They passed the national security bills in the House and the MAGA extremists are pissed. (What else is new?) Here’s Politico on the state of play with the defenestration of Mike Johnson:
Right now, however, Capitol Hill’s gossip du jour continues to center on whether Speaker MIKE JOHNSON can keep his job.
There’s been some speculation that Rep. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-Ga.) could file a privileged motion to vacate later today, teeing up a vote when the House returns from a weeklong recess.
But we caught up with her fellow rebel Rep. THOMAS MASSIE yesterday, and the Kentucky Republican laid out a different, slow-burn strategy.
Yesterday Rep. PAUL GOSAR (R-Ariz.) made the openly anti-Johnson camp into a trio, and Massie said he was confident their ranks will grow. Expect a number of conservatives, he said, to endorse the Johnson ouster over the coming days.
“This is like a ratchet — the pressure will just keep building,” he said. “The speaker’s overdrawn on political capital. He’s gonna go bankrupt after this vote.”
Massie’s expectation is that by the time their numbers reach about a dozen, Johnson will see the writing on the wall and, just as former Speaker JOHN BOEHNER did nine years ago, resign on his own accord rather than face his own demise at the hands of his rank and file.
There are some gaping holes in this strategy, we’ll point out: For one, Johnson insists he won’t resign; Massie simply predicts that will change as the pressure builds. For another, there’s the expectation that he will have significant backup from House Democrats on any ouster vote.
In fact, our colleagues Olivia Beavers and Jordain Carney report that if Democrats end up saving Johnson’s job, the speaker just might be able to hold on through the November election — a potential reset moment for the House GOP leadership fracas.
Massie’s response to the Dems-save-the-speaker scenario was simple: Republicans, he predicted, won’t stand it and will join the anti-Johnson movement in protest.
“Every Democrat who walks across the aisle to try to save the Republican speaker is going to cause two or three more Republicans to join the effort because, at that point, you’re … ceding control of the House of Representatives to a contingent of Democrats,” Massie said.
Notably, Massie wouldn’t say how long he’d give Johnson to exit on his own terms before forcing a vote. And remember that Greene — who isn’t exactly known for her patience — could reject this plan entirely and press the matter on the floor at any time once MAGA-world outrage reaches critical mass. (Note that STEVE BANNON joined the dump-Johnson bandwagon last night.)
As with just about everything in Republican politics these days, it all might come down to DONALD TRUMP.
We reported last week that Trump was upset with Greene over her threats to throw the House into chaos with another speaker brawl, and Trump himself stood next to Johnson days later and said, “I stand with the speaker.”
But more recently, Trump appears to have stepped back into wait-and-see mode as those around him — including son DONALD TRUMP JR. — slam Johnson all over social media. That, Massie said, suggests the winds from Mar-a-Lago could shift at any time.
“My understanding is that Donald Trump is mostly neutral on this,” Massie said. “And just a couple of days ago, when asked about this issue, former President Trump said, ‘We’ll see what happens.’”
No, the truth is that Trump doesn’t give a shit because he’s worried about his legal troubles and trying to get back into the White House by any means necessary. Keep yoru eyes on his allies. They’ll tell the story.