House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) last week wrote: “Biden’s unprecedented assault on American oil production has hurt consumers and businesses.”
Note: The United States produced more crude oil than any nation — including Saudi Arabia and Russia — at any time for the past six years in a row, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration, and American oil companies including Exxon and Chevron remain enormously profitable.
I’d ask you to stop lying, but I know you can’t. It’s a given. https://t.co/fW4rCjEeoI
— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) April 8, 2024
Political scientist Norman Ornstein, emeritus scholar at the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute, replied to Johnson: “I’d ask you to stop lying, but I know you can’t. It’s a given.”
Ornstein is known for his “blistering critiques of Congress,” of which are included in his 2012 book, It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism.
The book has received renewed attention recently as its analysis of Republicans (captured by a right-wing fringe, functioning as “insurgent outliers,” making it difficult for a Republican majority to act) is being applied to the current political landscape.
Another factor helping make Ornstein’s decade-old take on Congress seem current again is MAGA loyalist Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who recently filed motion to vacate Speaker Johnson after he voted in favor of the $1.2 trillion government spending bill.
Johnson is also facing backlash from fellow Republicans including Greene, Matt Gaetz (FL) and Thomas Massie (WV), for considering sending additional aid to Ukraine. Gaetz, of course, led the charge to vacate Johnson predecessor Kevin McCarthy through a motion to vacate.