Donald Trump, who is not the president, is using a minority of Republicans to block aid to Ukraine, to undermine the actual president’s foreign policy, and to weaken American power and credibility.

  • silence7@slrpnk.netOP
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    8 months ago

    Republicans control a majority of the House of Representatives, giving them the power to block spending. They do what he says.

    • snooggums@midwest.social
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      8 months ago

      Why does the article focus on the small minority of Republicans when the rest of the Republicans are complicit in blocking the aid too? Only a few Republicans need to vote in favor of the aid to pass.

    • chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      That’s the proximate cause. The ultimate cause is that the Republicans stand no chance if they alienate Trump’s base. Many of them would prefer it if he went away but they can’t make it happen.

    • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      AFAIK Democrats had the option to elect a moderate Republican as speaker, but instead they allowed Johnson to be elected. So Democrats could as I see it, have prevented the shitshow the House is now.
      It’s allowed because Democrats failed to prevent it. And instead allowed the MAGA crowd to control the House with their majority among Republicans.

      • silence7@slrpnk.netOP
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        8 months ago

        I don’t believe there was some moderate Republican who would have gone along with this

        • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          OK, maybe I misunderstood, but I’m pretty sure there were Republicans who aired the idea, and Democrats shot it down immediately.
          But maybe it was just media talk IDK?

          • silence7@slrpnk.netOP
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            8 months ago

            It was pretty much media talk. The Republican Party purged their moderates during the 2022 primary

      • dhork@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        There was an interesting news conference with Hakeem Jeffries yesterday where he said that its possible that Democrats might vote to save Johnson if there is a vote to vacate the chair due to putting the Ukraine bill on the floor. Jeffries said specifically its because Johnson hasn’t reneged on any promises yet. It’s clear that Democrats didn’t trust Kevin as far as they could throw him. But they are signaling to Johnson that he might be protected if he did what they wanted.

        To be fair, I think a majority of Republicans also want the Ukraine/Israel deal, too. It’s just the lunatic fringe of the party willing to abandon Ukraine. (I think we know why.)

        Edit: found it

        https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4498643-jeffries-declines-to-take-position-on-saving-speaker-from-conservative-coup/

        The headline says “declines to take a position”, but since his position on McCarthy was “Hell No”, this is still better for Johnson.

        Also:

        Jeffries Suggests Democrats Would Save Johnson From Removal Over Ukraine Aid https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/28/us/politics/hakeem-jeffries-mike-johnson.html

        That one has more of the quotes about Not Trusting Kevin

      • norbert@kbin.social
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        8 months ago

        Doing anything to place blame on Democrats instead of the people who actually elected the shitgibbon I see.