With the support of Mike Johnson, the usual coalition of Democrats and semi-sane Republicans have kicked the budget can back to March. We’ll undoubtedly do the same thing again in two months. This time, however, there is relatively little talk of defenestrating the Speaker, or of demanding concessions to keep him in office. Why?
For two reasons. First of all, both the Democrats and the Republicans have come to understand that there are no plausible better alternatives to this bizarre status quo until the election in November. Second, the GOP thinks it is going to win a crushing victory in November. Why look like a bunch of nihilists and put the election in jeopardy just for a premature rush of dopamine?
The belief of GOP voters that victory is imminent and inevitable is going to present a huge problem in November if, as in 2020 and 2022, it doesn’t happen. For now, however, it is working in the public interest.