After betraying voters to lead a weekend wipeout in Congress for the war-and-spying crowd, Mike Johnson was granted honorary “adult” status by adoring pundits

House Speaker Mike Johnson is all grown up now, according to the New York Times

Bret Stephens: Hi, Gail. I think the theme for last week was the return of adult supervision…

So begins “The Conversation” between faux-conservative columnist Bret Stephens and faux-liberal columnist Gail Collins in the New York Times this morning. The op-ed title, over a portrait of House Speaker Mike Johnson: “Some of the ‘Adults in the Room’ Aren’t Who We Thought They Would Be.”

The header is a callback to the famed Times editorial by a then-anoymous Trump staffer (we now know it was Homeland Security chief of staff Miles Taylor) pledging himself to “The Resistance” and assuring America there were “adults in the room” in Trump’s administration. In 2018 as now, the word adult had no ideological significance, beyond orientation to the Orange Napoleon. The Times is conferring adult status to Johnson for defying “MAGA folk” in his party to help pass two huge bills, one expanding surveillance, another funding aid for Israel and Ukraine.

Adult supervision! It takes guts, and a certain irrational certainty of not being guillotined, to publicly describe your tribe as adults, and everyone else as children needing guidance. I’d be afraid to go there, but not the Antoinettes at the Times. After the weekend’s big wins for war and spying the paper leaned into its theme, adding a guest essay by the quintessential adult, Liz Cheney, who argues for a speedier start of Trump’s J6 trial. No one’s more “adult” than a former Republican officeholder booted from office and entirely lacking a voter base, yet still loyal to the system. Speaker Johnson isn’t voted out yet, but got an advance on his adult club card, his establishment Bar Mitzvah if you will, via this weekend’s ceremonial ass-lick in the Times and other outlets:…
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