America's anointed one has again heard The Word from on-high: Thou shalt not defy evil.
Eastern philosophies are full of such paradoxes, which I've always admired. It would seem that Mike Johnson's Holy One admires them too. Western translation of the above perplexity: "Impose on American voters what they asked for." There is, however, another perplexity we're stuck with. Exactly who in the House speaker's mind is the Holy One? Some way-up-in-the-clouds Creator? Or some earthly filth way down south? Opinions vary, depending on one's degree of ignorance.
That said, back to what Johnson heard: Sack Mike Turner as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, replace with Rick Crawford. (About that lingering perplexity mentioned, this helps to clarify — with thumb down, not up, Turner told CBS News that Johnson fired him because of "concerns from Mar-a-Lago.")
Even Republicans on the committee, or some of them, reportedly were shocked and unsettled by Johnson-Trump's reshuffle. Democratic reaction came from Jim Himes; the move "sends a shiver down my spine," he said. No doubt. Impossible, though, is to describe with poignant accuracy the bolt of freezing terror that shot up the spine of Ukraine.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries added this to Himes' sentiment: Johnson's removal of Turner was "shameful" and "unjustified," an unwarranted act "likely being applauded by our adversaries in Russia and China." Certainly being applauded.
Crawford is "viewed as a less hawkish pick than Turner," reports Politico, whose reporting would have benefited from identifying the "viewer." True, you and I know the malefactor's twofold identity, but, this memo to journalists: For Christ's sake name the idiot on every occasion, ram identity good and hard, remind America of the dangerous buffoons now in charge and utterly out of control.
In the preceding, the error screams out. In supporting U.S. assistance to Russia-invaded Ukraine, ex-chairman Turner was anything but "hawkish." What he "viewed" was a pro-Western European nation being brutalized by wannabe Cossack Putin. Necessity, not warmongering, called, and he answered.
The global ramifications of NATO's cold-shouldering Ukraine were obvious to all those informed on such matters. A continent set adrift in international lawlessness, its weak perpetrator allowed to prevail, others of likeminded imperialism looking on and seeing only green lights. Only a real moron oblivious to thoughtful foreign policies could see red.
In a word, Trump. Joining him are God's vicar and "MAGA-friendly" Crawford, appellation per Politico. The latter springs from "a deep red district in Arkansas"; its rep, opposed to aiding Ukraine in a vote last year — there, the blind following the blind, the ignorant, the bizarrely pixilated by bloodthirsty Vladimir Putin.
The Ukraine edict coming down from Trump — or rather, vomiting from below — clashes with Johnson's earlier position on the European war. One assumes he then possessed a strain of ethics, a conscience, writ large. To the devil with that crap, says his ungodly overseer of virtually every human corruption.
Aside from cut-adrift Ukrainians, who in reality aren't the least put-aside-able, I say, poor Mike Johnson. If his God does exist, someday the speaker will learn that he horribly misheard The Word. No, you imbecile, I said defy evil. And, at that very moment, Mike will further understand that he had grossly, heretically mixed up the Holy One's identity.
Hence in your book, bye-bye James Michael Johnson. Enjoy the heat.
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