"Perhaps the biggest shot in the arm for the fetal-personhood movement came in the form of an executive order ostensibly unrelated to abortion..."

"... one with an especially unwieldy and Orwellian name: Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government. The order proclaims, with unwarranted confidence, that '"Female" means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell. "Male" means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the small reproductive cell.'... At this year’s March for Life rally... Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House... brought up Trump’s executive order early in his speech: 'I don’t know if you saw his executive order on gender, but it defines life as beginning at conception, rather than birth.' Johnson put invisible air quotes around 'gender,' but he came down hard on the word 'conception,' jabbing one finger in the air as he said it. The crowd cheered. Ideas have consequences."

Writes Margaret Talbot, in "Does a Fetus Have Constitutional Rights? After Dobbs, fetal personhood has become the anti-abortion movement’s new objective" (The New Yorker).

"We do have the authority over the federal courts, as you know. We can eliminate an entire district court."

"We have power of funding over the courts and all these other things. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and Congress is going to act."

Said Mike Johnson, quoted in "Speaker Mike Johnson floats eliminating federal courts as GOP ramps up attacks on judges/Republican lawmakers are setting their sights on the judiciary following court rulings that have halted Trump's agenda" (NBC News).

The Constitution gave Congress the power to create the lower federal courts, and that seems to imply that Congress can eliminate them. Obviously, it hasn't done that, and there are some arguments that maybe it can't un-create them at this point in the development of federal law, but when speaking about Congress's power over the federal courts, it's standard to refer to its power to completely eliminate the lower federal courts, and to use that power as a basis for inferring a power to cut them back in less drastic ways.

"Congratulations to Speaker Mike Johnson for receiving an unprecedented Vote of Confidence in Congress."

"Mike will be a Great Speaker, and our Country will be the beneficiary. The People of America have waited four years for Common Sense, Strength, and Leadership. They’ll get it now, and America will be greater than ever before!"

Writes Trump on Truth Social.

Did you get caught up in the anxiety about whether Mike would get the votes? I'm so resistant to that kind of thing at this point. 

"Speaking of secrets, Harris knew Biden was physically and mentally impaired and kept it a secret. The F.B.I. knew the Hunter Biden laptop was real..."

"... and kept it secret. They also knew Russia collusion was fake and kept that a secret, too. It appears that all those secrets didn’t matter to the media because they all helped Democrats. But this one might help Donald Trump, and now they care? By definition, a secret is not to be shared — and I don’t intend to share this one."

Said Mike Johnson to the NYT, quoted in "Trump Hints at ‘Little Secret’ With House Republicans, Setting Off a Panic/The former president seemed to delight in fueling speculation about what he is cooking up with House Republicans, prompting Democrats to worry about election fraud. Speaker Mike Johnson refused to explain."

This relates to what Trump said at the MSG rally, addressing Johnson: "I think with our little secret we’re going to do really well with the House, right? Our little secret is having a big impact. He and I have a little secret — we will tell you what it is when the race is over."

Is there really something here — something worth panicking about? Or is this just childish drama? It made me think of a tune I remember from childhood. Perhaps you know it. It goes with the word "I know something you don't know."

"This was never about justice — this is about plastering 'convicted felon' all over the airwaves. The only thing that Donald Trump is guilty of is being in the courtroom of a political sham trial."

Said J.D. Vance, quoted in "Trump’s Conviction Binds the G.O.P. Even Closer to Him/Prominent Republicans, including congressional leaders, ex-rivals and potential running mates, basked in the energy, and fund-raising, of an outraged base" (NYT).

Also: "Whether they were congressional leaders, potential running mates or onetime rivals, prominent Republicans’ [made a] speedy alignment behind Mr. Trump, with little dissent or discussion.... 'People now see Donald Trump as a symbol of something,' Speaker Mike Johnson said on Fox News on Friday. 'He’s more than just an individual. He’s a symbol of fighting back against this government corruption, the deep state, the bureaucracy and all the rest.'... Those few who offered even muted words of respect for 'the legal process' earned immediate rebukes.

"The United States House of Representatives rejected impeachment charges against Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary..."

"... on Tuesday after a small group of Republicans broke with their party and refused to support what amounted to a partisan indictment of President Biden’s immigration policies. The 216-214 vote dealt a stunning defeat to Speaker Mike Johnson, who had expressed confidence that he had the votes to charge Mr. Mayorkas with high crimes and misdemeanors for failing to lock down the United States border with Mexico amid a migrant surge, a move that Republicans have been promising for more than a year."

The NYT reports.

Good. As I wrote on January 28th, "What's the 'high crime'/'misdemeanor' bringing this policy disagreement within the constitutional power to impeach?"

"I believe that scripture, the Bible is very clear that God is the one that raises up those in authority."

Said Mike Johnson, orating just before taking the oath as Speaker of the House:

Transcript. 

Excerpt:

Oh! They actually elected a Speaker of the House.

Hmm. Okay. Mike Johnson.

"Rep. Mike Johnson elected speaker, breaking weeks-long stalemate" (WaPo): "He is antiabortion, voted against Ukraine aid and supports LGBTQ restrictions.... Johnson received votes from all 220 Republicans present."

From the NYT: "Who Is Mike Johnson? One of the House’s Staunchest Conservatives. A lawyer and former chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, he played a pivotal role in congressional efforts to overturn the 2020 election.": "Mr. Johnson’s hallmark in Congress has been combining his hard-line views with a gentle style. He emerged at a moment when members of the conference were worn down and ready to accept someone who they did not view as an obvious choice. Instead, he passed a lowered bar: They view him as someone sufficiently conservative and who they do not personally despise."