Enemies, foreign and domestic:
A Russian state TV host has celebrated Mike Johnson becoming the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The Trump-supporting Republican was elected to the role this week after 22 days of deadlock after Kevin McCarthy's ousting earlier in October and failed bids from other candidates, including Jim Jordan.
In a clip from Russian TV channel RTR Planeta, translated by Russian Media Monitor, Olga Skabeeva said Johnson would "suit" Russia because of his stance on Ukraine. [snip]
She said: "Zelensky is in mourning today. Mike Johnson was elected House speaker. All 220 Republican Congressmen voted for him.
"Johnson is not only the ultra-right Trump supporter who always voted against aid to Ukraine and made corresponding statements that were considered to be anti-Ukrainian.
"Where Ukraine is concerned, it's sufficient to look at Johnson's ratings with his respect to his support of Ukraine. His rating is very poor. This means that all of this suits us well."
She added: "If the new speaker did not swear or make promises to his pro-Ukrainian fellow party members, the budget of aid to Ukraine is in question.
"With a Trump fanatic as a speaker, the bill for $106 billion, proposed by Biden, definitely will not pass. Johnson will simply not put it up for a vote. Outward attention of the U.S. will be focused on helping a Jewish nation [Israel]."...
They salivate (in vain we believe) for a Malignant Loser revival, and any glimmer of hope that support for besieged Ukraine will dry up under Speaker "MAGA Mike" Johnson is feverishly projected by the mouthpieces for war criminal Putin and his incompetent toadies. We'll soon see if Russia's new favorite politician comes through for them, or stands for a free and independent Ukraine. The Russians, at least, appear to think they have another Christofascist Republican in their pocket.
