House Speaker Mike Johnson needed his Republicans to come back strong and united this week after the shellacking they got from President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. What Johnson got is even more disarray, and it’s only Wednesday.
The blockbuster news Tuesday was Republican Rep. Ken Buck’s surprise announcement that he can’t bear to stick it out until November and is resigning next week. “It is the worst year of the nine years and three months that I’ve been in Congress and having talked to former members, it’s the worst year in 40, 50 years to be in Congress,” Buck told CNN. The Colorado conservative had already announced that this would be his last term in office, but now he’s decided he can’t tolerate any more.
“This place has just devolved into this bickering and nonsense and not really doing the job for the American people,” he added.
Buck had a parting shot for Johnson, just to keep him looking over his shoulder. “I think it’s the next three people that leave that they’re going to be worried about,” he told Axios on Tuesday.
Johnson should be worried. Buck blindsided Johnson with his announcement. “I was surprised by Ken’s announcement,” Johnson told reporters. He “did not know” it was coming, he confirmed, which might just be the most delicious part of the story.
That shows just how little control Johnson has over what is going to be an even skinnier majority, one that is on track to be just one vote in the next month or so. Johnson’s notorious inability to count votes and hold his conference together gives him no room for error.
Just how little control he has also made news Tuesday, when plans for the GOP strategy retreat starting Wednesday crumbled. The retreat, sort of a kickoff to the general election to shape policy, lost one of its keynote speakers, Fox Business host Larry Kudlow, who canceled at the last minute, a signal of worse to come. Axios reports that fewer than 100 members are going to bother to show. “I’d rather sit down with Hannibal Lecter and eat my own liver,” one GOP lawmaker told Axios.
To top it all off, what was supposed to be the highlight of Republicans’ week—the showcase hearing on Tuesday with special counsel Robert Hur about Biden’s fitness to lead—was a total flop for the GOP. This marks yet another point in the long, slow, and hysterical implosion of their grand impeachment plans.
The infighting, the nonsense, and Buck’s defection—all happening in just one day—combine to only back up Buck’s prediction that more of the rats are going to follow him off the ship.
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