WASHINGTON — Last week, House Speaker Mike Johnson defeated a “motion to vacate” his perch pushed by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in a 359–43 vote. All I can say is: Hallelujah. Johnson had math on his side. House Republicans overwhelmingly…

We would rather be ruined than changed We would rather die in our dread Than climb the cross of the moment And let our illusions die. — W.H. Auden, “The Age of Anxiety” (1948) The persistence of pro-Kremlin sentiments on…

Ay me! I see the ruin of my house. The tiger now hath seized the gentle hind; Insulting tyranny begins to jut Upon the innocent and aweless throne: Welcome, destruction, death, and massacre! I see, as in a map, the end of all. — Richard III, Act II,…

On Thursday morning, Melissa Mackenzie called me and suggested that we talk about Mike Johnson in one of the segments of next week’s Spectacle Podcast. My reaction was that I didn’t want to. Of course, I’m doing it anyway, here…