Which of these political developments generates more concern:
Learning - and just a day before the 46th President leaves office - that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) says he saw Joe Biden completely forget that he signed an Executive Order banning natural gas exports, meaning that Biden, again, showed memory problems?
The fact that Johnson witnessed this glaring example of Biden’s troubles in January of 2024, and said nothing?
Or the fact that Johnson not only said nothing about the memory problems, he disregarded his oath to the Constitution by not opposing the unconstitutional Biden action, in the first place?
All of these questions and more arise when reading one of the big news items of the weekend. As Eli Lake reports in an exclusive from Bari Weiss’s Free Press:
“The Republican speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, has had a front-row seat to the intellectual decline of Joe Biden. On Friday, in an interview with Bari Weiss for Honestly, Johnson shared an anecdote that demonstrated just how checked out the outgoing president has been.
During the third week of January 2024, Johnson was invited to a meeting at the Oval Office with several of Biden’s top national security advisers and cabinet chiefs. The ostensible purpose of the meeting was to persuade Johnson to support the latest aid package for Ukraine (which he ended up doing). But Johnson also wanted to talk with the president about a recent executive order that paused the approval of new permits to export American liquefied natural gas (LNG) to our European allies—an important issue for his Louisiana constituents. In the course of a one-on-one with Biden, Johnson learned the president was unaware of his own executive order.”
So… Which is more upsetting. All three of the above options I noted are viable and not mutually exclusive, but one, in particular, combines all the major problems, problems for both of those politicians who swear an oath to “protect and defend” the US Constitution, problems for the natural gas exporters and their customers, and problems for us subjects forced to survive under the uncontrollable, uncaring DC bootheels.
It not only is stunning to see what appears to be the most discussed and obvious facet of this -- the fact that Biden, for some time now, has had memory problems – it is more essential to see that Johnson did not tell us at the time, and it is even more important to realize that Johnson not only stayed mum about the memory trouble, Johnson did not oppose the Executive Order, an E.O. that claimed a “power” not remotely mentioned in the Constitution Johnson swore to uphold.
And, of course, there is Johnson’s strange devotion to propping up the illegitimate Ukrainian regime in a war that should have nothing to do with the US, but which was one of the big items Johnson wanted to subsidize the very first week he took over as Speaker.
Reading Johnson’s statements about his exchange with Biden, one can see that his concern over the ban of LNG sales to Europe had nothing to do with the fact that such a ban is not permitted by the Constitution. It had nothing to do with the freedom of US sellers to engage in free commerce, and it had nothing to do with the economic hit those sellers might suffer.
No. The Speaker was concerned about European (NATO) “allies” (a term typically used during War, though the US is not operating under a declaration of War), nations which, since they would be blocked from buying American LNG, would buy Russian fuel, either directly, or indirectly.
THAT was Johnson’s worry.
Utterly no mention of the Constitution, freedom, or the US economy.
And, out of all of this perversity, what seems to register with many people who don’t like Biden or the Dems? The already-established fact that Biden’s memory has been damaged.
“Biden, according to Johnson, was stunned. ‘I didn’t do that,’ Biden said. Johnson responded, ‘Mr. President, yes you did. It was an executive order like three weeks ago.’ Biden continued to deny that he paused the LNG exports. At that point, Johnson suggested that the president ask the president’s secretary to print out the executive order, so the two could read it together.”
Again, even in this Free Press report, the focus is on Biden’s memory, not the fact that Johnson remained mum on the memory trouble and on the breach of the Constitution.
“Biden then recalled that he had signed an executive order, but it only called for a study on the effects of LNG. Johnson was firm. ‘Sir, you paused it, I know. I have the export terminals in my state. I talked to those people in my state, I’ve talked to those people this morning, this is doing massive damage to our economy, national security.’
In this exchange, Johnson said he realized that Biden was not lying to him. ‘He genuinely did not know what he had signed,’ Johnson said. ‘And I walked out of that meeting with fear and loathing because I thought, “We are in serious trouble—who is running the country?” Like, I don't know who put the paper in front of him, but he didn’t know.’
Johnson said in a follow-up answer that he did not know who was really running the country. His theory is that Biden agreed to place more leftist progressives in key positions in exchange for his primary rivals dropping out of the race.”
Which is interesting, for those who like to speculate about such things, but has nothing to do with the major, major problems laid bare. Namely, that Biden and Johnson both swear oaths to the Constitution.
Related: Biden Halts Alaskan Land Energy Development Sparks Controversy Over Native Lands
The Constitution grants them no “authority” over exports. The Congress can impose tariffs on imports, but not ban them, and the Congress can impose excises taxes on products made and sold in the US.
This example of outside-the-Constitution activity, and the fact that Johnson not only appears completely unaware of the problem, are incredibly consequential.
Just as Johnson’s interest in funneling weapons and monetary aid to foreign nations during a time of no declared War shows him to be a domestic enemy of the US Constitution, and leads to great worry and consternation, so, too, does the blindness of what ostensibly are “conservatives” to this Johnson lawlessness.
Biden’s era is over, but we remain locked in an era during which both leftist Democrats and purported “Constitutionalist” Republicans disregard the very clear rules of their Constitution.
Most of the politicians who engage in this behavior, and most of the American populace who support them, do not have memory problems.
Instead, they have the opportunity to see reality, and stand up for their principles. Let's hope that they will, someday.
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