Megalomaniac-in-Chief Donald Trump is now under the impression that he also runs the House of Representatives, and that should concern every American.
According to a disturbing report from the New York Times, as the government shutdown nears the one-month mark, Trump recently remarked, “I’m the speaker and the president!”
How does Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) feel about that? According to reporter Annie Karni, he’s happy to do whatever Trump wants, even if that means diminishing his ability to lead the lower chamber of Congress.
“And Mr. Johnson, who without the president’s backing wields little influence over his own members, has chosen to make himself subservient to Mr. Trump, a break with many speakers of the past who sought in their own ways to act more as a governing partner with the president than as his underling… Mr. Johnson has done little in recent weeks to contest the point.”
Johnson’s willingness to bend to Trump’s every whim doesn’t bode well for the future of the U.S. republic, Karni notes.
“[Johnson’s] approach [is one] born of political expedience that could have far-reaching consequences for an institution that has already ceded much of its power to President Trump.”
Pretty soon, the House could be completely irrelevant, and that would further embolden Trump to see himself as an absolute dictator, the first American Caesar, which is what the Founding Fathers specifically wanted to avoid when they set up a clear separation of powers in the Constitution.
How does Mike Johnson feel about that? It’s unclear, as he’s far too busy kissing Trump’s fat ass every chance he gets, recently telling reporters the destruction of the White House East Wing to build a gaudy (and completely unnecessary) ballroom was warranted because, “The ballroom is going to be glorious.”
This is how democracies end.
