The huge wedge between McConnell and Johnson: Donald Trump

The two Hill GOP leaders are about to find out if they can bridge their yawning generation gap — with a border and Ukraine deal on the line.

By Jordain Carney and Burgess Everett 01/29/2024 05:00 AM EST1/3

Mitch McConnell and Mike Johnson, two wildly different congressional GOP leaders, are about to find out whether they can extract immigration concessions from President Joe Biden — or whether Donald Trump and his allies will pull them apart.

As a bipartisan group of senators labor to deliver a deal that would tie stricter border policies to Ukraine aid, with text expected as early as this week, McConnell and Johnson are facing a unity test that will define their party during the 2024 election cycle.

If McConnell can get a majority of his 49 members on board, while keeping Johnson’s conservatives from strangling the deal, the GOP can crow that it forced Democrats to swallow an immigration deal that would amount to remarkably right-leaning concessions from Biden. If the border-Ukraine agreement implodes, Trump will have cemented his return to control over the entire party.

Johnson and McConnell talk one-on-one regularly, including several times before Johnson first met with Senate Republicans last fall. During that first meeting, Johnson told GOP senators that he needed border security in order to deliver new Ukraine money. Right now, though, some of McConnell’s Republicans warn that he’s failing to read a House GOP that has no interest in policy achievements with Biden in office.

“If you’re going to take a tough vote, you take one but you want to accomplish something. The worst of all possible worlds is you take a vote, you put a lot of political pressure on the House and you don’t get any policy accomplished,” said Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), a Ukraine aid skeptic. “We’re going to take a vote that only harms us politically,” Vance added. “It also puts our House colleagues in a bad position.”

The Senate minority leader and the speaker are almost exactly 30 years apart in age, but they can bond over one thing: the shared challenge of taming an unruly, Trump-aligned right flank that often seeks to undermine them. As Congress inches toward a decision on a border-Ukraine deal, conservatives in both chambers are growing bolder in their public criticism and private pushback against party leaders.

The former president, now Republicans’ likely 2024 nominee, is propelling that rebellion. As the Biden administration warns Ukraine is effectively out of money, Trump is influencing Johnson’s resistance to bipartisan Senate negotiations and mucking up McConnell’s plans.

Already McConnell acknowledged to his colleagues that Trump’s ascendance is threatening the nascent agreement. Shortly afterward, Johnson blasted the ongoing Senate negotiations for good measure, signaling they aren’t hardline enough for him to accept.

“We don’t know if the House would take up and pass anything we pass in the Senate,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a McConnell ally. “People wonder: ‘Why should we do this if it’s not going anywhere?’ Especially if it’s a hard vote for some people.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/29/mcconnell-johnson-trump-border-ukraine-deal-00138165

>>20324806

2/3

Separated by a generation of GOP politics, the two leaders are now playing to two completely opposite wings of the party. McConnell was elected to the Senate in 1984, the Reagan era’s peak, while Johnson won his House seat in 2016 alongside Trump — and it shows, as he coordinates closely with the former president these days.

The Senate GOP leader is nearing the end of a record-breaking term atop the conference, looking to lock down his legacy by ensuring his party helps fund Ukraine’s defense against Russia. Johnson, meanwhile, is fighting a day-to-day battle for political survival after vaulting out of obscurity into the speakership, charting a Trump-centric course for House Republicans. (not his legacy but locking down more money laundering to him in retirement.)

Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.), who knows both GOP leaders, acknowledged the two have differences in policy and experience but argued that “the gap between Mitch and Mike is not that great.”

House conservatives don’t exactly agree. They’re not willing to toss Johnson from the speakership yet, but most view McConnell with deep skepticism, if not open hostility. At times, Johnson sounds much like McConnell when promoting a strong border deal alongside Ukraine aid — but he’s also aggressively distanced himself from the Senate’s negotiations.

One Johnson ally, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said that the House GOP sees itself as more closely aligned with the average Republican voter, particularly when it comes to Ukraine aid and immigration.

