GOP Chaos And Mike Johnson's Religiosity Are Turning Off Donors

To say the Republican majority in the House of Representatives since January, 2023, has been a shit show is likely being too kind. To gain the speakership, Kevin McCarty made a deal with the devil, namely the far right extremist elements of the House GOP and set the mechanism in place for his own removal. The chaos has continued under Speaker Mike Johnson and the hard right bomb throwers of the so-called Freedom Caucus continue to fail to grasp that outside of some elements of the MAGA base and the Christofascist of the GOP base, most Americans do not want what the far right GOP is offering, especially on culture war issues. Even Sen. Josh Hawley, hardly one of my favorites, has condemned the House Republicans, calling them "stupid", for proposing increasing the retirement age for Social Security, thereby setting the stage for more taxpayers to either die before receiving benefits or receiving reduced benefits over the balance of their lives.  A piece in the New York Times looks at the missteps of the GOP far right while one at Bloomberg looks at Johnson's struggles with business leaders who are turned off by his religiosity and the chaos in the GOP controlled House.  First, these highlights from the Times:   

As 2023 opened with Republicans newly in control of the House, the far-right members of the party considered themselves empowered when it came to federal spending, with increased muscle to achieve the budget cuts of their dreams.

But it turned out that many of their Republican colleagues did not share their vision of stark fiscal restraint. Or at least not fervently enough to go up against a Democratic Senate and White House to try to bring it into fruition.

Instead, Speaker Mike Johnson on Friday pushed through a $1.2 trillion bipartisan package to fund the government for the rest of the year, with none of the deep cuts or policy changes that ultraconservatives had demanded. Those on the right fringe have been left boiling mad and threatening to make him the second Republican speaker to be deposed this term.

“The speaker failed us today,” declared Representative Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky, after one of his ultraright colleagues, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, filed a measure to potentially force a vote to remove Mr. Johnson, over a spending plan she called “atrocious” and “a betrayal.”

The vote and its bitter aftermath brought to a head the simmering tensions among congressional Republicans about difficult spending issues, including whether to force a government shutdown to try to achieve their budget aims — a divide that once again has sent House Republicans spiraling into chaos.

The looming challenge to Mr. Johnson from within sparked quick recriminations from other Republicans, who accused their colleagues of sowing discord that harms their own party and its chances of success in a pivotal election for control of Congress in November.

In the end, the bills funding the government represented fairly traditional compromise measures. They gave each party some wins, some losses and some election-year talking points while providing federal agencies with substantial financial resources through Sept. 30.

Not only did members of the far right not get the steep cuts and severe border restrictions they had envisioned, they were also unable to secure the conservative policy riders they had sought to stop the “weaponization” of the Justice Department, with most of the truly contentious proposals stripped out because Democrats would not accept them.

But in making hard-line demands in a narrowly divided Congress, the right wing essentially dealt itself out of the process, in large part because it was clear from the start that its members were highly unlikely to vote for any spending bill, even if they got what they demanded. The situation left Mr. Johnson, who sees himself as a right-wing Republican, unable to produce sufficient Republican votes to pass legislation, and therefore with little choice but to work with Democrats to do so.

Democrats have repeatedly suggested that they would come to Mr. Johnson’s aid should Republicans move to oust him. They bemoaned the damage being done to the House by the constant turmoil and infighting.

“It is going to undermine very substantially the institution,” said Representative Steny H. Hoyer, Democrat of Maryland and a former majority leader. “And I think it is very regrettable that we have people on the floor of the House of Representatives who believe their opinion is so superior to the opinion of others.

In addition to constant chaos within the Republican caucus that upsets donors, Mike Johnson's religiosity and allegiance to far right evangelicals and Christofascists is off putting to some GOP donors.  Here are highlights from Bloomberg:

House Republicans are falling further behind on campaign cash with little-known House Speaker Mike Johnson at the helm.

Unlike his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, Johnson is struggling to build a donor network. His difficulties come just months before the November election with Republicans’ narrow majority at risk.

Johnson, who lacks McCarthy’s fundraising prowess and deep business ties, has dramatically ramped up meetings with donors, traveling to 50 cities in nearly 20 states. But the party’s deficit with Democrats is growing, according to federal filings.

The gap echoes a trend at the presidential level in which President Joe Biden is vastly out-raising presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.

Johnson’s reputation as a devout evangelical Christian who frequently makes biblical references is at odds with the beliefs of some business executives invited to meetings and dinners, one person familiar with GOP fundraising said.

Another donor said Johnson, who represents a district in northwestern Louisiana, comes off as much more thoughtful than McCarthy. Yet his very thin majority and a rule that makes it fairly easy to remove a speaker put him in a difficult position. Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida deployed that mechanism to overthrow McCarthy.

There were also aggressive efforts to court donors on the sidelines of an American Enterprise Institute event at the Sea Island resort in Georgia, which one person said was seen as a faux pas and a sign of desperation on Johnson’s part because that event is generally devoid of fundraising.

The National Republican Congressional Committee raised $8.2 million in February and began March with $45.2 million cash on hand. Its Democratic counterpart raised nearly double that — $14.5 million over the same period — and has $59.2 million in the bank.

“Business likes certainty, so they can look at planning and determine what the return on investment is,” he said. “It seems every day we wake up and we’re not quite sure where the day is going to go.”

Democrats’ fundraising advantage has already helped them this year. Thomas Suozzi, a former Democratic congressman from Long Island, flipped the Republican seat held by George Santos, who was expelled from the chamber. Suozzi’s campaign spent millions more than that of his GOP rival, Mazi Pilip.

With the challenges facing the House GOP, some donors see the Senate as a better investment. Republicans in that chamber have avoided much of the chaos and in-fighting that have plagued their House counterparts in recent months. That makes them a more attractive option for donors who want candidates who can help advance their policy goals on taxes, energy production and deregulation.

The solution to the never ending GOP circus?  Give Democrats control of both the House and Senate in November, 2024.