The Speaker speaks, on the state of the nation and the presidential campaign

NEWS AND OPINION:

House Speaker Mike Johnson does not have promising news about the current state of the nation. He does have promising news about former President Donald Trump, however.

“Blue states, swing districts, red states all across the country — doesn’t matter where we are. This same sentiment is expressed. People are fed up. They’re fed up with a cost of living they cannot stay ahead of. They can’t keep afloat because no matter how hard they work, the inflation rate and everything else is just crushing hardworking families. Then you’ve got the rising crime rates. You’ve got the weakness on the world stage, and all the things that make us unsettled. And of course, there’s the open border. Everybody feels that acutely, and they’re ready for a change,” Mr. Johnson told CNBC in an interview Wednesday.

He has a prediction about the debate between President Biden and Mr. Trump on Thursday as well.

“I spent time with President Trump last week and I can tell you what. He’s excited about this debate. He’s ready to get on that stage. And I think the reason he accepted the terms so quickly is because he had just said a couple of days before — anytime, anywhere, Joe. So to his credit, you can tie him up, you can put one arm behind his back. It’s not going to make a difference,” Mr. Johnson continued.

“President Trump, I think, is going to lay out a very clear vision for the country, a very positive one. And I think that’s going to be a stark, stark contrast with the Biden record,” Mr. Johnson said.

“You know, the interesting thing about both of these men is they both have been president. So everybody can put the rhetoric aside and the talking points aside. They can evaluate how their life is under Joe Biden and how it was under Donald Trump. And I think everybody in every demographic and every state in the said, if they look at it objectively, I think they’re going to say they were doing much, much better under President Trump,” the speaker said.

THE PARTNER FACTOR

Fox News has begun a new interview series focused on potential vice presidents now under consideration by presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump — and their wives or significant others as well.

The series got underway Wednesday when Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio and his wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance, took time to chat with “Fox & Friends” co-host Lawrence Jones.

This convivial conversation will continue with other potential vice presidents as well.

On Thursday, Fox News co-host Ainsley Earhardt will interview Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and his fiancee, Mindy Noce, in the Charleston, South Carolina, church where the couple met. On Monday, Brian Kilmeade will interview North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and his wife, Kathryn Burgum, from an undisclosed site in their state.

“The possible candidates first discuss their stances on policy, why they would be the best candidate and what their top priorities would be if chosen as the vice-presidential pick. In the second part of the interview, the potential candidates will be joined by their significant others to discuss the qualities their partners would bring to a possible Trump administration,” Fox News said in a statement.

BUT CAN THEY READ IT?

Rhode Island has become the 22nd state in the union to enact a “readability requirement” for ballot measure questions that are presented to the public.

“In Rhode Island, a new law requires that ballot measure questions be written in plain language and reasonably calculated to be understood by those with an eighth-grade reading level,” Ballotpedia.com — a website that tracks all aspects of the nation’s election process — reported in an analysis released Wednesday.

The aforementioned bill was passed unanimously by the state legislature and signed into law by Gov. Daniel McKee on June 4.

“Several other states have enacted bills related to ballot measure readability in recent years: In 2023, [New York] Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill that went into effect this year. The bill required state ballot measure questions to be written using clear language and not exceed an eighth-grade reading level. The bill also received a unanimous vote in the state legislature,” the Ballotpedia analysis said.

“In 2023, North Dakota enacted a bill requiring summaries of ballot measures to be written in ’plain, clear, understandable language using words with common, everyday meaning.’ In 2019, Maine passed a law requiring ballot questions to be written as simple as possible,” the analysis said.

MEANWHILE IN SPACE

“NASA’s oldest active astronaut will return to space for a six-month mission in September. Don Pettit, 69, will fly to the International Space Station as a part of the Roscosmos-led Soyuz MS-26 mission, which includes Russian cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner,” the news site Space.com reported.

“Russian state media source TASS said this week that the launch date will be on Sept. 11. The NASA astronaut’s assignment, announced in May, will see Pettit make his fourth journey to space to add on to his 370 days accumulated in orbit. His previous missions included Expedition 6 in 2003, the short-duration space shuttle mission STS-126 in 2008, and Expedition 30/31 in 2012,“ the news site said.

This veteran spaceman, by the way, was selected to be an astronaut in 1996, flew aboard three space flights in 2003, 2008 and 2012 — and has spent a total of 370 days in space.

POLL DU JOUR

• 74% of U.S. adults agree that “things in this country” are headed in the wrong direction.

• 73% disapprove of the way President Biden is handling the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians.

• 69% disapprove of the way Mr. Biden is handling immigration issues.

• 63% disapprove of the way the president is handling the economy.

• 61% disapprove of the way the president is handling his job as president.

• 55% disapprove of the way the president is handling abortion policy.

• 39% have a favorable opinion of the president.

SOURCE: A Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll of 1,088 U.S. adults conducted online and by telephone June 20-24.

• Contact Jennifer Harper at jharper@washingtontimes.com