The Navigator
Judgement in the fog, money, risk and the call others cannot make.
Mike Johnson fits the Navigator archetype, a leader defined less by grand design than by steering through hazardous terrain with limited margin for error. Elevated in October 2023 after weeks of Republican deadlock, he inherited one of the narrowest House majorities in modern history and a conference divided over spending, Ukraine aid, and procedural rebellions.
“Boo elections. Go away democracy. Boo. So the Republicans have chosen as their highest ranking elected official in the country someone who's been called a key architect of Trump's attempted coup who wants to end Medicare and Social Security as we know it, who wants a national abortion ban who's tried to criminalize gay marriage, gay sex,…”
“I have that. I said, you might be wondering who's Dean Phillips? I said, isn't he the guy they just selected speaker? No, that's Mike Johnson. Dean Phillips is the Mike Johnson of running against Joe Biden in the Democratic primary. He's a little-known congressman looking for a big promotion. Mike Johnson got his.”
“Yeah, I mean, the dynamics haven't changed. The fundamental dynamics, right? Like you could see maybe a CR passing for a couple months. But like eventually the hard right Mega Crew that ousted McCarthy in the first place is going to want their pound of flesh in terms of the policies they get, in terms of budget cuts.”
“And this is why the liberal laments that you hear a lot online that we heard a lot in 2016, and I think it was more warranted in 2016, of like, do not platform Trump, stop platforming Trump. No, no, do platform Trump.”
Wikiquote: “Public record read”
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