Not defending Mike Johnson here, but there’s supposed to be more to it than just the days in session. About 140 in session days, which allows other days to read and research what you’re legislating on. And then the lengthy recesses are so congressmen can be home to work with and listen to their constituents.
Whether or not it happens like that is a mystery, I guess.
A crowd here and there of 35,000 isn’t nearly enough. It needs to be crowds of hundreds of thousands in hundreds of places at once. And the only way you get there is a massive increase in faith that the elected Democrats will actually do something. This performance (because I will concede that it’s just a performance) is exactly the kind of act that increases that faith.
He’s doing this for the exact same reason Bernie and AOC are - to generate headlines and display that people by and large are not okay with what the Trump administration is doing. There is nothing actually actionable from the rallies (or very, very little). And sadly at the moment there’s very little that can be done to actually stop Trump’s plans. It’s important therefore that Democrats continue to passionately, loyalty, and most importantly eye-catchingly continue to protest however they can.
So what are you doing then?