Politics Today Bulletin 29, 12/18/24

… MAGA Republicans are furious at Mike Johnson after he released the CR last night, which they claim is loaded with new and excessive spending. Rather than pass a “clean” CR to continue the existing budget at current spending levels for another 90 days, Johnson decided to add additional spending in a variety of areas that was certain to alienate far-right members.

… Why? It may be that Johnson realized that there was simply no way he was ever going to get Republican unanimity on any spending package and he needed Democratic support. But putting together a CR that makes Democrats happy puts his Speakership very much at risk with a solid block of Republicans rapidly losing confidence in him as a leader.

… The problem for Johnson, or any potential successor if he is replaced, is that Republicans have a tiny majority and they have demonstrated repeatedly that they can’t agree on anything substantive. And new members who were just elected in 2024 are even more militant and far-right than many of the people he has already had problems with in the past. How to govern when you need a unanimous verdict for everything but nobody likes each other or agrees with each other? You don’t.

… How does this play out? It will likely pass with Democratic votes. Lots of Republicans in the House and Senate will vote against it. They will return to their districts for the holidays, go on Fox and Newsmax, jump on social media, and blast away at the feckless leadership of their own party. Trump Unity.

… I also see this costing Johnson his Speakership if the current bill passes. I don’t see how he can possibly survive. He has zero political skills. None. He is literally the opposite of Pelosi when it comes to strategy. She is brilliant, he is a dunce.

… To make matters even worse for Johnson politically, Members of Congress will now also get a pay raise as a result of the new bill. He has an impeccable sense of strategic timing. Why not just throw everything in there that people hate two days before a Christmas government shutdown?

… The report I saw on the congressional pay raise was that their annual salaries will go from $174,000 a year to $243,000 a year. That’s a nice raise. Ben, if you’re reading this - I’m better at my job than they are at theirs. Just saying.

… Some Republican reaction:

… Kat Cammack: “Conservative Republicans should start an OnlyFans account considering how often we get screwed. The CR is a bad deal.”

… Nancy Mace: “I don’t make threats, only promises - and I promise to hold the line on this CR.”

… Elon Musk: “Ever seen a bigger piece of pork? This bill should not pass. Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!” That would include Mike Johnson.

… DOGE committee member Thomas Massie said that he will oppose Mike Johnson for Speaker in January and will nominate someone else.

… Rick Scott: “1,500 pages, billions in reckless and unpaid spending, new bills that we have no time to review and wouldn’t have passed otherwise - business as usual in Washington!”

… Tommy Tuberville: “It’s absolutely ridiculous what we’re doing here. We should’ve gotten a clean CR. Mike Johnson promised that.” (But he then went on to say that he agrees with new funding for farmers and disaster relief, which is not a clean CR).

… Paul Gosar: “The CR is garbage. I will be a hard no.”

… Rand Paul: “I had hoped to see Speaker Johnson grow a spine, but this bill full of pork shows he’s a weak, weak man. A sad day for America.”

… Matt Gaetz: “The CR is DOGE kryptonite. It locks in the spending that will destroy America.”

… Keith Self (R-TX): “We won. We should start acting like it.”

… Victoria Spartz: “I think a lot of Republicans, including moderate Republicans, are questioning whether Johnson can lead. We don’t have the right leaders with backbone and vision.”

… Dan Meuser (R-PA): “I’m leaning no on this bill. Let’s face it, there could be a government shutdown.”

… Michael Cloud (R-TX): “Word is the CR vote will be today at 5, which is 1,345 minutes after the text was released. There are 1,547 pages in the bill. That’s less than 1 minute per page to read it. I will be a NO vote.”

… Ralph Norman (R-SC): “I will personally be raising hell if we vote on this omnibus in under 72 hours from receiving the text.”

… Late in the day, Anna Paulina Luna announced that she would vote against the bill despite the fact that a big chunk of the new spending was specifically for her district to provide aid to her constituents who were victims of a hurricane. I’m sure that will go over big in Pinellas County.

… Johnson told Fox that he was on the phone last night with Musk and Ramaswamy until midnight since they were so upset. He said this is what he told them, “We got to get this done because here’s the key. By doing this, we are clearing the decks and we are setting up Trump to come in, roaring back with the America First agenda. That’s what we’re going to do with gusto beginning January 3 when we start the new Congress.”

… What a load of BS. Doesn’t seem like Johnson is fooling anyone. He is looking for Trump to save him by getting all the House Republicans in line because he can’t do it. I seriously doubt Trump can do it either - he’s never been able to before and now he enters office as a lame duck.

… Johnson did such a great job convincing Musk by talking to him until midnight that Musk posted on X at 4 AM that Republicans should vote against it. What a leader.

… But then, early in the evening, we finally heard from Dear Leader in Palm Beach. And he ordered House Republicans to essentially agree on and pass a clean CR with no help from Democrats. Good luck. “Republicans must GET SMART and TOUGH. If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then CALL THEIR BLUFF.”

… Except Republicans control the House, not the Democrats. So they would be shutting down the government.

… Sen Dick Durbin (D-IL) got into a little argument in the hall with a reporter per Fox about the pay raise:

Reporter: Should we give them more money?

Durbin: What about the media? Think about that first.

Reporter: We're not paid by public money.

Durbin: I know you're not, but half of your listeners are not there anymore. You're still getting the same paycheck. What's going on?

Reporter: Well, I mean, is it taxpayer money? Do you guys deserve a raise?

Durbin: Let me tell you, I think that men and women serving in Congress, House and Senate by large are hardworking, principled people and deserving to be adequately compensated.

… Fox programming today was 50% Republicans complaining about Mike Johnson and 50% on mystery drones.

… Fox did post a story on their website noting that the FBI has asked people to please not shoot or point lasers at things in the sky.

… Joe Biden was asked about the drones. He basically blamed most of the hysteria on Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ): “Nothing nefarious. I think one started, and they all got - everybody wanted to get in the deal.”

… Rep. Tim Burchett said that he thinks the drones are from China and says there is no way China would dare fly the drones over Tennessee because people there would shoot them down.

… Sen. Chuck Schumer brought a bipartisan bill to the floor today to provide funding and authority for local law enforcement agencies to track drones. Schumer said the agencies report that they simply don’t have the equipment or personnel to track down all the complaints and reports.

… The House Ethics Committee voted in secret to release their report on Matt Gaetz shortly before he resigned from Congress. The report was about to be released just days after Gaetz resigned, which he thought would block it from ever coming out. But the report will now be released anyway, since he continues to hint at running for office again, and is expected to come out right after Christmas.

… And will be posted on the internet.

… Gaetz then responded by posting a bizarre statement: “In my single days, I often sent funds to women I dated - even some I never dated but who asked. I dated several of these women for years. I have never had sexual contact with someone under 18. My 30s were an era of working very hard - and playing hard too.”

… More Gaetz: “It’s embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank, and smoked more than I should have earlier in life.”

… That is not the statement of an innocent man with nothing to hide.

… Wednesdays are always tough because my live podcast Uncovered is 90 minutes today, and that doesn’t include show prep or watching it back to post clips on social media. I try my best to keep up with research for this column, but Wednesday bulletins are always likely to be a little shorter because of that.

… Trump posted that it was “really too bad AOC lost the battle for the leadership seat. She should keep trying. Someday she will be successful!”

… AOC then attached a screen shot of Trump’s post and captioned it: “Damn, you