Summary of John Boehner’s On the House (Unabridged‪)‬

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A few key insights from Chapter 1:

1. In Washington, people care too much about power and appearing powerful. Power goes to their heads way too often. John Boehner never cared about looking powerful. If you have to go around saying that you’re powerful, it means you probably are not.

2. Politicians like Donald Trump believe their titles grant them the power to do whatever they want, but such entitlement makes you vulnerable to attack and criticism. Boehner did not like letting power go to his head, or seeing other members of Congress abuse theirs.

3. When Boehner was a new member of Congress in September 1991, he sought to investigate why the House of Representatives had its own bank. He thought it was odd that they were forced to deposit their paychecks in the House’s bank.

4. It turned out that the House bank was a way for members to abuse their power. If they had no money in their account, they could still write checks which would be covered by someone else: the American taxpayer. This happened under the control of the Democrats.