After a brief hiatus for the holidays, the circus is back in Washington, D.C., and the high-wire act of Speaker Mike Johnson and the Flying Republicans will attempt a dangerous new stunt. By the time you read this, it may be all over but the shouting or we may have already embarked on yet another House GOP spectacle as they struggle to cobble together a majority to elect someone to the most powerful job in the House of Representatives — again.
After his near faceplant before the break, in which Johnson had struggled to keep the government from shutting down (as it probably would have if it weren't for the fact that it was just days before Christmas), the speaker is again in a very precarious position. Contrary to Republican braying about a mandate, the GOP actually lost a seat in the House last November. So with the resignation of Matt Gaetz, R-Fl., Johnson can only lose two votes or he will lose the speakership. He's already lost one vote, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who told the Wall St. Journal, “If they thought I had no Fs to give before, I definitely have no Fs to give now." He's always been an eccentric libertarian and an unreliable team player so no one should expect him to change his mind.
