{"id":33965,"date":"2026-04-20T06:25:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T06:25:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/33965\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T06:25:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T06:25:17","slug":"blame-mike-johnson-for-the-stalemate-in-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/33965\/","title":{"rendered":"Blame Mike Johnson for the stalemate in Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whether it is punitive tariffs<\/a>, aggressive immigration tactics<\/a>\u00a0or ill-conceived military actions<\/a>, Congress has been remarkably obsequious in permitting President Trump\u00a0to do anything he wishes \u2014\u00a0even when such\u00a0actions blatantly violate the\u00a0Constitution<\/a>.<\/p>\n

House Speaker Mike Johnson<\/a> (R-La.) is\u00a0ultimately responsible\u00a0for such permissiveness.<\/p>\n

This was most obvious with the president\u2019s cavalcade of tariffs<\/a>. The Supreme Court eventually ruled that the\u00a0tariffs were unlawful<\/a>. This only prompted Trump to take new actions to keep his tariffs in place<\/a>, pushing the boundaries of the law and using other statutes to justify his agenda<\/a>. Though the president has significant authority using executive actions<\/a>, it is Congress\u2019s responsibility to ensure that all such actions are legal<\/a> and within the boundaries as\u00a0set forth in\u00a0the Constitution. <\/p>\n

Congress is not supposed to turn a blind eye to\u00a0executive actions. The balance of power between the three branches of government<\/a> (legislative, executive, judicial)\u00a0is supposed to ensure<\/a> that no one branch oversteps\u00a0its\u00a0authority and acts unlawfully.<\/p>\n

During\u00a0Trump\u2019s current term<\/a>, the\u00a0government has had three partial shutdowns<\/a>, including the longest full shutdown in the nation\u2019s history<\/a>. Johnson guaranteed the first shutdown<\/a> by sending all members of the House home after they had passed a funding bill. This provided no avenue for further discussions with the Senate.<\/p>\n

Although this provided House members with leverage, it also resulted\u00a0in hundreds of thousands of federal workers staying on the job without a paycheck<\/a>\u00a0until the shutdown ended.\u00a0The cost of this shutdown to the nation was estimated to be at least\u00a0$7 billion<\/a>\u00a0in permanently lost GDP.<\/p>\n

Then there were the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement<\/a>\u00a0officers in Minneapolis and around the country.\u00a0Supporting ICE officers in wearing face coverings<\/a>\u00a0is debatable. The ICE policy of entering homes with administrative warrants but not judicial warrants<\/a>\u00a0is reprehensible and likely illegal.\u00a0For the latter, the Speaker\u2019s rationale was that requiring judicial warrants would inhibit ICE officers from executing their operations. Nowhere in the\u00a0Constitution does it provide exceptions for any of its articles or amendments to\u00a0facilitate\u00a0speed over legality.<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s stance on such issues is at the foundation of the most recent and ongoing partial government shutdown<\/a>. His rejection of a\u00a0bipartisan\u00a0Senate bill to fund all of\u00a0the Department of Homeland Security\u00a0except ICE<\/a>\u00a0is emblematic of how out of touch he\u00a0is with the American people.\u00a0Then, his\u00a0rejection of the Senate\u2019s unanimously supported proposal\u00a0to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security<\/a>\u00a0was\u00a0at first\u00a0labelled by him as a \u201cjoke<\/a>.\u201d He later backtracked<\/a>, much to the chagrin of the Freedom Caucus<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Given the homeland security risks\u00a0emerging\u00a0from\u00a0Trump\u2019s war in Iran<\/a>, this is no time to play dice with the stability of the Transportation Security Administration<\/a> and the Coast Guard<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s total denial that Trump\u2019s action in Iran is even a war<\/a>\u00a0was ridiculous. He continues to demonstrate\u00a0an unwillingness to support any actions that will rein in the Trump\u2019s military actions<\/a>, or any actions for that matter. This effectively buys time for Trump to conduct additional military exercises, leading to more deaths and damage to all participants.<\/p>\n

The Speaker of the House is the second in line to the presidency<\/a> in the event that the president resigns, dies or becomes incapacitated. Johnson\u2019s actions do not evince the character or judgement of a person who should be in the White House and serve in the best interests of all Americans and the nation.<\/p>\n

Johnson was\u00a0elected\u00a0in a heavily Republican district in Louisiana<\/a>. The only way for him to be removed as Speaker is if his party turns against him, or\u00a0if Democrats gain control of the House in the midterm elections<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If\u00a0anything\u00a0positive comes out of the ongoing turmoil in Washington, it is that all people, Republican and\u00a0Democrat, are gaining a glimpse of what happens when Congress shirks its responsibilities.\u00a0Independent of what our elected officials try to\u00a0accomplish, ensuring that they do it lawfully and abide by the\u00a0Constitution serves everyone\u2019s best interests. Given how Johnson\u00a0has\u00a0turned a blind eye to\u00a0the \u201chow,\u201d he bears much of the responsibility for the abusive tariffs, irresponsible ICE tactics, and ill-conceived wars Trump is adopting on his watch.<\/p>\n

Sheldon\u00a0H. Jacobson, Ph.D., is a professor of Computer Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.\u00a0He applies his\u00a0expertise\u00a0in data-driven risk-based decision-making to evaluate and inform public policy.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

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