regards the comments from those Trump sycophants and other senators who said President Biden took cheap shots at Republican members of congress through his comments; when they had the opportunity, and duty, to take shots at Trump for his conduct during the January 6, 2021 insurrection and their fellow Republicans who aided and abetted him before and after the fact, they did not. They were all cowards and they took the cowards way out; they remained silent! To make matters worse, they have continued their silence and have now assisted, whether overtly or tacitly through their continued cowardice, in making him their 2024 nominee for president.
Republicans have circled the wagons around Donald Trump: Donald Trump, this twice impeached ex-The Donald J. Trump of the United States of America who is still facing four cases and 91 counts against him and who just hosted Viktor Orban, Hungary’s authoritarian leader and key Putin ally, at Mar-a-Lago. This support for Trump is being led by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Mike Johnson. Mike Johnson is relatively new at politics at the level that he holds as House Speaker but he is very smooth, has a personable air about him and is a quick learner. Since his policies are in line with the small extremist group that has taken the Republican conference hostage and he strongly supports Trump, this makes him a formidable advisory for those who want America to remain a democracy.
For everyone who reads this post it is important that you realize what is happening in America before it is too late and do something about it; use your vote! Our democracy is being taken away from us. Trump has said that he wants to be a dictator and there are those among his supporters who say that is what America needs right now. Some of those same supporters have said that violence should be used, if necessary, to put him back in office. It is also worth reiterating that Trump met with authoritarian leader Viktor Orban at Mar-a-Lago after President Biden’s State of the Union Speech and heaped him with praise while calling him “great” and an “uncontroversial” leader. Trump’s behavior and the current situation that America is in should be a worry to all Americans. In the words of President Biden, if you are not worried about it, you should be.
Accordingly, I implore those who read this article to educate yourselves on the issues. Do not be fooled by soundbites! Do not watch what Republicans say, watch what they do! Two good examples of Republicans saying one thing and doing another are given in this article: 1) Republican senator Katie Britt’s response to President Biden’s State of the Union speech then shortly thereafter, her failure to correct her immigrant rape story when given the opportunity by the Fox News host to do so. And 2) Speaker Mike Johnson’s response to the Fox News host about whether House Republicans rejected the bipartisan border bill that could have fixed America’s southern border problem.
Again, do not watch what these Trump-led Republicans say, watch what they do. And always remember, whether you are a Democrat, Republican, or Independent, your vote is the most important one of all…unless you don’t use it.
Eulus Dennis – author, M2: Street Cop To Top Cop, Operation Rubik’s Cube, and Living Between The Line