Speaker of the house position up for grabs.

[Deledrius]

So, new guy is Mike Johnson. He appears to be a complete psycho.

https://newrepublic.com/post/176439/rep ... ion-denier

Don't the Democrats have to vote on him getting the position too or am I getting mixed up?

He only needs a simple majority, so as long as the majority party approves, the Democrat votes literally don't matter.

[CmdrKing]

That the people who opposed Jordon supposedly over those very things voted for Johnson I'm surprised by. Maybe they just like that he looks more professional?

Same. I think the key factor is that he isn't as well known, so he didn't immediately raise as much pushback.

It's also likely these weren't the important reasons they opposed Jordan. Bacon said in an interview that his reluctance to Jordan wasn't any of the things that seem like they would matter, but simply the fact that the "rule" is they only bring a vote when they know they have the votes to win, and Jordan skipped that. It was procedural, not policy, for him. Even despite the threats.

Given the quick reversal on Emmer as well, it's possible there was a certain amount of support/lack of support from Trump involved in the voting strategies here.

I would hazard that while avoiding a direct Trump endorsement was probably part of it, a larger part would be Jordan’s personal scandals.

See ol’ Gym Jordan presided over massive ongoing sexual abuse of student athletes back when he was a coach at Ohio State, and a whole lotta fresh reporting about that is on the horizon. It’s honestly baffling he even put himself forward.

[sayla0079]

So, new guy is Mike Johnson. He appears to be a complete psycho.

https://newrepublic.com/post/176439/rep ... ion-denier

Don't the Democrats have to vote on him getting the position too or am I getting mixed up?

He only needs a simple majority, so as long as the majority party approves, the Democrat votes literally don't matter.

Thank you for clearing that up for me.

[clearspira]

Please correct me if i'm wrong because I absolutely could be, but doesn't the command structure of the US go President, Vice President, Speaker of the House? In that case, if the worst came to the worst and both the President and Vice President were to die, does that mean that your country switches from Democrat leadership to Republican leadership without an election? Or is this like some kind of temporary role that he has to hand over as soon as a new pres is decided upon? Like I say I could majorly have my facts wrong, but are you one car accident away from having Trump's best mate in the White House?

[TGLS]

Like I say I could majorly have my facts wrong, but are you one car accident away from having Trump's best mate in the White House?

In theory... In practice such an event has never happened.

[Deledrius]

I would hazard that while avoiding a direct Trump endorsement was probably part of it, a larger part would be Jordan’s personal scandals.

See ol’ Gym Jordan presided over massive ongoing sexual abuse of student athletes back when he was a coach at Ohio State, and a whole lotta fresh reporting about that is on the horizon. It’s honestly baffling he even put himself forward.

It's been an issue for a long time, and so far it hasn't seemed to harm his elections or his appointments on committees. Is there something new coming around to finally address this? If so, I've missed it.

Please correct me if i'm wrong because I absolutely could be, but doesn't the command structure of the US go President, Vice President, Speaker of the House? In that case, if the worst came to the worst and both the President and Vice President were to die, does that mean that your country switches from Democrat leadership to Republican leadership without an election?

That is the procedure, yes.

There are of course precautions taken to make this unlikely. OTOH, some of the people who know what those precautions are also benefit from them failing.

There are a lot of reasons that people are upset over this Speaker. This is a big one.

[McAvoy]

So, new guy is Mike Johnson. He appears to be a complete psycho.

https://newrepublic.com/post/176439/rep ... ion-denier

Don't the Democrats have to vote on him getting the position too or am I getting mixed up?

He only needs a simple majority, so as long as the majority party approves, the Democrat votes literally don't matter.

Exactly. It's why the Speaker of the House was always the party with the majority. Unwritten rules you don't vote against your party. Which is also why this new Speaker and the previous one is so unique in American history.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

It’s how Gerald Ford became president. He was the only unelected president.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

So, new guy is Mike Johnson. He appears to be a complete psycho.

https://newrepublic.com/post/176439/rep ... ion-denier

Don't the Democrats have to vote on him getting the position too or am I getting mixed up?

He only needs a simple majority, so as long as the majority party approves, the Democrat votes literally don't matter.

Exactly. It's why the Speaker of the House was always the party with the majority. Unwritten rules you don't vote against your party. Which is also why this new Speaker and the previous one is so unique in American history.

The order goes head of state > head of upper house > head of lower house.


Personally I don’t see any advantage to the speaker being in such a line in the interest of modern republic standards.

[hammerofglass]

Just some of those fun "if we don't acknowledge political parties as a concept maybe they'll go away" parts of the US Constitution.