“[McConnell] and Schumer have ruled this place for way too long. And financially we cannot afford the two of them. … That’s why we’re really calling on Mike to stand strong,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) said.

There’s a more urgent matter for Johnson, too: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is warning that if he allows a vote on $60 billion in Ukraine, then she would force a vote to oust him. Given his increasingly narrow majority, it would only take three Republicans to topple him unless he gets help from Democrats. Potential Republican absences could narrow that margin further. “I would introduce the motion to vacate myself,” Greene said, predicting that Johnson won’t bring a Senate deal to the House floor. ‘The House is ready to act': Johnson doesn’t budge on his border asks.

It’s not just outright threats to strip Johnson of his gavel. His conservatives have shown they’re willing to jam up the House floor in retaliation for decisions he makes that they don’t like. From the other side of the ideological spectrum, he’s also facing criticism from one-time leadership allies who want him to reign in his hardliners and doubts about his ability to handle the challenge.

“What we’re finding out is that Mike Johnson is in over his head,” said one House Republican who knows both GOP leaders and requested anonymity to speak frankly — a criticism his allies say confuses his willingness to listen with indecision.

McConnell faces his own internal discord. He’s coming to grips with the reality that Trump is likely to be the Republican presidential nominee, which createsfresh headaches given that McConnell essentially disowned Trump after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Trump has responded with regular attacks on the GOP leader and his family.

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/29/mcconnell-johnson-trump-border-ukraine-deal-00138165

>>20324817

3/3

Trump also helped fuel the first-ever challenge to McConnell’s leadership in 2022 from Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.). McConnell defeated Scott handily but remains saddled with a group of critics seeking to undercut his leadership, most recently by killing the Ukraine-immigration negotiations.

When McConnell spoke of Trump’s opposition to a border-Ukraine deal and the challenges that posed during a private meeting last week, some Republicans saw it as a change in strategy.

“I think he cleared it up — that [linking the two is] not going to work out,” said Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.), who opposed McConnell and opposes more Ukraine aid.

McConnell’s allies have countered that he was misconstrued, going so far as to request the release of a transcript from that meeting to clear up the matter. They say the leader is as focused as ever on finishing the deal.Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said that “maybe some people read between the lines, wishful thinking,” but that any hint of a shift from the leader was “incorrect.” (primary the traitors)

Even so, McConnell and Johnson now find themselves at a crossroads. McConnell must assess whether there’s enough support in his conference to handily pass the foreign aid and border package. A vote total that squeaks it through the Senate gives it no chance in the House.

And Johnson must decide whether he’s willing to open another front with his critics, who are already dogging him for his legislative strategy. In many ways, their fates are intertwined.

“I have no idea what he’ll do,” Kennedy said of Johnson. “If we don’t get 25, preferably 30, [Republican] votes for a bill over here, it makes it that much less likely that he’ll be able to get it to the floor.”

(Did you notice not once did this article or the Congress and Senate state, that the majority of Americans are opposed to both the border bill and Ukraine Aid. Citizens don’t matter to them, it’s just their politicking that is important!)

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/29/mcconnell-johnson-trump-border-ukraine-deal-00138165

Man opens emergency exit door on plane, walks out onto wing before takeoff

Natalie Neysa Alund Jan. 29, 2024

A man was taken into custody by police after airport officials say he opened an Aeromexico plane's emergency exit door and walked out onto the wing on a Central America bound flight late last week. Passengers claim it because they were delayed for hours and needed help.

The Mexico City International Airport acknowledged in a statement the wild display took place Thursday morning while the plane was on the ground awaiting takeoff to Guatemala.

According to the airport's statement posted on social media, the man "posed on a wing and re-entered the cabin, without any harm to anyone … or the aircraft."

Due to international security regulations, the airport reported the man was "put at the disposal of the authorities."USA TODAY has reached out to Aeromexico.

