Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) said aid to Ukraine, which he opposes, will pass, but he still doesn’t agree with Mike Johnson’s initiation.
Washington Post national security reporter John Hudson posted:
I just spoke with Matt Gaetz, who just got off the phone with Speaker Johnson. Gaetz said he now expects aid to Ukraine will pass — an outcome he has long tried to avoid. He expressed dismay given his influential role in delaying aid so far. “This was an abject surrender.”
When asked if he would seek to oust Johnson, Gaetz said he continues to have “concerns that a vacate motion” will result in a Democratic speaker of the House.
The vacate motion only works if Democrats vote against the speaker. The vacate motion worked against Kevin McCarthy because McCarthy lied to the Democrats, left them out of the process, and thought he could appease the MAGAs to stay in power.
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Mike Johnson sees the Democrats as the enemy in a civil war, but at least he understands that he needs Democratic votes to get anything done and has no problem relying on Democratic votes to keep the speakership.
Gaetz’s concerns about the vacate motion resulting in a Democratic speaker have some validity. The Republican majority will soon be reduced to one vote, meaning that electing Hakeem Jeffries’ speaker would only require a couple of House Republicans to tire of the chaos and be willing to join Democrats in a House coalition.
Putin’s GOP will soon suffer a great loss, which affects democracy, the United States and the Ukrainian people.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a member of the White House press pool and a congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a bachelor’s degree in political science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
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