RING KISSING: Speaker Johnson goes to Mar-a-Lago to confer with Trump
House Speaker Mike Johnson journeyed down to Mar-a-Lago to visit former President Donald Trump — the current MAGA god — at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to see Trump for the first time since Johnson’s elevation.
There is no word on whether Trump asked, “Who are you?”
Of course, the third-highest ranking member of the United States government had to go down to Mar-a-Lago to see a criminal defendant and not the other way around. It is how things are done in MAGA world.
You gotta kiss the ring if you want to survive more than eight months:
Nice that political whore Kevin @GOPLeader McCarthy accepted the endorsement of Trump-In-Exile in the “Cheap All Night Diner” room at Mar-A-Lago #ItIsOurPleasureToServeYou #HotCoffee24HoursADay pic.twitter.com/0PpdRZpvqD
— Keith Olbermann⌚️ (@KeithOlbermann) January 28, 2021
Yes, we did notice the tackiness of inner Mar-a-Lago. It’s another trait Trump shares with Russians: overdone faux gold tackiness. (Outside, it is an architectural national historical treasure.)
Onward.
The trip comes at a bit of a difficult period for Johnson. After all, it was Johnson who infuriated the hard-right MAGAs by using Democrats to pass the continuing resolution a week ago, ending the threat of a government shutdown that Trump certainly didn’t want to just “giveaway.”
It does demonstrate that Trump’s influence over spending fights in Washington isn’t absolute, but the symbolism of the trip says a lot. Johnson has to head off any criticism coming from Trump.
Johnson’s job is hard enough. Indeed, it’s impossible, but – you know.
Johnson also did Trump and the far right the favor of releasing all the footage from January 6th so they could portray those certain portions where someone isn’t defecating in the Senate or climbing through a window to be shot — all to show us that January 6th was nothing more than a candlelit gathering to pray for soon to be president Biden.
As if we didn’t watch it on television, witnessed the horrific violence with our own eyes, and as if Mark Meadows didn’t get 400 texts from everyone telling Trump to tell the people to stop the violence.
From the Times report:
“Since Mr. Trump’s election in 2016, Republican congressional leaders have had to cultivate some kind of working relationship with him. But Mr. Johnson, who defended the former president in two Senate impeachment trials and played a lead role in trying to help him invalidate the 2020 election results, is positioning himself as the first speaker to be in complete lockstep with the former president.”
Well, lockstep may take on a whole new meaning if Trump wins in 2024. Johnson may well be fully “locked” with respect to policy, and he may look more like a goose when he steps in front of Trump.
There used to be “Kremlinologists” — intelligence experts who evaluated who was where in public settings in the Soviet’s Kremlin gatherings. Intelligence agencies around the world may have “White Houseologists.”
Or they can just listen to Trump because if Trump talks about “golden showers” in Iowa (and he did), Trump will definitely just tell our rivals everything they need to know.
Trump isn’t exactly good at keeping secrets except the stuff he’s done with Russia.
Yes, in an election where polling shows more and more young people — who fundamentally don’t know better — turning away from Biden (they don’t have the experience to see the decline in U.S. democracy and take it for granted), Johnson best be right at Trump’s side in full agreement.
God help us all. Trump could win. For Johnson, call it job security.
Or just call it security.
This column is based on original reporting by Annie Kernie of The New York Times.
I can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com and on “X” @JasonMiciak.
Editor’s note: This is an opinion column that solely reflects the opinions of the author
