Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., once famously said that, to understand his "worldview," all one needs to do is "pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it." A few months into Donald Trump's second term, however, Johnson has displayed a lot of tolerance for injustices that would outrage the Jesus of the Bible: "Cleaning up his messes": Alleged mother of Musk's child sells Tesla over lack of support in El Salvador, falsely accusing grandparents of being "frauds" as a pretext to take away their Social Security checks, and condemning children to die of preventable diseases like HIV and measles. None of this has perturbed Johnson, who backed Trump throughout the spiraling sadism of the administration.
This week, however, Johnson found one policy he cannot abide by: allowing representatives to serve their constituents while simultaneously caring for their newborn infants. On Tuesday, Johnson attempted to block a bipartisan bill to permit House members to vote by proxy, aided by technology, when on parental leave. Even though the speaker has extensive control over what bills come up for a vote, he couldn't stop this one. Nine Republicans crossed the aisle to help Democrats meet the threshold to force the bill onto the floor. After it passed, Johnson was so irate he canceled all congressional activity for the week and sent members home.
