Navalny was willing to take on Vladimir Putin and risk his life. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson is so afraid of losing his speakership that he caves to Marjorie Taylor Greene

Upon the news of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s death, House Speaker Mike Johnson denounced Vladimir Putin.

“As Congress debates the best path forward to support Ukraine, the United States and our partners must be using every means available to cut off Putin’s ability to fund his unprovoked war in Ukraine and aggression against the Baltic states,” he said in a statement.

Of course, Johnson’s words would hold much more weight if he had actually put through the aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan that the Senate passed on the floor of the House of Representatives. Indeed, as the Senate labored late into the night on Monday and into the wee hours of Tuesday to pass that aid bill, Johnson summarily killed the bill because it did not address immigration at the US-Mexico border.

This came after Johnson and the rest of House Republican leadership blew up a bipartisan agreement that would have included aggressive restrictions to immigration in exchange for aid to Israel and Ukraine. Johnson, like most of the Republican Party, did so in the service of Donald Trump after he came out in opposition to the deal — despite the fact it would give him sweeping authority to deport migrants if he became president again.

  • rdyoung@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Why do so many people think that anyone is doing anything on trumps behalf? Even if trump did ask directly or indirectly for things, he most certainly did not come up with ideas himself. He has never put forth any policy that came out of his own head, everything he says he says because someone else is telling him to. At this point I wonder exactly how many masters he actually has and if they have worked out a time share agreement or if it’s just first come, first serve.

    • RubberDuck@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Does it matter? But in this case he wants to campaign on the border. Thus passing a border bill would hurt him and help Biden.

      He’s such a narcissist that even if people are whispering in his ear, he will believe he thought of it himself and do it. The effect is the same.

      I’m not saying he is some mastermind… (although bankrupting a casino does take skill.) But he will endorse the opponent of any Republican that opposes him in an election. Notany lower politicians fear the other party, they fear their own party endorsing their replacement because many elections are not even close but safely D or R.

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        5 months ago

        I’m seriously saddened and disillusioned that so many on the left think trump is the one in charge on that side. He’s a grade A moron who is only famous because he is a clown show on wheels. He has bankrupted more companies than anyone else and I’m not talking about the strategic and legal (though bullshit) bankrupting of companies after loading your pocket with their debt. I’m talking strictly about the businesses he couldn’t make work while others were doing fine under the same economic circumstances.

        I’m getting extremely close to just moving out of the USA. If enough people think that trump is their savior and the rest can’t seem to find their way to back any alternative even if it’s not who we would prefer (yes, I’m talking about Hillary and now Biden). I’m not sure I want to be around most people in this country anymore. If trump actually wins this time, this country is done for and so few on the left seem to grasp the long term consequences of letting perfect be the enemy of good.

        • RubberDuck@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          I don’t think you would like it outside the US. As what US refers to as left wing is considered right wing in the rest of the world.

          • NABDad@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            I have absolutely no chance of having another country let me move in, but God damn it would be absolutely fantastic to live someplace where I’m considered a right wing nutjob.

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        5 months ago

        Citation is the past 30 years of watching him do whatever the fuck he’s been doing.

        If you believe that trump has come up with any actual policy then I ask you to cite those. I’m talking actual, well written plans regardless of how flawed they may be when executed. I’m not talking about broad statements like make america great again or closing the borders to immigration, etc.

        Trump is the kind of person that underlings have to make him think it’s his idea or else it never happens.

        Anyone who ever watched his reality show on creating a business from scratch should be able to tell you how smart trump isn’t. I tried watching it once and gave up because it was all about the drama and even when it came time for the roundtable or whatever, trump never gave any real advice or help. Why? Because he doesn’t actually know how to run a business or even start one from scratch.

        I hate reality TV but if Mark Cuban did one and did right I’d watch it almost religiously.

        • bostonbananarama@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          I’m not the person you were talking to, but the last 30 years have been moronic off the cuff ideas that were poorly executed. It looked a lot like his presidency. Trans service member ban by tweet, banning Muslims from 7 countries on a whim, etc. No reason to think those weren’t his ideas, as they’re both stupid and bigoted, they fit nicely within his wheelhouse.

          But more importantly, you don’t get to claim that he has no hand is developing policies and then ask others to prove you wrong. You made the claim, you have the burden on supporting it or making clear that it’s merely speculation.

          • rdyoung@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            None of what you said is policy at all. And yes, I get to turn it around because I am not aware of any speech or even publication by him or his team that outlines what his administration will work towards and what they stand for. This is also true for every single republican running over the past few decades.

            As for the shit he did pull. Yeah, maybe some of it was a knee jerk reaction but I’d still bet that he is getting notes passed from the likes of putin, Harlan Crow, etc. And none of that is his idea. Hell, most of the progressive ideas the right fights against were originally from their side of the aisle though they were from before some of them were born.

        • qprimed@lemmy.ml
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          5 months ago

          border wall is not policy, its marketing and political posturing - something the orange asshole appears to be quite good at when directed towards his rubes.

          • rdyoung@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            Where did I say border was policy? I specifically said that it wasn’t. I called that out intentionally because some people may think that it counts as policy when it doesn’t. Over arching changes to border security and or immigration would count but something as stupid as build a wall and make Mexico pay for it isn’t policy.

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              5 months ago

              you intimated that these ideas are not from his own head. I would say that many of them are. he is a politcal used car salesman and knows quite well what motivates his base. It would seem (likewise, without proof) that much of the bullshit he erroneously puts forth as “policy” tracks pretty well with his entire life arc - its deeply embedded in him; a means to an end.

              he is now surrounded by a cadre of likeminded conmen, so lots of walls to throw shit at, but the execution is all him.