The Accidental Speaker and Other Thoughts

By Dr. Harold A. Black

blackh@knoxfocus.com

haroldblackphd.com

A recent article in The Washington Post was entitled "Mike Johnson, the Accidental Speaker, is among the most consequential." I was wondering how Johnson is "the most consequential" in his short time as speaker. Given his razor-thin majority and the factiousness of the Republican caucus, I admire his being able to get anything done. But what has he done that the Post is so praiseworthy of? He has passed a government funding bill, reauthorization of the foreign surveillance law, aid for Ukraine, legislation to seize Russian assets and a ban on TikTok. The Wall Street Journal also has praise for Johnson for these items as well.

However, none of them are on the bucket list of items most of us deem important: the southern border, inflation, the runaway administrative state, regulatory overreach, lawfare against conservatives, the war on fossil fuels, the shutting down of federal land for coal, gas and oil, the natural gas pause, the EV mandates, growth in federal spending, the explosion of federal debt, Title IX rewrite, and the woke military. Where is Johnson on these issues? How can he be "most consequential" if he has only shepherded through the easy stuff? As I have said before, all of the hard issues have been left for the Republican AGs to fight via lawsuits against the federal government. The Republicans in Congress are busily just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Consider that they have recently passed a bill to stop Biden from withholding weapons to Israel – a bill that has no chance of being signed into law. They passed a law to stop hidden junk fees on ticket sales. They passed a law to expand the definition of antisemitism and one to condemn calls to defund the police. Whoopie.

At govtrack.us. you will see that there are 15,114 bills and resolutions currently before Congress. Thank goodness that only about 7% will become law. On May 17, 2024, there were 16 bills and resolutions on the congressional calendar. Not a single one of them dealt with any critical item. Not one. Rather you have Republicans introducing the WIPPES Act (to require the Federal Trade Commission to issue regulations requiring certain products to have "Do Not Flush" labeling), The Think Differently Transportation Act (to require Amtrak to report to Congress information on Amtrak compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990) and the Working Dog Commemorative Coin Act. I kid you not. Talk about Nero fiddling while Rome burns or as one of my friends says "The city is burning and we have way too many fiddlers and most of them can't play." If Johnson is the most consequential speaker then he is lording over the least consequential House of Representatives in history.

The only actions taken by Trump that Biden kept were the tariffs. Now he has doubled down on the Chinese tariffs, ironically imposing them on green items that are not produced in volume in the US. Way to go Brandon.

Seemingly to celebrate Biden's tariffs, BYD just launched the world's first plug-in hybrid pickup truck, the Shark, in Mexico for $54,000. BYD and Li have announced plans to build factories in Mexico claiming that the cars and trucks are not intended for the US market. Of course, they are lying.

Biden's trade representative said that the tariffs would not have any impact on US prices saying "I think that that link in terms of tariffs to prices has been largely debunked." Where did she learn her economics?

Have you wondered why the campus protests are so small? As I have noted before, those who are protesting don't have a clue about the Middle East and are not serious students. In fact, many protestors are not even students. Regardless, the vast majority of students are not participating. Yet the media is filling their 24/7 with campus protests.

Why are most of the tents of the student squatters at all the encampments the same green and white (Hamas' colors)? Did the antisemitic student organizations get a volume discount?

Wouldn't it be great if the neo-Nazis went on campuses to support the protesters in the student encampments?