Donald Trump BACKS Speaker Johnson As Congress Passes Ukraine Bill; MTG FURIOUS

[Music] well house Speaker Mike Johnson appears to be on very Solid Ground after all following the passage of foreign aid bills he received backing from the head of the GOP former president Donald Trump yesterday who said that Mike Johnson is quote trying very hard and is quote a very good person what an endorsement following his day in a Manhattan courtroom Donald Trump continued that we have a majority of one it's not like he the speaker can do go and do whatever he wants to do Trump also praised Johnson for standing strong on urging NATO countries to increase their defense spending commitments Trump's remarks seem to Signal exactly what he does not want in an election year for the house to blow up in chaos this obviously coming one day after representative margorie Taylor green vowed to force out Mike Johnson meanwhile the Senate yesterday Advanced the aid package for Ukraine and Israel which the house passed last week joining us now to weigh in on all of this is Congressional reporter at the hill Michael Chanel welcome back Michael hey guys thanks for having me all right update us on where we are now obviously we have the foreign aid package but also we didn't mention this in the read the Tik Tock ban was a part of this whole rigma roll yeah I mean this was months in the making guys we've been following every development with this foreign a package and finally yesterday it got sent to President Biden's desk the Senate approving a package that contained four four bills one aid for Ukraine another aid for Israel a third aid for allies in the Indo Pacific and that fourth sort of grab bag of National Security priorities which of course includes that bill that uh would essentially have a potential ban of Tik Tok in the US forcing bite Dan the China based pairing company of Tik Tok to either sell the platform divest from the platform or face a ban in the US and there's about a year period for that divestment period so uh the Senate passed that package of bills in an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote came just a few days after the house voted on each of those four separate Provisions passing them and sending them the house now it's up to President Biden he's got to sign it he has said multiple occasions that he will sign that package as soon as it lands on his desk and then that Aid guys is on its way to allies overseas so I would say that previously the um the Maga faction the margerie Taylor greens the Thomas Massie were at least benefiting from maybe some ambiguity in what Trump's position on all of this was um I I think most of the comments in support of what the speaker was doing uh with respect to what Trump felt about it came from the speaker himself but now we're hearing it from the horse's mouth Trump saying that he supports what Johnson is doing so where does this put the the Maga opposition they can no longer claim that they're in Trump's good graces in terms of what they're doing to oppose the speaker yeah this this was sort of an interesting situation interesting Dynamics because for months uh foreign president Trump had said no more aid for Ukraine we need to care about our B our borders at the southern border you know other NATO countries need to be paying their fair share that was sort of his stance and then we've seen him sof that a bit particularly when he was standing beside uh speaker Mike Johnson at Mora Lago former president Trump asked about Ukraine Aid didn't categorically push it to the side and say no he Amplified this idea of sending Aid to Ukraine in the form of a loan which was something that was embraced by Speaker Johnson and was in that Aid package that the house and the Senate passed that President Biden now has to sign so we haven't seen this categorical opposition from former president Trump to Ukraine like we had seen in the past instead we saw him amplify this idea of alone which was embraced by lawmakers up on Capitol Hill but look some of U former president Trump's most fiercest foot soldiers are still in Stark opposition to Ukraine a congresswoman margorie Taylor green senator JD Vance those are folks who we saw vote against this Aid package and really rail against it warning their leaders of their Chambers not to put you granade on the floor and lambasting them when they ended up doing it so look this was an interesting Dynamic for the former president an interesting change a soften I'm going to be interested to see now if it changes the the lens and the perspective of some of those America First Republicans I bet it doesn't because they have been so entrenched and dug in but also with the caveat of the former president you never know when his views on something are going to change when he can soften something or go hawkish on another thing again I mean Michael let's take a trip down memory lane it wasn't too long ago just the end of last year that Republicans were saying absolutely no that there was a whole discourse around whether or not Democrats had put to put forward a conservative enough immigration bill that would incentivize Republicans to get on board with this there was there were condemnations of there being a joint package saying let's bifurcate this stuff up so that we don't have to pass all of these incentives let's say I'm for Aid to Israel but against Aid to Ukraine as a as one of these kind of magga Republicans that is the line I'm going to draw on the sand and now look at what we have lindsy Graham saying he tweeted out uh after this vote there is no doubt that President Trump's support for turning portions of this Aid into a loan was a GameChanger for getting this across the line president B Trump's involvement reframing this as a loan that will be repaid as opposed to another uh tally on America's debt burden reframing this giving permission if it as it were for Republicans to go ahead and vote for this does seem to be instrumental to this bill having passed that being said there are a number of people who did not vote for this bill and some folks I know that journalist Michael Tracy was making this argument on Twitter last night may have done so not because of an ideological opposition to this Aid package but because they're auditioning for VP what do you make this argument particularly as it pertains to Marco Rubio and Tim Scott I mean yeah it's entirely possible of course that you know when you're in 2024 when you're in an election year but even more than that when you're just months away from November everything is political and particularly this Aid package as conversation about foreign AE has been political from the start remember Republicans