MAGA Republicans must channel the spirit of Reagan

Six months ago, no one would have believed that Speaker Mike Johnson and Rep. Matt Gaetz would turn out to be the two men most responsible for the passage of a new Ukraine aid bill and the explosion of the myth that the GOP has abandoned its Reaganite roots.

And yet they are.

Before ascending to his current position, Johnson voted against an aid package for Ukraine as early as May 2022, just months after Russia invaded its neighbor to the west. In social media posts, Johnson repeated anti-Ukrainian talking points, excoriating President Joe Biden for “visiting Ukraine to promise endless amounts of taxpayer dollars.”

Gaetz is an even more unlikely champion of the Ukrainian cause. He was – and still is – the most relentless isolationist advocate in the entire Republican caucus. Last February, he introduced a resolution calling for an end to all “military and financial aid” to Ukraine. “America is in a state of managed decline, and it will exacerbate if we continue to hemorrhage taxpayer dollars toward a foreign war,” he said at the time.

What’s more is that when Johnson earned his spot in the presidential line of succession last fall, Gaetz declared victory. “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,” he boasted.

But last week, Johnson shepherded a new package benefitting Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan through the House of Representatives, defying Gaetz and the self-proclaimed sources of “power” within his party. And ironically, it’s Gaetz who put him in a position to do so.

Remember, Gaetz and a small group of small-minded nihilists dethroned McCarthy last fall over a short-term spending deal he cut with the Democrats to keep the government open. That deal included no new funding for Ukraine; McCarthy made sure of it because he knew that otherwise, his speakership stood no chance of surviving.

It still didn’t. Gaetz was settling a personal score with McCarthy that he was disguising as a principled complaint and the Democrats were unwilling to save McCarthy because of their own personal gripes with him. McCarthy had been in House leadership for far too long and made far too many enemies to carry on, with or without a Ukraine aid package, though he calculated he had better odds without. In that way, McCarthy was actually the Ukraine skeptics’ strongest bulwark against further involvement in the conflict.

Johnson, whatever his previous ideological leanings, is not bound by the same institutional constraints his predecessor was. For one thing, the Gaetz wing placed a bet on Johnson. If they were to make a serious attempt at removing him, they would only confirm the popular perception that they are an unserious group of insatiable rabble-rousers. Moreover, Democrats harbor none of the personal animus they had for McCarthy for Johnson and have indicated that they would be willing to save him should Gaetz and Co. try to execute another coup.

It was these conditions – for which Gaetz is chiefly responsible – that made the provision of this new round of aid possible. Still, Johnson needed to take a leap of faith in order to make it happen. It is possible, after all, that even if he survives the coming weeks, his decision will eventually end with his removal from leadership.

He nevertheless decided that a demonstration of America’s resolve to defend the world’s most beleaguered democracies from its worst actors was worth the political risk.

“My philosophy is you do the right thing and you let the chips fall where they may. If I operated out of fear of a motion to vacate, I would never be able to do my job,” said Johnson last week after casting his die. “History judges us for what we do. This is a critical time right now, a critical time on the world stage.”

His decision doesn’t make him a hero, but it did prove that he’s a man worthy of his position and the moment.

Ultimately, a small majority of the GOP caucus voted against the Ukraine aid bill, but that’s a somewhat misleading indicator. A large majority voted to bring it to the floor for a vote, which suggests that while many Republicans fear the political consequences of doing the right thing, they still would like to.

Johnson’s example – and for now, survival – might encourage them to do so less tepidly in the future. Should they be so empowered, it would mean that Matt Gaetz finally served some noble purpose – inadvertently, of course.