GOP speaker floats amending Constitution after Supreme Court hands Trump devastating loss

Power Without Results, Blame Without EvidenceThe Real Decision MakersSpeaker Mike Johnson is not describing a policy problem so much as advertising a governing failure. Republicans control the House, Senate, and White House, yet the only concrete “solution” he offers is to push the issue into the constitutional-amendment labyrinth he knows cannot be crossed quickly, if at all. That is not leadership. It is procedural theater dressed up as resolve.The source also gives the crucial context Johnson wants to bury: the House under his speakership has passed remarkably little, with 2025 producing record lows in votes and bills. He does not lack power. He lacks accomplishment.A Tiny Figure, Inflated Into a CrisisJohnson leans on “birth tourism” as if it were the engine of the problem. The reporting undercuts him immediately: a study cited in the article says roughly 0.7 percent of U.S. births could be attributed to birth tourism, and even that is a ceiling, not a certainty. That is not the profile of a national emergency. It is a minor phenomenon being dragged into service as an ideological prop.This is the standard move. Find a narrow edge case, inflate it into a civilizational menace, then use it to justify stripping rights. The scale of the claim collapses under scrutiny, but the political usefulness remains intact.Misdirection As GovernanceJohnson frames the issue as if some anonymous influx of outsiders has somehow “grossly abused” the Constitution. That language does the work of misdirection. It shifts attention away from the elected officials who are actually empowered to govern, legislate, and spend political capital.The weaker target is obvious: migrants, pregnant women, and a vague “welfare state” caricature are easier to attack than a Republican trifecta that cannot or will not produce durable legislation. The story is not about helplessness. It is about choosing a scapegoat because accountability would be more expensive.Constitutionalism As ExcuseJohnson even nods toward the obvious text of the 14th Amendment while still treating its protection as a defect to be engineered around. That tells you everything. The constitutional structure is respected only when it blocks someone else. When it protects birthright citizenship, it becomes a “problem” to solve by amendment, a process he acknowledges is slow, complicated, and historically rare.So the contradiction is built in: announce outrage, praise “textualist, originalist” reasoning when convenient, then demand an overhaul that the same political coalition is unlikely to deliver. The point is not reform. The point is performance.The Pattern Behind The PanicThis is a familiar Republican pattern: manufacture urgency around symbolic enemies, then use that urgency to distract from institutional underperformance and policy emptiness. The rhetoric is loud because the governing record is thin. The more power they hold, the more eagerly they reach for imaginary helplessness.Johnson’s complaint is not evidence of a system out of control. It is evidence of a majority that would rather weaponize constitutional language against a small, vulnerable group than confront its own inability to govern. That is not confusion. It is a choice. Get full access to Systemic Error at paulstsmith.substack.com/subscribe