Notably, Trump wants to purge our intel agencies of experienced, expert, and patriotic Americans that produce this very kind of nonpartisan analysis.

Johnson went from being a backbencher to a member of the Gang of 4. He’s gone from 0 real intel awareness to mainlining the strongest stuff—covert actions, ultrasensitive collection programs, exquisite source reporting. Some of that has shaken him, and he’s said as much publicly.

I was just reminded of this and am enraged by it all over again twitter.com/jamisonfoser/s…

Very important point (I am not surprised the New York Times let him get away with this)

This is a very good and important thread that I urge you to read.

Speaker Mike Johnson's statement justifying a vote on Ukraine aid didn't just take on MAGA's absurd, up-is-down, Putin-aping lie that Russia is a peace-seeking victim, but did so by saying he believes—GASP!—intel from the deep state.
Very good point in this piece by Greg Sargent

thanks Nicholas Grossman

I bet intel briefers finally convinced Johnson that he was about to go down in history as the next Chamberlain so he’s frantically trying to brand himself as Churchill. In reality, he’s Molotov who ended up on the winning side only after committing unspeakable evils for his boss.

We may have dodged a bullet when it comes to an Israel-Iran war right now. But according to the experts, the risks medium to long-term have gone up--including quite possibly on the nuclear front. My latest. thedailybeast.com/irans-nuclear-…

Word.

In this thread Greg Sargent says Times Opinion somehow allowed J.D. Vance to 'get away with erasing Russian agency' in his recent Op Ed on defunding Ukraine.

This is a good-faith effort by Ian Ward to make sense of JD Vance's positions on Ukraine by looking at his broader worldview: politico.com/news/magazine/…

But the problem is the bad faith. If JD wants to be taken seriously he's got to stop playing games like this one:

You’re talking about the paper that blames Democrats for everything the Republicans do

Key point here: The warnings about ousting McCarthy proved all wrong. In fact, as Rep. Mikie Sherrill told us on our pod, Mike Johnson has actually turned out to be more trustworthy on his word than McCarthy: newrepublic.com/article/180733…

Dem aide points out to me that the rule that just passed doesn't include extreme border stuff House Rs want. That's gonna get a vote under suspension (2/3 needed) and will fail. Which means vulnerable Senate Ds may not even have to take a tough vote on border. Good all around.

Important that more House Republicans voted for the rule to advance the Ukraine-Israel package than expected. As I've tried to argue, influential Republicans privy to real intel wanted to vote for Ukraine aid but they got far less attention than MAGA noisemakers did.

As Sargent says, this really is an important point. Considering Johnson’s place on the “how MAGA is he” line, and knowing the vitriol he’d receive from the Right, it’s kind of a stunning admission.

.Greg Sargent hits on an important point here, and one that I raise in my latest article The New Republic: Russia needs to run their narratives through our own people, in order to hide Russia's hand. When our own politicians are the messenger, the message is easier to swallow. 1/

Thank you Alex Finley. And please make sure to read his piece as well

Almost like the whole 'deep state' line is just for cable news hits.