Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said new House Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) will “fail” if he fulfills the “MAGA Mike” label given to him by Florida congressman Matt Gaetz.
“If Speaker Johnson repeats the mistakes of Speaker McCarthy, if he tumbles down the MAGA road, it will be inevitable that the House finds itself trapped in even more chaos very soon,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Thursday, according to The Hill.
“If Speaker Johnson lives up to the label that Congressman Gaetz has given him, MAGA Mike, he will fail as the previous Speakers have,” he added.
Johnson, a close ally of Donald Trump, who was instrumental in the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Congress, was elected Speaker Wednesday. His victory will allow the House to finally resume business after three weeks of chaos and dysfunction after Gaetz led a successful effort to remove Kevin McCarthy from the position.
“I told Speaker Johnson the exact same thing I told Speaker McCarthy: in a divided government, the only way we will avoid a shutdown, fund the government, or pass the supplemental is bipartisanship,” Schumer said Thursday.
Congress has until Nov. 17 to reach a deal to fund the government and avoid a shutdown.
In a podcast interview with Steve Bannon, Gaetz said Johnson’s rise to the speakership shows the MAGA movement is “ascendant” in Congress.
“It is going to be a great moment for the House,” Gaetz said. “The swamp is on the run, MAGA is ascendant. If you don’t think that moving from Kevin McCarthy to MAGA Mike Johnson shows the ascendance of this movement and where the power in the Republican Party truly lies, then you’re not paying attention.”
