The Week: Mike Johnson Wins on Ukraine Aid

• Garden sprinklers (temporarily) dispersed the pro-Hamas revolutionaries camped on Harvard’s lawn. ¡Viva la irrigación!

• It wasn’t pretty, and he had to rely on Democratic votes, but Speaker Mike Johnson finally got a $95 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan through the House, and it then won Senate approval. President Biden signed it into law. The best argument against Ukraine aid is that it is costly and depleting U.S. armaments. But it would be just as costly to bolster front-line states—as we almost certainly would feel compelled to do—if Russia were to vanquish Ukraine. As for U.S. weapons stocks, about $23 billion of the roughly $60 billion in the Ukraine portion of the bill is devoted to replenishing them, although much more needs to be done to revitalize the U.S. military–industrial base. Now, Johnson’s reward for doing the right thing is a potential challenge to his speakership led by the MAGA agitator and noted conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.). If she goes through with it, Johnson might have to rely on Democratic votes to survive. That this could be the only way to avoid another chaotic, pointless speaker fight is a commentary on the quality of a fraction of the GOP backbench, not of the leadership.

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• Garden sprinklers (temporarily) dispersed the pro-Hamas revolutionaries camped on Harvard’s lawn. ¡Viva la irrigación!

• It wasn’t pretty, and he had to rely on Democratic votes, but Speaker Mike Johnson finally got a $95 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan through the House, and it then won Senate approval. President Biden signed it into law. The best argument against Ukraine aid is that it is costly and depleting U.S. armaments. But it would be just as costly to bolster front-line states—as we almost certainly would feel compelled to do—if Russia were to vanquish Ukraine. As for U.S. weapons stocks, about $23 billion of the roughly $60 billion in the Ukraine portion of the bill is devoted to replenishing them, although much more needs to be done to revitalize the U.S. military–industrial base. Now, Johnson’s reward for doing the right thing is a potential challenge to his speakership led by the MAGA agitator and noted conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.). If she goes through with it, Johnson might have to rely on Democratic votes to survive. That this could be the only way to avoid another chaotic, pointless speaker fight is a commentary on the quality of a fraction of the GOP backbench, not of the leadership.