Reminder: The Speakership Crisis Was About Ukraine

Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is my understanding of what happened to precipitate the downfall of McCarthy and the election of Johnson.

McCarthy made a variety of commitments in order to get the votes he needed to be elected Speaker. One of those commitments was that there would be no blanket Continuing Resolutions (CR)—spending bills would be voted on in separate categories. Now, typically, a Speaker will not bring a bill up for a vote unless a majority of his party is on board with it. However, when it came time to send more money to Ukraine, McCarty realized that he did not have a majority of Republicans on board. To get around his own party’s majority, he violated his commitment and bundled the Ukraine aid into a CR that was then passed with the help of Dems—over the heads of the majority of Republicans.

Gaetz pulled the plug on McCarthy because McCarthy had violated his pledge, but what precipitated it was the Ukraine issue. No doubt various members had various reasons for not wanting to pass the aid to Ukraine. Some, like Johnson, wanted provisions for tracing what happened to the money that was being shipped to Ukraine. That the Deep State could not tolerate. They demanded a blank check, in a manner of speaking.

Now Johnson—third in the presidential succession—will control the process. This not only complicates funding for the Neocon war on Russion, it also complicates any scheme to remove Zhou before he can run again. Interesting times.