'Without ventilation and without water'

According to a post circulating on social media, passengers on board claimed they were kept on the tarmac for hours without proper ventilation or water during a flight delay.

“The delay and lack of air created conditions that endangered the health of the passengers. He saved our lives,” passengers wrote in a letter translated from Spanish.

"The emergency exit was opened out of desperation after leaving us locked in for almost 4 hours without ventilation and without water," one person, who claimed to be on board, wrote in a caption on X with a handwritten photo of a letter signed by passengers.

The same passenger wrote the plane's doors were closed, passengers were "without information" and there were "elderly ladies on the verge of fainting."

According to an incident report filed with airport officials, the Associated Press reported,passengers "were unhappy and one of them opened the emergency door and stepped out on the wing. This event required the plane to be changed.” At least 77 passengers onboard flight AM672, the AP reported, signed the statement circulating online.

Caribbean travel warning: US issues travel warning for the Bahamas after 18 murders at the start of the new year

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/airline-news/2024/01/29/aeromexico-man-exit-door-walks-on-wing/72393338007/

>>20324709

I love it when billionaires think they know everything about the law, and DON'T, the arrogance is priceless

29 Jan, 2024 15:28

Prince Harry-linked charity faces crime claims

African Parks has been accused of operating militants involved in human-rights abuses in the local communities of the Republic of the Congo

Wildlife charity African Parks said it had launched aninvestigation into allegations of rape and torture committed by its guards in the Republic of the Congoamid growing calls for the Duke of Sussex, Prince Harry, to resign as a board member.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the organization said it learned of the “serious” charges of human rights violations by its eco-guards against localsliving near Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the Central African nation. It reportedly received a tip by email from the human rights group Survival International last year.Odzala-Kokoua National Park is one of over 20 parks managed by the non-profit, headquartered in the South African city of Johannesburg, spread over 12 African states.

“We immediately launched an investigation through an external law firm based on the information we had available while also urging Survival International to provide any and all facts they had,” it said. The charity, however, accused Survival International – the London-based NGO campaigning for the rights of indigenous people – of refusing to cooperate with the probe “despite repeated requests.”

“This is an active, ongoing investigation that is our highest priority as an organization, and we encourage anyone with knowledge of any abuses to report them to us or to the Congolese law enforcement authorities,” African Parks added. The conservation charity, founded in 2000 to protectAfrica’s national parks and advance wildlife conservation, (not humans or the indigenous, he is his fake father’s son), presently manages over 20 million hectares of protected areas. Prince Harry was the organization’s president for six years before joining the board of directors last year.

Survival International has criticized African Parks for causing “destruction” instead of “conservation” with its activities. In response to the charge of refusing to comply with investigations, Fiore Longo, the head of Survival International’s conservation campaign, told the PA news agency that African Parks “had the money to conduct their own investigation.”

“It’s not up to us to give them details. It’s their responsibility when we raise a problem to go there and investigate,” Longo said.

The human rights group has launched a petition calling on Prince Harry to step down as director of the African Parks and funders to terminate relations with the charity.This comes over claims of atrocities by its armed rangers against indigenous tribes across Africa, particularly the Baka people in the Congo.

According to the NGO, theBaka and other hunter-gathererswho have lived in the Congo rainforest, now the Odzala-Kokoua National Park under the management of African Parks since 2010,have seen much of their land stolen and been banned from entering the area.

“We want donors, such as the EU, to withdraw support until theBaka are allowed to return to the park with land ownership rights recognized,” Longo said in another statement published by the Daily Mail on Sunday.

A spokesperson for Prince Harry’s foundation, Archewell, claimed that the Duke had referred the “serious allegations” to the African Parks leadership for further action.

(Africa is where the elites from EU, UK, US and around the world go to commit their crimes against humanity)

https://www.rt.com/africa/591469-prince-harry-african-parks-resignation-demands/

No one could doubt this based upon his grandfather and father wanting to eliminate humans from the earth, and they were very vocal about this.

>>20325430

ugly creature

>>20325429

that's really true