Brian C Joondeph
The Sound of Music was an iconic movie for my generation. We watched it at movie theaters when made its yearly appearance, then eventually on television. If you missed it, you had to wait a year until it was rebroadcast as there was no video on demand as there is today.
It was a fun movie, featuring sing-a-long music, romance, mischief, and a realistic view of jackbooted Nazis destroying a beautiful country. There was no same sex marriage, no transgenders, no mention of global warming, diversity, wokeness, or any other message permeating current movies and television shows.
Naturally the media bristled, especially since the jackbooted thugs in the movie are now the modern Democrat party, in all three letter government agencies, harassing and imprisoning their political opponents.
The Daily Beast claimed, “Everyone hated The Sound of Music”, just as they claim that everyone hates Donald Trump, white men, Christians, heterosexuals, gun owners, patriots and the like, all of which are modern day Captain Von Trapp’s.
One popular song was “How do you solve a problem like Maria?” Fifty years later we have a new Maria, a “flibbertijibbet” House Speaker named Mike Johnson. And a problem he is. Can he be solved?
Johnson replaced Kevin McCarthy, who broke numerous promises to his caucus including the full release of January 6 videos, a proper budget process as opposed to “omnibus” bills that Congress had little or no time to review and bringing each spending bill to Congress for a separate vote.
McCarthy was replaced by a compromise choice of Mike Johnson. As The Who sang, “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss”, Speaker Johnson is the new boss, also pushing massive omnibus spending bills, not releasing all the January 6 entrapment evidence, supporting continued warrantless spying on Americans, and pushing endless aid to secure the borders of countries thousands of miles away from America while leaving America’s borders wide open.
He follows the pattern of past GOP Speakers – Boehner, Ryan, McCarthy, and now Johnson. It seems Republican voters continue to ask and vote for a medium rare steak only to be served a burnt, inedible slab of meat.
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At the time of this writing, 100 House Republicans, along with all Democrats, voted “Ukraine First”, leaving America Last. As Senator Rand Paul tweeted,
Ukrainian flags fly in the chamber of the UNITED STATES House of Representatives as they vote to send more of your hard-earned money to a corrupt foreign regime. And just like that they shout “UKRAINE! UKRAINE!” while happily working to secure Ukraine’s borders, not ours.
The bill also included billions for Israel and Taiwan while 78 percent of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, and 300,000 known illegal migrants enter the U.S. each month.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was “personally” grateful to “Speaker Mike Johnson for the decision that keeps history on the right track,” meaning, the deaths of tens of thousands more Ukrainian men.
Is the family of Laken Riley, brutally murdered by an illegal alien, “personally grateful” to Speaker Johnson for his tough stand on our open border?
So much for Congress representing the American people. Do Americans think borrowing money from China, since America is broke, and sending it 4,000 miles away is a good thing?
“This is the best possible product that we can get under these circumstances, to take care of these really important obligations,” Johnson said Friday. Does he have any obligation to struggling Americans? Apparently not.
The Speaker is also a believer in white privilege and systemic change. What difference would it make if AOC or Maxine Waters took Johnson’s place as Speaker? Democrats are advancing their agenda with a Republican House Speaker. They want to keep Johnson right where he is.
Johnson is playing a dangerous game, defying much of his GOP caucus, “Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, putting his job on the line, relied on Democratic support this week to set up a series of votes on three aid bills.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wants to remove Speaker Johnson via a “motion to vacate.” She has some support within her caucus, but then what?
With a one-vote majority, the GOP is playing a dangerous game. If they remove Johnson, maybe he quits the House as did McCarthy and GOP Reps. Ken Buck and Mike Gallagher, leaving Democrats in charge.
Former President Trump muddied the waters with his support of Johnson, “Trump says he thinks Speaker Mike Johnson is ‘doing a very good job’ amid ouster threat from Marjorie Taylor Greene.”
I doubt this is some form of 5D chess from Trump, only the simple reality that if Johnson is ousted and Democrats take control of the House, the November election is over for Trump.
Remember the U.S. Supreme Court decision on “insurrection” claimed by the Colorado Supreme Court? The March 4 decision stated:
The Constitution empowers Congress to prescribe how those determinations should be made. The relevant provision is Section 5, which enables Congress, subject of course to judicial review, to pass “appropriate legislation” to “enforce” the Fourteenth Amendment.
In other words, Congress, by a simple majority, can pass a bill claiming that Trump is disqualified from election due to being an “insurrectionist.” That would be the first order of business by a Democrat-controlled House. The Senate would pass the House bill and President Biden would sign it.
If you don’t believe the Democrats would try to disqualify Trump in this manner, a bill is already teed up, introduced by Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin.
Per Axios:
Raskin pointed to legislation he introduced with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) in 2022 creating a pathway for the Justice Department to sue to keep candidates off the ballot under the 14th Amendment.
“We are going to revise it in light of the Supreme Court’s decision,” Raskin said.
Raskin suggested the bill would be paired with a resolution declaring Jan. 6 an “insurrection” and that those involved “engaged in insurrection.”
The SCOTUS decision mentioned, “Subject of course to judicial review.” Would that stop such a scheme? Why would SCOTUS block such an act of Congress that they green-lighted in their recent decision?
This would explain Trump supporting Johnson. Does Rep. MTG realize how this could play out? Is she acting out of principle or is this a backhanded way of undermining Trump? This is where the 5D chess machinations come in. Washington D.C. is indeed a swamp.
While I would love to see a principled conservative America First Speaker of the House, and a similar GOP caucus, we got what we got, and some GOP members “cutting off their nose to spite their face” is not a good strategy.
Keep the House in GOP control with Johnson in charge and elect a new Speaker next year. Losing the House means losing Trump and any hope rescuing America from its rapid decline.
A Democrat Congress and White House would stack the Supreme Court and rewrite the Bill of Rights. The border will remain open with amnesty and voting rights for all illegals. Election laws will be changed, despite this being under states’ jurisdiction per the Constitution. That didn’t matter in 2020 so why would it matter in 2024?
How do we solve a problem like Speaker Johnson? Removing him now isn’t the answer as the alternative may be far worse.
As with Maria, “Many a thing you know you’d like to tell her. Many a thing she ought to understand.”
I’m sure Speaker Johnson understands. He is driving through treacherous mountains with no guardrails. Is he compromised as some in the Capitol are?
The nuns thought Maria “a clown.” Many think the same of the Speaker and many of his America-Last GOP caucus. So let the Congressional circus go on!
Brian C. Joondeph, M.D., is a physician and writer. Follow me on Twitter @retinaldoctor, Substack Dr. Brian’s Substack, Truth Social @BrianJoondeph, and LinkedIn @Brian Joondeph.
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