All of the Power, None of the Fun

"On a particularly stressful day in a particularly stressful week during what has been, honestly, a particularly stressful year for House Republicans, the ever-sunny but perpetually beleaguered Mike Johnson insisted that he retained at least a modicum of power over the institution he ostensibly leads. "I have not lost control of the House," the speaker declared to a gaggle of reporters trailing him through the Capitol."

"Johnson's own members, in the past month, have accused him of stretching if not wholly disregarding the truth, and his assertion last Wednesday that he has a firm grip on power was correct only in the most technical sense. On the day he uttered it, a group of Johnson's most electorally vulnerable soldiers abandoned him to help Democrats force a vote on extending health-care subsidies,"

Mike Johnson insisted he retained at least a modicum of power, proclaiming, "I have not lost control of the House." His members have accused him of stretching or disregarding the truth, and his claim of a firm grip was accurate only technically. Vulnerable Republicans joined Democrats to force a vote on extending health-care subsidies, and a longtime lawmaker became the 25th Republican to announce he would not seek reelection, with more departures expected. Prominent Republicans publicly criticized Johnson's effectiveness, some quitting politics, and others lamented lack of steady leadership, leaving the party frustrated as it approaches a year in unified governance.

Read at The Atlantic