Mike Johnson measured up

The estimable Anne Applebaum, scholar, author and journalist, had the perfect social media post after the US House of Representatives passed a massive foreign aid package over the objections of fascists, who want America to side with Russia, Hamas, China and a bevy of other enemies of freedom.

Winston Churchill understood America. Deeply. This was his quote.

What are we to make of the accidental Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, a man who has proclaimed his religious fundamentalism and political extremism from the proverbial rooftop of the Speaker of the House’s balcony? What should we think about the MAGA speaker, who tried to overturn a US election, but somehow was able to measure up, step up and embrace reality when he was given a position of profound responsibility and immense power?

The United States has been molded and contoured by the impact of presidential assassination over and over again. The loss of Abraham Lincoln at the moment that he was needed the most profoundly impacted American history, as did the murder of James Garfield, who had the capacity to equal Lincoln’s moral sagacity.

When he was struck down, Vice President Chester Alan Arthur ascended to the presidency, which was a cause of jubilation for his Tammany Hall colleagues, patrons and benefactors. They viewed Arthur’s ascension to the presidency as something approaching a miracle. He was the most corrupt man to ever reach the nation’s highest office, yet something remarkable happened when he got there.

He measured up, just like Mike Johnson just did.

Chet Arthur’s corrupt patrons, benefactors and friends, ecstatic about his rise to power, came to Washington, DC, and the White House full of expectation about the windfall at hand. They left disappointed. One of them wrote, “Chet is now President Arthur.”

Chet Arthur measured up. He met his duty, responsibility and purpose. The corrupt scion of Tammany became the president to sign the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, mandating that positions within the federal government should be awarded based on merit rather than political patronage. Trump vows to obliterate.

The story of America is deeply rooted in the stories of ordinary people standing up, measuring up and fighting for what’s right.

Mike Johnson measured up. He stood up and he wasn’t afraid.

I underestimated him.

America is a complex place, and we did the right thing in the end.

It wouldn’t have happened without the accidental speaker who measured up in a time of insanity.

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