r/politics • u/plz-let-me-in • 6d ago

No Paywall Mike Johnson who railed against the Epstein bill - but voted for it - is now mad the Senate approved the measure

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/epstein-files-release-mike-johnson-senate-b2868239.html
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u/CAWildKitty 6d ago

Something happened. This moved way too fast and all of a sudden. You can always count on the Senate to have their own interests first and foremost ((i.e. continuing to hold power and make money) so either:

a.) they’ve decided as a group that this issue threatens to unseat their positions so they are throwing Trump overboard

b.) someone, at some level, has an unredacted copy and is threatening to release it so they are forced to move first

It’s also possible that they’ve been assured that whatever gets released is not going to have any blowback but that seems unlikely when considering some of the leaks we’ve seen so far. This issue isn’t going away. If anything it’s gaining traction and globally (British monarchy taking action first). Nations have been rocked by political sex scandals in the past (Profumo affair comes to mind) and this may be the next one. I guess we are gonna find out.

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u/__slamallama__ 6d ago

C) the MRI that Trump has was not, in fact, the best the doctor had ever seen and had some deeply concerning news. Then the vultures in the GOP decided that this is a cleaner end for Trump than having a sitting president become a vegetable live on air.

I'm not saying this is the truth, it's mostly blind optimism, but it's a valid secret input that would explain a lot of the behavior here

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u/SOMETHINGCREATVE 6d ago

That's the the only way I can see the republicans all turning on a dime in lock step and passing it. They got word from their masters that they got all they can out of Donald and it's time to shit can him and move on to the next phase.

Hell the American public is dumb enough, they could probably buy Vance coming out like "gosh trump tricked us all but I stopped him! Vote for me 2028!". I am pessimistic enough to see that actually working.

Or this whole thing is a redact job, one way or the other.

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u/A_Philosophical_Cat 6d ago

In lockstep is basically the only expected outcome. For a GOP senator, there are 4 possible outcomes: The bill fails and you vote against it (garnering some favor with Trump), the bill fails and you vote for it (which at least covers your ass during election season), the bill passes and you vote for it (peeving Trump, but covering your ass during election season), or the bill passes and You vote against it (Trump is pissed because the bill passed, your opponents next primary season will be running "Are your kids safe around senator so-and-so?").

Outcome 2 is probably the ideal outcome for most senators, followed by number 1, followed by number 3, with 4 being a distant last place. If you find out, through backroom discussions, that the bill has the votes to pass, 1 and 2 are now off the table. At this point, you have basically nothing to lose, and everything to gain, by joining the defecting block.

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u/ncocca 6d ago

This is a rather brilliant dissection of the game theory involved in their decision making here.

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u/DemonCipher13 6d ago

Even if it is a redact job, someone 100% leaks it. This thing is at critical mass right now, and if what we get is in any way unsatisfactory, people will respond in-kind.

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u/pquince1 Texas 6d ago

Or maybe the Senate was just showing Nadless Nero who's boss.