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Franklin Foer: I want to
pivot to talking about, from
that grim reality to Mike

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Johnson's grim reality
this week. I mean, ever
since he became speaker,

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we've been talking about the way
in which he's hanging on by his
fingertips to the window ledge.

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You've been up on the
Hill watching closely.

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Take us through his tumultuous
week. Lisa Desjardins:
What a week, what a day,

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even today, dramatic.
Mike Johnson was not able
to get through just the
very first procedural

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vote on what may be the most
important national security
program, according to

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our national security
officials, that we have.
This is the Republican
Party. They used to be

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the party of national security.
And part of his problem was the
man we've been talking about,

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former President Donald Trump,
who said that that program,
Section 702 of the Foreign

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Intelligence Surveillance Act,
FISA, he said it was illegal,
kill it, that it came after him.

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He was wrong. He was sending
out in his Truth Social posts
incorrect false information. He

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was confused or purposely being
false about it. And as a result,
19 Republicans were emboldened

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to just block this
procedural move, creating
quite a kerfuffle,
embarrassing the speaker.

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Now, I will say, in just today,
he was able to thread the needle
and get over another major

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hurdle, able to defeat
a poison pill amendment,
212 to 212, thanks to who?
Progressive Democrats,

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who -- they were trying to
beat the speaker. Anyway, it
was a combination, a wild day.

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The speaker succeeded in getting
through a FISA reauthorization,
which, in his world, will come

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up for a vote again when, in
two years, when I all hope, who
will be president? Donald Trump.

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So, all of this is about a
speaker trying to stay alive.
He faces a potentially even

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worse week next week. We
can talk about it. But
Donald Trump is completely
overseeing, in a way,

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all of his maneuvers.
And he ended his week in
Mar-a-Lago with Donald
Trump, as you pointed out.

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Franklin Foer: Yes.
Ryan Lizza: Trump is the

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shadow speaker right
now. I mean, the reason
that FISA reform passed
today is because they

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took it from five years
to two years after Trump
posted on social media
about it. And that was --

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Franklin Foer: Even FISA,
as a Republican obsession,
wouldn't exist if Donald Trump

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didn't have this esoteric, as
you say, somewhat incorrect idea
about the role that it played in

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the Russia gate scandal. And so
it's all about kind of personal
grievances from the past.

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Ryan Lizza: I mean,
there's a serious group
of left-right coalition
of privacy advocates who

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wanted to reform Section
702 to create an additional
warrant process when Americans

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communications get swept
up in foreign collection.
That was the vote that was
defeated on a tie today

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yes. That's not the case
that Trump was making.
Franklin Foer: Yes.
Domenico, the culmination of

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Mike Johnson's week was that
he goes and he kisses the ring
and Mar-a-Lago. And it feels

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like when you're interpreting
Donald Trump and his
relationship with various people

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who were trying to curry
favor with him it's all about
reading the body language.

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As you looked at that
tableau today, how did you
assess the body language?

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Domenico Montanaro: I mean,
this is all about Republican
politics. And Mike Johnson, any

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speaker who's in a
situation where at any
point somebody on the right
can try to take you out,

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can try to vacate -- file
a motion to vacate, you
need the sort of sunshine
of Donald Trump in the

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Republican Party to say, this
is my guy. Don't mess with him.
He's okay. Or maybe not my guys

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totally, but he'll do for
now, right? I mean, when
you look at our poll,

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81 percent of Republicans
have a favorable opinion of
Donald Trump. It's -- you know,

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he's mostly unfavorable when
it comes to the country at
large, but that's why this

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is all about Republican
politics and what can get
through and whether Mike
Johnson can keep his job.

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Susan Glasser: Well,
that's the thing, I mean,
Donald Trump has become
the ideology of the party.

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To Frank's point, it is
not. There are principled
argument perhaps on FISA
that for a long time

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there have been privacy
advocates. That's not
what this about for
Trump. Next week, there's

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going to be a fight for
six months, essentially.
The Republican, very
slim majority in House of

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Representatives, has
single-handedly blocked a
popular bill funding U.S.
assistance to Ukraine,

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$60 billion. The Ukrainian
military is running
out of air defense,

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is run out weapons. Why? Because
Mike Johnson is beholden to
Donald Trump. He wouldn't be the

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speaker right now if Donald
had not signed off on
him becoming speaker. He
is a completely unknown,

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completely politically
inexperienced guy.
He's an accidental
speaker who wouldn't be

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speaker if it weren't for
Donald Trump. And we all
know it's not the Republican

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Party's ideology to bow down
to Vladimir Putin. It is Donald
Trump's ideology that has caused

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this stranglehold. And
if they bring the bill to
the floor, it would pass
because there are enough

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Republicans who support American
assistance in Ukraine. So,
to me, this is classic test.

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And, you know, I think the
message is not so great to
Ukraine if the speaker ends the

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week in Mar-a-Lago with
Donald Trump. Franklin
Foer: Well, I want to just I

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would have turned to some one
of the other subplots here
in the story, which is that

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you have Marjorie Taylor Greene
holding this threat to basically
take him out of his job.

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And it seems like with
Marjorie Taylor Greene
and Mike Johnson are
supplicants in front of Trump

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each -- can you just talk
us through some of that?
Ryan Lizza: Well, Greene
is threatening to depose

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Johnson if he puts a
Ukraine bill on the floor.
Trump doesn't support a
Ukrainian bill generally.

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So, Mike Johnson needed to
basically get Trump's blessing
to say, hey, you don't

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support Marjorie's hair-brain
scheme here to overthrow me,
right? And Trump did do that.

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The great question,
though, out of that meeting
today in Mar-a-Lago is,
what path does Johnson

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now have on the Ukraine
supplemental? What promise did
he get from Trump? He seems to

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have put the threat from
Marjorie Taylor Greene
at bay, at least to the
extent that Trump signaled

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he doesn't want that.
Franklin Foer: Yes.

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Ryan Lizza: Now,

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did they make a deal on Ukraine?
The question -- Lisa Desjardins:
The possible path is alone,

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which is what President Trump
brought up today with Speaker
Johnson. It was an interesting

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thing. And all this is
still about sort of who
is the Republican Party,
where they go forth

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on Ukraine, on classic issues
like abortion. And a quick note
on that, I know you're saying

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grim reality, but on abortion
there is a spectrum and
there are many pro-choice,

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pro-life (INAUDIBLE) who are in
the middle you know who still
think about life as well as the

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woman's right, and it's
a complicated issue.
Franklin Foer: Just
quickly, before we wrap up,

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will this pass? You
are a resident -- Lisa
Desjardins: Ukraine?

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Franklin Foer: Yes.
Lisa Desjardins: It could pass.

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I don't think it happens
next week right now. It
could. It's -- Speaker
Johnson is the only one who

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knows right now, he and
President Trump, former
President Trump are
having a conversation on

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that. Right now, it feels
like, no, not next week,
but maybe two weeks,
three weeks down the road.

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Ryan Lizza: And don't
forget, if they open it up --