Six months after Republican Mike Johnson burst onto the scene as speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, he became an ardent defender of military aid to Ukraine that the House approved on Saturday.
The 52-year-old Southerner’s carefully coiffed hair is stunning in its transformation.
An ultraconservative Christian from Louisiana, he rose to the top House leadership post in October after then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted in an unprecedented insurrection by far-right lawmakers aligned with Donald Trump.
After several candidates were proposed and then discarded, Johnson’s name emerged – virtually unknown to the American public – and with Trump’s support, Johnson became the leader of the House and the Republican Congressional Caucus leader.
For months, Johnson blocked a vote on much-needed aid for Ukrainian troops fighting Russian invading forces.
But recently his tone has softened. Then, in a dizzying turn, Johnson last week emerged as a passionate defender of the long-delayed aid package.
That culminated in Saturday’s vote, when his House of Representatives passed with a bipartisan supermajority more than $60 billion in additional military and financial support for Ukraine.
abnormal
What’s behind Johnson’s metamorphosis?
“I believe Johnson has come to believe that the United States must support Ukraine for our own benefit and that the demands of far-right Republicans are simply wrong,” Larry Sabato, a political scientist at the University of Virginia, told AFP.
Last December, Ukrainian President Zelensky made a final visit to Washington to request a new aid package as previously approved U.S. aid funds for Kyiv were about to dry up.
Zelensky was escorted through the halls of Congress by top Senate Democratic and Republican leaders, all vocal backers of President Joe Biden’s demand for $60 billion.
But his meeting with Johnson was held behind closed doors.
Johnson said afterwards that Biden asked for “billions of additional dollars without proper oversight, without a clear winning strategy, and without getting the answers that I think the American people deserve.”
Since then, however, a series of U.S. and world figures, including British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, have worked to convince Johnson of the high stakes, with some warning that Ukraine could be attacked unless U.S. aid was provided. fell before the end of the year.
a concession
On Monday, Johnson announced that the House of Representatives would take up separate aid bills for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan and that he would support them.
Johnson did make one concession to Trump – Trump’s demand that aid to Ukraine be at least partly in the form of loans – making part of the package need to be repaid.
But the debt can still be forgiven, and the aid package matches almost exactly the amount Biden requested months ago.
What’s behind Johnson’s rethink?
“He doesn’t want Ukraine to fall into his hands,” Sabato said.
Johnson provided further insight during a press conference on Wednesday.
“To put it bluntly, I would rather send bullets to Ukraine than to American boys,” he said, before his voice choked with emotion as he added that his son was about to enter the U.S. Naval Academy.
“This is a live-fire exercise for me, and it is for many American families,” Johnson said.
It’s unclear whether some of the far-right lawmakers who ousted McCarthy last year may work to oust Johnson after his perceived betrayal.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries struck a philosophical tone when describing Johnson’s tricky choice.
“This was a Churchill or a Chamberlain moment,” he said – referring first to the wartime British prime minister known for his steely resolve, and then to Churchill’s predecessor, whose name is forever associated with appeasement.
While Johnson didn’t describe himself exactly in those terms, he said he saw himself as a “wartime spokesman.”
He added in a melancholy tone, “We have to do the right thing – history will judge us.”
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