A friend of mine recently asked me why, despite my generally contrarian nature, especially towards politicians, I respected House Speaker Mike Johnson.
It is an immediately relevant question, given that the House Republicans are scheduled to vote this Wednesday for their leaders, including the speaker. As you may remember, the last time this vote was scheduled — more than a year ago — the House Republicans wandered around for days trying to figure out the correct answer. In the spirit of Winston Churchill, they eventually did the right thing and voted for Johnson, but only after trying and discarding all the other options.
It was a happy moment of chance. The House Republican caucus, some of whom are oversubscribed on ego, managed to alight on Speaker Johnson, who provides emotional, intellectual and moral ballast for a caucus that has the potential for greatness. In a sea of more than 200 aggressive personalities, he has maintained the essential virtue and habit of humility.
To confirm this, I offer Exhibit A, which is Speaker Johnson’s note to his colleagues on November 6, the day after the election. There has been scant coverage of this note in the media, which is unfortunate. It is a masterpiece of brevity, scope, ambition, and coaching. In it, Johnson notes: “The American people have shown by their votes that they are ready to turn from the misery of the past four years and embark on a brighter, bolder path that is marked not by big government, bureaucratic control, poverty, inflation and wokeness — but by liberty, security, strength, prosperity and opportunity.”
Getting to specifics, he wrote that: “We can secure our borders, prioritize the needs of Americans above foreigners, promote investment and opportunity through the tax code, return to American energy dominance, dramatically reduce regulations, expand school choice, end the woke agenda, and restore fiscal sanity to Washington—among other pressing items.”
Then, right at the end of the note, well after talking about what the Congress can and must achieve, well after talking about what the American people want and what needs to be done, he directly and humbly asks the members for their support to continue leading the conference in this great mission.
The letter, the only one in which he mentions his own hope to remain speaker, is focused almost exclusively on what needs to be done for the citizenry. It is entirely devoid of ego, of self-aggrandizement, of grievance. It is completely marinated in notions of service and work, and involved almost exclusively in foresight and policies.
That is why I respect Speaker Johnson. For him, all of this is about making the nation, her people and their representatives better, and none of it is about making him or them more important or richer.
The choice before the House Republican conference is clear.
Michael McKenna was the Deputy Director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs during the Trump administration. He also served in the Bush and Reagan administrations.
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