When Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene formally filed a motion to oust Speaker Mike Johnson 41 days ago, the Georgia Republican no doubt expected many of her far-right colleagues to rally behind her and join the cause. At least for now, that hasn’t happened: A grand total of two House GOP members have endorsed her motion to vacate gambit.
As this week got underway, many congressional Republicans were characterizing Greene’s effort as an embarrassing dud, which they preferred to see go away. Evidently, that’s not going to happen. NBC News reported:
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said Wednesday she will force a vote next week to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson, daring Democrats and Johnson’s GOP allies to step in and save his job. Wearing a red “MAGA” hat, Greene accused Johnson, R-La., of betraying the GOP and going against conservative wishes on government funding bills, passing Ukraine aid and reauthorizing the foreign intelligence surveillance program without new warrant requirements, among other issues.
“So next week, I am going to be calling this motion to vacate,” the right-wing congresswoman said. “Absolutely calling it.”
If Greene follows through with her plan — and really, it’s difficult to say with certainty whether she will — the outcome appears certain. If every House Democrat voted to oust the incumbent GOP speaker, as they did in October when former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy faced a similar challenge, then Johnson would be in real trouble.
But as things stand, it appears clear that members of the Democratic minority have a very different plan in mind: Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his fellow Democratic leaders issued a statement on Tuesday announcing their intention to shield Johnson from his own radical members and prevent another round of Republican-imposed chaos on the institution.
The message to Greene, in effect, was simple: “Don’t bother with this stunt; you won’t have the votes.”
By some accounts, Democrats aren’t the only ones telling Greene what she didn’t want to hear. Politico reported this week that Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley personally lobbied the Georgian, making the case that the party won’t benefit from this election-year fight. Donald Trump himself has also expressed support for letting Johnson keep his gavel, at least for now.
As a result, Greene faced a choice: Back down and look weak, or plow forward, defy her partisan allies, and force a vote that she’d lose, at which point she’d look weak anyway.








