How Biden Got Mike Johnson to "Yes"
You govern not by bullying people or dunking on them, but by bringing people along.
Mike Johnson continues to make good decisions for the benefit of the country and man, things are going to get weird if I have to keep writing sentences like that.
But here we are.
The foreign aid bills have passed out of the House Rules Committee thanks to Johnson’s leadership and the mature actions of the House Democrats. For his trouble, there are now three Republicans looking to force Johnson out of the speakership.
We could criticize Johnson for waiting so long—and that would be fair. But also: At the critical moment, he stood firm. And whether we’re talking about Mike Pence or Jim Mattis or Liz Cheney, that’s the final measure.
And while we’re here, let’s give some credit to Joe Biden, too. From Politico:
Johnson’s support for the aid bill, part of a package that could pass the House as soon as this weekend, would grant Biden a major foreign policy victory that has eluded him for a year. It would stabilize a Ukrainian defense running low on munitions and bracing for a renewed Russian offensive in early summer.
It’s also validation, Biden aides and allies said, of a White House strategy focused on slowly courting Johnson behind the scenes while letting him find his own path to a solution — even if it meant weathering frequent setbacks and building frustration within its own party. . . .
The administration held several closed-door briefings for Johnson and other lawmakers to update them on the deteriorating situation in Ukraine, starting just days after Johnson became speaker. . . .
Biden aides’ effort to privately cajole Johnson toward action mirrors the approach that the president and his advisers have taken on other high-profile issues. It stems from a belief that they have a better shot at success by persuading skeptics rather than strong-arming them.
I know that I’m the Biden fanboy and everything, but isn’t this exactly what we want in a president? Moral clarity commingled with patience and the temperament that prefers to bring people along instead of bludgeoning them?
Also, aren’t we supposed to want media organizations who are willing to say obviously true things, instead of doing both-sides kabuki theater? It’s okay to say what you really think.
The Newsletters:
Kristol & Egger: A Post-MAGA foreign policy consensus?
Me: Do you remember how badly Trump handled COVID?
I have the darkest of all possible reads on this, but I’m going to put it in a footnote because maybe you don’t need it in your brain over the weekend.1
Beg Your Pardon
Grant Tudor and ALL CAPS AMANDA have a piece laying the predicate for why the pardon power is more circumscribed than some elderly, orange people might think.
DONALD TRUMP THINKS EXECUTIVE CLEMENCY is a “complete,” “absolute,” king-like power that a president can wave as a magic wand over anyone—including himself—to absolve them of any legal accountability for their actions. Not true. . . .
Like any other power vested in any branch of government, the pardon power is constrained by the rest of the Constitution. The Supreme Court has already said so—multiple times. In Burdick v. United States, for instance, the Supreme Court held that President Woodrow Wilson could not pardon a newspaper editor as a means of compelling his testimony to a grand jury, thus abrogating his right to remain silent and avoid self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment. The Court held “that the power of the President under the Constitution to grant pardons and the [Fifth Amendment] right of a witness must be kept in accommodation.” That is, the pardon power could not run roughshod over another part of the Constitution.
As the Supreme Court has reiterated elsewhere: The Constitution grants the president the “power to commute sentences on conditions which do not in themselves offend the Constitution.”
To use another constitutional analogy, the Commerce Clause vests Congress with an expansive authority to regulate interstate commerce. That does not, however, give Congress the right to regulate commerce in ways that violate other parts of the Constitution. If Congress moved to outlaw the mailing of certain newspapers across state lines, that law would violate the First Amendment. Likewise, a president cannot use the pardon power in ways that defy other constitutional provisions and principles.
Read the whole thing. I don’t know about you, but just seeing Amanda’s byline on the site gives me warm fuzzies. She’s the best.
Secret Show
Sarah and I sat down this morning to catch up on everything that happened this week. And also for her to give me some coaching advice.
Hollywood
Sonny Bunch has a piece about the structural changes happening in the entertainment industry vis-a-vis screenwriting and it’s fantastic:
Harper’s this week published a lengthy reported feature about the state of Hollywood, particularly the state of screenwriting and whether or not folks can credibly make a living while doing so. It’s kind of interesting in the sense that the author has an idea (deregulation is bad and greedy CEOs are ruining everything) and writes backward from there. I am … skeptical that Ronald Reagan is the proximate cause for the streaming bubble popping, but, you know, maybe. You should give it a read and decide for yourself.
Read the whole thing. It’s fantastic.
🚨OVERTIME🚨
The Swift family laid their beloved Mary to rest this morning and I wanted to share with you her obituary:
Mary Louise Swift, née Bunnell, of Estero, Florida, passed away on April 12, 2024. Born November 15, 1956 in Dayton, Ohio to Gertrude and Walter Bunnell, she grew up in Sidney, Ohio before attending Lehman High School, Sinclair Community College and The Ohio State University, where she graduated with a B.A. in journalism in 1978. She married her high school sweetheart, Christopher J. Swift of Piqua in 1978, settling in Shaker Heights, Ohio.
She is survived by her husband of 45 years, Chris; her three children, Jim (Mary), Betsy Porter (Rob), and Ali; grandchildren Bridget, Claire, Madeleine, and Teddy; brother, Jeff Bunnell (Gerri); and in-laws Donald Swift (Anne), Mary Ann Hilgendorf (Dick, deceased), and David Swift (Karen). Dear aunt, great-aunt, cousin, and friend to many.
Over her career, Mary was a journalist for the Lake County News Herald, following a collegiate career at OSU's The Lantern. She was a paralegal at Wuliger, Fadel, and Beyer, a legal assistant at Cochran & Cochran, and the much loved librarian at Saint Dominic School in Shaker Heights.
An avid musician, Mary played the church organ at Holy Angels in Sidney and was known for her ability to play the piano by ear. She was also a "Contest Mom," using her fast typing skills to enter, and win, many contests. Among major prizes: A Hummer 3 and many trips at home and abroad, including a trip to the ESPYs.
In the Shaker community she was an uber-volunteer, leading the FEA, the guild, and Boo Bazaar, a den mother and Cub Scout Pack 1's "Pop Colonel," and was known for her love of books (and her multiple book clubs), and Rick Steves-inspired travel. In retirement, she wrote "A Swift Look at Books" in the local paper.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Mary Swift Memorial Fund at the Saint Dominic School Library or the Parkinson's Voice Project.
Jim Swift is one of the best people I know. It’s not hard to see how he got that way.
I hope you’ll keep the Swift family in your prayers. Thanks.
Imagine a world in which Hillary Clinton won the 2016 election. She’s president when COVID happens and she handles the crisis better. Fewer Americans die. Maybe the economic damage is slightly greater.
In that timeline is Hillary Clinton viewed as a savior, because she prevented a couple hundred thousand extra deaths?
No. She becomes a villain to the American public because she prioritized lives over the economy.
Here’s the darkest thought: When it comes to the politics of COVID, Trump was correct to prioritize economics over life. Because that’s what the majority of Americans prioritize, too. The country forgave Trump for the million dead because he said he was trying to keep the economy running. (Even though the economy cratered.) The country would not have forgiven Clinton if she had prioritized saving lives—even if the economic outcomes were the same.
Happy Friday!