#mike-johnson — Trump Fail

When a Republican Congressman Forced a Vote to Impeach Defense Secretary Hegseth for Unlawfully Waging War on Iran, the Republican Speaker Canceled Congress's Last Scheduled Day and Sent the Whole House Home Early for a Seven-Week Recess — Punting the Vote Past the Midterms to Spare Vulnerable Members From Having to Say, on the Record, Where They Stand on Hegseth

On September 15, 2026, Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, introduced articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, accusing him of "high crimes and misdemeanors" for unlawfully waging war against Iran without congressional authorization. Massie filed the resolution as "privileged," a procedural move that would normally force the House to act on it within two legislative days. Speaker Mike Johnson's response was to make sure the House was not there to act: he canceled the chamber's last scheduled votes and sent members home a day early for a seven-week pre-midterm recess, taking a final vote Wednesday night on a Russia sanctions bill and then adjourning. The effect is that the Hegseth impeachment vote will not happen until at least November — after the election. Republican leaders insisted the timing had nothing to do with Hegseth, and Johnson called Massie's effort "ridiculous" while defending the secretary. But the reason was reported plainly: leaders wanted to protect vulnerable Republicans — many uneasy with Hegseth's leadership during the unpopular six-month Iran war — from a politically difficult vote. The tell is that impeachment was never likely to pass a Republican House; what leadership could not stomach was making its own members go on the record about Hegseth at all. So rather than hold the vote and defeat it, they canceled Congress and fled town.

Republicans Are Staging an Unprecedented Off-Year "Convention" in Dallas That Nominates No One and Conducts No Party Business — a Trump Rally Its Own Organizers Nicknamed "Trumpalooza" — Where "Delegate" Status Isn't Won but Bought: a $25,000 Minimum for House Members to Attend, Rising to a $250,000 "Golden VIP" Package, While Dallas Taxpayers Are Left to Cover Nearly $2 Million in Security

A political convention is supposed to be a gathering of elected delegates who conduct the party's business — above all, nominating its candidate. The Republican Party is holding one anyway, in a year with no presidential nomination to make: a first-of-its-kind midterm convention on September 9-10, 2026, at Dallas's American Airlines Center, that its own organizers have nicknamed "Trumpalooza." It will conduct no official party business. It is a two-day rally built around Donald Trump ahead of the November elections. And its "delegates" are not chosen by voters — they are sold a credential. The National Republican Campaign Committee is asking House members to pay a minimum of $25,000 (with a guest) to attend, with packages rising to $100,000; a California committee's tiers run from $25,000 up to a $250,000 "golden VIP member" package with floor badges, hotels, transfers, gifts, and concierge service; the Texas GOP sells "honorary delegate" credentials for up to $20,000, cowboy hat included. Organizers raised some $45 million privately to fund it — but Dallas taxpayers are still on the hook for roughly $1.8 to $2 million in police and security costs. Even Republican insiders worry aloud that it has become "more of a fundraiser than a convention," pricing out the grassroots volunteers who actually power campaigns. Stripped of its bunting, this is a machine for converting money into proximity to the president, staged as a democratic institution it no longer resembles.

Trump Cancels His Own Signing of a Wildly Popular Bipartisan Housing Bill — Hours After the Set Was Built — to Hold It Hostage for a Voter-ID Bill That Can't Pass

On June 24, 2026, hours before a scheduled noon signing ceremony in the Capitol's Statuary Hall, Trump abruptly canceled his signing of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act — the most comprehensive housing legislation in decades — and held it hostage to his stalled SAVE America Act voter-ID bill. The housing bill had passed with crushing, veto-proof bipartisan margins: 85-5 in the Senate and 358-32 in the House. It increases housing supply, lowers costs, and caps how many single-family homes private equity can buy — exactly the affordability message both parties wanted to run on in the midterms. Trump posted that the signing was "hereby cancelled until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency," dismissing the housing measure as "The Elizabeth 'Pocahontas' Warren centric housing bill, which is of minor importance." A full set with podium and flags had already been assembled; House GOP leaders were literally on stage touting the bill when his post landed, and staff scrambled to pry the presidential seal off the podium while Democrats moved in to use the stage as a backdrop. This is the same SAVE Act demand for which Trump days earlier sabotaged his own DNI nominee's hearing and let FISA Section 702 lapse. The SAVE Act lacks the 60 Senate votes to pass; Thune has refused to kill the filibuster for it. Republicans called it a "shocker" and said Trump was "digging a hole." Because of the veto-proof margins, the housing bill will likely become law anyway — making the cancellation a self-inflicted political wound for nothing.

Trump Plots to "Expunge" Both Impeachments from the Record — Constitutional Scholars: "You Cannot Un-Ring a Bell"

The Wall Street Journal reports Trump and allies are pushing a House resolution to expunge both impeachments — for abusing power to pressure Ukraine and for inciting the January 6 insurrection. Trump: "It should be done because I did nothing wrong. It was a rigged deal." Speaker Johnson: "I think it makes a lot of sense." Constitutional scholars say the Constitution contains no mechanism to undo an impeachment. Georgetown's Jonathan Turley: "It is not like a constitutional DUI. Once you are impeached, you are impeached." Hofstra's James Sample: "You cannot un-ring a bell." Rep. Darrell Issa introduced a resolution in April; Rep. Anna Paulina Luna announced another. GOP lawmakers privately say it won't be considered until after the midterms — because rehashing Trump's conduct would hurt them. Schiff: "There is no expunging the stain." Raskin: "There is a very easy way to not get impeached: stop committing impeachable offenses."

House GOP Cancels Iran War Vote Because They Were Going to Lose It — Then Sends Congress Home for Memorial Day

House Republicans pulled the Iran war powers vote after it became clear they didn't have the votes to defeat it — Democrats had unified with enough GOP defectors to pass it. Instead of allowing a vote on a three-month-old undeclared war, Speaker Johnson sent Congress home for Memorial Day. Combat veteran Rep. Pat Ryan erupted on the Capitol steps: "These chicken hawk motherfuckers" won't give "an up or down vote on continuing this war while Americans are paying $5 a gallon."