Rand Paul Sees Speaker Johnson Being Forced Out Before ‘DC Gets Warm Again,’ Swipes At Joni Ernst In List of Grievances

Photo by Michael Brochstein/Sipa US via AP Images

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) does not believe that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) will remain in his job by the time “DC gets warm again.” Paul made his bold prediction in his annual list of grievances he puts out every Festivus.

“It’s that time of year again. Happy Festivus! I’ve got a lot of problems with you people! And now, you’re gonna hear about it,” wrote Paul on X, beginning his lengthy thread.

Paul also published his annual report on government waste, “The Festivus Report 2024,” and highlighted what he sees as ridiculous spending. Jack Hunter at The American Conservative dug through the lengthy document and wrote:

Paul’s 41-page list of stupid spending includes items like the Department of the Interior spending $12 million on a Las Vegas pickleball complex and the State Department giving away $4,840,082 to Ukrainian influencers. Or take this item: “The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded a $2 million grant to study kids looking at Facebook ads about food.”

It gets dumber.

How about: “The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) spent $365,000 to promote circuses in city parks”; “the Department of State (DOS) spent $3 Million for ‘Girl-Centered Climate Action’ in Brazil”; and “the Department of State (DOS) allocated $32,596.12 for breakdancing.”

Paul’s fury with Speaker Johnson stems from his going along with the federal budget, which he slammed Johnson’s predecessor for as well. In his grievances thread, he wrote, “Speaking of people who got run out of town but won’t entirely go away, Happy Festivus to former Speaker Kevin McCarthy!”

“Kevin spent nearly $30 million trying to defeat conservatives who voted him out last year. But he only won one race when President Trump was also against his target. Basically, he completely and utterly failed. He lost races by 27 and 30 points. @SpeakerMcCarthy proved as bad at running campaigns as he did the House. But he’s still on my TV!? WHY?” fumed Paul, adding:

I noted last year that I would be roasting the next speaker and the gang who put him in power by this Festivus. As usual, I am right. I want to be the first to congratulate former @SpeakerJohnson, who will be gone before DC gets warm again.

Paul went to declare himself “a one-man @DOGE before @DOGE was a gleam in the eyes of amped-up tech executives, and new media barons got behind the idea.” He also took a swipe at some of his Senate colleagues. “Here are some of my favorites from this report, soon to become yours, @ElonMusk’s, @VivekGRamaswamy’s, AND @JONIERNST’s. Ok, maybe not hers. I don’t know who she thinks she’s kidding. She’s voted for every spending bill since she got here…” Paul wrote of Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), who will head the Senate DOGE caucus. Earlier in the month, Paul suggested that Elon Musk should replace Speaker Johnson. “Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk . . . think about it . . . nothing’s impossible. (not to mention the joy at seeing the collective establishment, aka ‘uniparty,’ lose their ever-lovin’ minds),” Paul wrote on X.

He ended with a bit of disclaimer, noting, “One thing that people should know, I tell jokes here, in case you weren’t here for other years. I welcome
@joniernst to @DOGE, along with anyone else old or new to the massive problems our spending and debt are causing.”