The littlest man

Mike Johnson has exactly the character necessary to become Speaker of the House under this configuration, which is to say none at all:

House Speaker Mike Johnson has denied a request for the late Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. to lie in honor at the United States Capitol, citing past precedent over how the deaths of other high-profile figures were handled, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The civil rights icon died this week at the age of 84. Jackson was praised by both Republicans and Democrats alike for his decades of activism and work in politics and international affairs. President Donald Trump repeatedly described Jackson this week as a “good man.”

One of the sources told CNN that the decision to reject the request to lie in honor – which had been made on behalf of Jackson’s family – was in keeping with precedent and was not political. The source said that requests for conservative political activist Charlie Kirk and former Vice President Dick Cheney were also denied, and that the general practice is for select military officials and select government officials to lie in honor. But civilians or non-government officials have lain in honor in the US Capitol in the past, including civil rights hero Rosa Parks in 2005 and evangelical pastor Rev. Billy Graham in 2018, among others.

Lying in honor generally involves laying the casket of the deceased in the Rotunda of the US Capitol, where the public can come and offer final respects.

Jesse Jackson’s memory will live, while to the extremely limited extent Johnson will be remembered at all it will be as a particularly empty and greasy Trump footstool.