Mike Johnson: Trumpist experiences ‘churchillian’ moment

The Speaker of the US House of Representatives got a deal on fresh US weapons for Ukraine through parliament this week, despite internal disputes among his Republicans.

For months, Mike Johnson – the rather accidental Speaker of the US House of Representatives, and in that position one of the most powerful people in Washington – held up a vote on a new shipment of US military and financial aid for Ukraine. Although Russia was gaining the upper hand in the war, Ukraine desperately needed fresh supplies and international pressure was mounting, Johnson remained close to the isolationist position of the far right wing of his Republican Party.

He believes, encouraged by presidential candidate Donald Trump, that the US should no longer intervene in foreign conflicts. And certainly not as long as Republican demands for stricter security of the southern border with Mexico, sensitive to illegal immigration, have not been met. Johnson was firmly on that America First line: when the US Congress released $40 billion for Ukraine in May 2020, not long after the Russian invasion, Johnson was one of the few members who voted against.

But the deeply religious representative from a remote corner of Louisiana changed her mind. Last week he overcame resistance in his own party and forged a coalition with the Democrats. He put the issue on the agenda and last Saturday the House overwhelmingly approved a package of $95 billion in aid for three allies, including $60 billion for Ukraine and the rest for Israel (including humanitarian aid for Gaza) and Taiwan . This opened the way: the Senate gave the green light on Tuesday, President Joe Biden signed the agreement on Wednesday and the first arms supplies were said to have left for Ukraine that same day. “History judges us,” an emotional Johnson said at the Capitol. “I could be selfish, but I do what I think is right.”

Johnson, 52, was an unknown member of the House until he was lifted from relative obscurity by his fellow party members in October. The deeply divided Republicans had dismissed heavyweight Kevin McCarthy, something that had never happened before, and eventually, as their fourth choice and after an endorsement from Trump, chose Johnson to succeed him.

Johnson, who had tried to challenge Trump’s election defeat against Biden after 2020, immediately had the Ukraine issue on his plate. For a long time he seemed paralyzed by the internal bickering, but the fact that he would arrive at a Churchillian moment – words of some Democrats – defied expectations.

He himself said that he had gained insight thanks to the top secret briefings on the progress of the war that he received from the intelligence services, something that was new for the relatively inexperienced Johnson. “I really believe that information,” he said, quite remarkable for a loyal Trumpist. ‘I believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin would continue marching towards Europe if nothing stands in his way.’

At the end of February, Johnson was summoned by Biden to the Oval Office, together with his Democratic opponent in the House, Hakeem Jeffries, and the two faction leaders in the Senate. The top politicians in the room, with many more miles under their belts, convinced him that the issue transcended the importance of the political games. He was told in detail that for every five Russian bombs the Ukrainian army could shoot back only one, and was given precise predictions about when the Ukrainians would run out of weapons altogether.

But his Christian faith also played a role. A Ukrainian human rights organization sponsored a large placard urging Johnson to take action, right in front of his church in his home base of Benton, a village of 2,066. The fact that his son is going to start military training also made Johnson realize that he would rather send ‘American bullets than American boys’ to Europe.

And he had an audience earlier this month at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s personal resort in Florida. There he seems to have received his blessing from the leader of his party, because Trump’s opposition to the Ukraine deal has completely quieted down. Johnson is doing ‘a very good job’, Trump said.

The question is how long he will remain Speaker of the House now that, according to the hardliners, to which he himself was counted, he has committed treason. The leader of that wing, agent provocateur Marjorie Taylor Greene, was already calling for his dismissal. Johnson also noticed in another way that, despite his agreement with history, he cannot do good for everyone. When he appeared Wednesday on the campus of Columbia University in Manhattan, where fierce protests are raging against Israeli aggression in Gaza, he was loudly booed. “Go back to Louisiana!” the students chanted. And also: ‘Mike, you suck!’