Mike Johnson's Republicans 'not functional enough' to achieve their goals: GOP strategist

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was ousted as speaker several weeks ago, and the Washington Post reports that the rebellious House Republicans who called for his deposal are still no closer to achieving their purported goals of deep cuts to federal spending.

At issue are the same factors that tripped up McCarthy in past negotiations: Republicans do not control the Senate, they do not control the White House, and they hold just a razor-thin margin in the House that is also filled with the kind of hardline members who have shown themselves unwilling to support any deal.

This has left Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) with few options other than to simply accept the same kinds of deals McCarthy did.

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“They’re not functional enough to get whatever budget cuts a slim House majority might otherwise command,” Liam Donovan, a GOP strategist, told the Post. “Unless you’re willing to do more of the lifting for what can actually become law, you don’t have any leverage — and that’s how you end up where we are.”

Even Grover Norquist, the notorious anti-tax advocate who has for decades claimed scalps of Republican lawmakers who have shown willingness to back tax increases, argued that the current approach being taken by many Freedom Caucus members was self-defeating.

“I think they’ve seriously painted themselves into a corner," he told the Post. "What they’ve been doing is demanding that everyone adopt their imaginary bill that can’t pass because it has bigger cuts than everyone else’s imaginary bill that also can’t pass."