had demanded that any foreign aid any Aid sent to Ukraine had to be paired with border security so the Senators took it upon themselves to create a bipartisan Senate group to come up with border security deal now uh despite multiple doubts that that would actually happen uh Chris Murphy uh Senator L uh Senator Langford and uh Kirsten Cinema they came up with a bipartisan border deal something that had been elusive for decades but they had come to to get and then former president Trump killed it and Republicans killed it because they essentially said that they didn't want to hand President Biden a bipartisan win on the border so close to the election and so you know every single Twist and Turn of this conversation has been political in nature it's had that political slant to it because again we're in an election year and so close to November getting closer and closer by the day so I don't think think there's you know you know any surprise that we maybe see some Republicans vote against this or deal with this forign a conversation a particular way in the lens of the vep stakes for the former president uh of course you know we have seen we know that the former president is a watcher of political Affairs he watches what happens on Capitol Hill he often time comments on it in real time on Truth social so you know I think it's definitely within the realm of possibility that some of the votes cast and some of the ways that senators and house members dealt with this particular issue because it was so explosive because it was so uh you know on the focus of the former president uh may be in a way to try to get the tip of the hat for the vep stakes yeah I mean that's a good way of putting it you're right Republicans said no Ukraine funding without a border security Bill and then they said actually we don't want a border security Bill here's Ukraine funding anyway I don't how do they explain that story to um to their voters who ostensibly many very conservative uh voters in in in um that are the primary voters for many of these Representatives who obviously put pressure on them to change for the party to change the direction it feels philosophically about Ukraine funding they have to be feeling Whiplash at this point no yeah well I mean how they defend it depends on who you ask so you talk to the chip Roy of the world they say that this was a complete surrender they say that they should have kept fighting hard for border security that this is the reason why you have the majority then you talk to somebody like speaker Johnson who says well I wanted to address the situation at the southern border but look at the Dynamics that we have right now we hear him s talk about this a lot he says that we have a very small majority in onethird and one half of onethird of the government Republicans have that slim majority in the house which is one half of the legislative branch they don't have control of the Senate and they don't have the control of the White House so just by that fact they're going to be unable to to slam through a number of these conservative priorities that they want so Johnson I said you know we will keep trying but in this juncture the intelligence is too important Ukraine is too in need of support we need to stand by Israel our closest Ally in the Middle East and so we need to leave border security for now on The Cutting Room floor because of the situation at hand and then he talked to some other Republicans who say well you know we tried at border security but we we have we got to win here because we got Ukraine Aid going we got Aid going to Ukraine as a loan and not as just you know sending that for8 overseas and tacking it up on the national debt so essentially when we see bipartisan deals like this guys they are often times sweeteners put in for both sides ways that Republicans can claim victories ways that Democrats can claim victories so they gives them cover to vote for it go back to their home districts and explain why they voted for it that was something that we saw here with that loan aspect and then just Democrats getting the Ukraine that they had so pushed for for months you know it's worth noting that not all Republicans are accepting this framing of it as a loan Tim Bur of Tennessee said quote I think it's a joke he told that to the Washington examiner he went on to say they're not going to pay us any money we're going to going to rebuild that country afterward probably or part of it others reflected that same sentiment and when again going back to this uh the the IM immigration aspect of the package the idea that you count this as a win when there was a frankly very conservative uh uh uh immigration bill on the table that could have been accepted by Republicans in addition to a deal like this this that could have been improved upon from a republican perspective once Donald Trump was in office is really really does seem like all of this fighting was over and here's the response this is I think the really key Point here that we should keep observing as the weeks and months tick forward Shawn Davis who is the uh CEO and co-founder of the Federalist was very critical of Mike Johnson saying Michael Johnson is an enemy of the people and the Constitution what a pathetic cowardly embarrassment Johnson is but that same tone is not being directed toward uh Donald Trump without whom according to Lindsey Graham this deal never would have happened in the first place of course not are you crazy they can't what no conservative media figure political figure has has ever you know wanted to to actually go against TR has has reaped any benefit from going against Trump correct me if I'm if I'm wrong Michael no I mean trunk is the leader of the Republican party at this juncture and you know Republicans try to steer clear of him we have seen a number of repercussions for Republicans on Capitol Hill who have first backed Rona santis and not former president Trump even if after theant has dropped out they have gone into Trump's corner and endorsed him so yeah I mean I don't think that there's you know any scenario where Republican wants to uh go out of their way to contrast Donald Trump on something like this all right America First we'll see if that language survives this kind of a bill being signed into law thank you so much for joining us today Michael Chanel thanks guys [Music]

Channel: The Hill

Views: 15,068

Keywords: Rising, Progressive, Progressive Politics, Democrats, Democratic Party, Republicans, GOP, Republican Party, Campus Protests, Columbia, Yale, Israel, Gaza, Genocide, Zionist, Antisemitism, Passover

Id: PkbCC16-Tk8

Length: 12min 12sec (732 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 24 2024