FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW YORK — What he did Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnsonobtaining the approval of $95 billion in aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan after months of stalemate, is something now rare in the “Make America Great Again” era. He challenged the majority of his party. Relying on the intelligence information personally illustrated to him by the head of the CIA Bill Burns but also on the advice of Mike Pompeo, Trump’s former secretary of state who convinced him that Russia, China and Iran are acting in concert, after meeting various European leaders but Ukrainian evangelical Christians also worried about the influence of the Moscow Orthodox Church and after praying, Johnson changed his position on aid to Kiev.
«He told me: I want to be on the right side of history»said Republican Michael McCaul, head of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Johnson thought about his son, who was enrolled at the Naval Academy. “I’d rather send ammunition to Ukraine than young Americans.” There are those who call it a conversion, those who define him as an “unlikely Churchill” or a “true Reaganite Republican”. «He is learning – said former speaker Newt Gingritch -. The Chamber is not a playground. History is being made here, we are talking about the potential Russian occupation of Ukraine.”
Trump said: «I’m with the speaker»; but she did not criticize Greene or ask her to desist. Johnson had also spoken to Biden, who gave him his support for the plan to pass aid through four bills, which include funds for Israel, the Indo-Pacific and an end to Chinese control of TikTok. Result: the 61 billion for Kiev passed, approved by less than half of the Republicans (112), but united on the other measures. Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries was crucial in bringing in the rest of the votes. But the search for compromise is taboo in the current political climate.
Two lawmakers besides Greene want the speaker’s head; others they invite him to resign. It’s not a given that Trump will come to his aid. Sources close to the former president tell the Daily Beast who doesn’t intend to lift a finger and has enough on his mind with the trial in New York. His son Don jr defined the law as “rubbish”. For Steve Bannon, Johnson is “a dead man walking”. Democrats could save it, but it’s unclear whether it can last. Johnson hopes Republicans will see the chaos as counterproductive
