Today, MAGA Mike Johnson is setting Republicans in the House up for more chaos and dysfunction, proving once again that his Chaos Conference can’t govern — and they’ll continue on this destructive path if the Trump-Vance ticket takes power. Even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell knows that MAGA Mike’s gambit of putting Trump’s priorities over the American people spells political disaster for Republicans this November. 

Donald Trump is directly calling on MAGA House Republicans to shut down the government if they don’t get their way despite McConnell’s warnings that it’d be “politically beyond stupid.”

McConnell: “My only observation about this whole discussion is the one thing you cannot have is a government shutdown. It’d be politically beyond stupid for us to do that right before the election, because certainly we’d get the blame.”

MAGA Mike Johnson is making House Republicans vote on the same legislation that he pulled just last week, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle can agree on one thing: they’re not really sure why. 

Punchbowl News: “The House is set to vote today on a short-term funding bill that won’t pass. GOP lawmakers are grumbling about messaging, strategy and yearning to get back home to run for reelection. And Speaker Mike Johnson is being publicly and privately cagey about his next move, frustrating the entire House Republican Conference, which is looking for guidance about the leadership’s plans. 

“In fact, the GOP leadership is even in the dark at most times as to what Johnson is thinking and planning.

“Johnson is putting a bill on the floor that his entire leadership team — Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Tom Emmer of Minnesota — knows is going to fail. One House Republican lawmaker entered a meeting of GOP whips Tuesday and told us that he was ‘going to see how well they’re polishing this turd.’”

Axios: “Johnson’s colleagues baffled by his shutdown strategy”

“House members in both parties are perplexed about House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) decision to revive a short-term government funding bill that he pulled last week.

“House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), asked if he has any sense of why Johnson is reviving the bill, told Axios, ‘I have no idea.’

“Why it matters: Even some Republicans are questioning Johnson’s strategic decision-making, with some warning that his decision to hold a vote on the measure could actually hurt him in the long run.

“I don’t know how he thinks it’s going to pass … where are the votes coming from?” said Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas).

“Another House Republican, speaking on the condition of anonymity, called Johnson’s plan ‘puzzling’ and predicted that it will frustrate some GOP lawmakers.

“Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.), a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, told reporters: ‘There’s an old saying in Arkansas that you don’t learn nothing the second time you get kicked in the head by a mule.’”

Trump and JD Vance have called on MAGA congressional Republicans to shut down the government unless they get their way. 

NBC News: “‘I would shut down the government in a heartbeat if they don’t get it,’ Trump said on the ‘Monica Crowley Show’ last week.”

“‘It should be in the bill. And if it’s not in the bill, you want to close it up,’ he said. ‘So I’m not there but, you know, I have influence.’”

Vance: “…And so yeah, man, why shouldn’t we be trying to force this government shutdown fight to get something out of if that’s good for the American people?”  

The 118th Congress is already on track to be one of the least productive in American history as MAGA Republicans continue to choose chaos over delivering for the American people. 

ABC News: “118th Congress on track to become one of the least productive in US history”

Axios: “Capitol Hill stunner: 2023 led to fewest laws in decades”

Associated Press: “Americans’ faith in institutions has been sliding for years. The chaos in Congress isn’t helping”

A government shutdown could disrupt the lives of millions of Americans who are on federal government payroll. 

Reuters: “All federal employees’ pay could be disrupted during a shutdown, though they would receive retroactive pay once government operations resume.”

Congressional Research Service: “According to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the federal workforce is composed of an estimated 2.1 million civilian workers.”