It’s official: House Republicans put Trump first, not America

By installing Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.), an ardent 2020 election denier, as Speaker without a single dissenting vote, House Republicans have erased any doubts about where their true loyalties lie.

Forget about “America First.” House Republicans have put Donald Trump first, abjectly surrendering to his seditious campaign to undermine Americans’ confidence in their democratic institutions.

That’s sparked the retirement of Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), who warned his colleagues that Trump’s lies and lawlessness will lead Republicans to defeat again in next year’s presidential contest.

Unlike members of the Freedom Caucus, the new Speaker ostensibly is a nice guy. A change in tone is welcome, but it won’t mean much so long as GOP leaders remain mesmerized by Trump, either because they adore him or are terrified that he’ll urge his followers to turn them out of office.

Having played a prominent role in the shambolic plot to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 victory, Johnson doesn’t seem like the leader the GOP needs to free his party from Trump’s autocratic grip. On the contrary, his elevation confirms national Republicans’ continuing descent into a MAGA maelstrom of lies, persecution mania and collective self-delusion.

It was bad enough that 139 House Republicans, nearly two-thirds of their caucus, voted against certifying Biden’s election on Jan. 6, 2021. Their three-week struggle last month to elect a new Speaker ended in a total rout of traditional conservatives and normie Republicans who still feel some responsibility for public truth-telling and governing.