Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) made a bold move on Friday, filing a motion to remove Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) as Speaker of the House. The move comes mere months after Johnson was elected speaker following the ouster of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) at the hands of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.).
While I can sympathize with Greene's objection to the $1.2 trillion funding measure that will prevent a government shutdown — which most House Republicans opposed — the last thing we need is another battle over the speakership.
Frankly, we didn't need it last year, either. It made House Republicans look bad.
The McCarthy drama showed us that the House GOP was in disarray, and that overshadowed the GOP's efforts to hold Joe Biden accountable for his corruption as the news cycles excessively covered GOP infighting. As I noted at the time, the challenges faced by then-Speaker McCarthy would be the same regardless of who the speaker is. Do you remember how many times it took the House to successfully vote for a successor? The GOP hasn't gotten any more united, but the GOP's position has only weakened since then, as its majority has gotten smaller.
In November, Johnson found himself on thin ice after releasing a continuing resolution that didn't have spending cuts.
Despite their public denials, Democrats want a government shutdown. Why? Because they know that Republicans will get blamed for it. It happens every time, regardless of which party controls the White House or the House of Representatives. When there was a shutdown under Barack Obama, he made it as painful as possible, knowing that the media would push the narrative that Republicans were to blame.
Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) blasted Greene's motion to vacate.
"I consider Marjorie Taylor Greene to be my friend. She's still my friend, but she just made a big mistake," Higgins said in a video he posted to X/Twitter. "You know, trying to vacate Mike Johnson — I totally oppose that. Listen. Mike is a very good man — a man who begins every day from the right place. He's deeply principled. He's like a brother to me. And to think that that one of our Republican colleagues would call for his ouster right now, it's really—it's abhorrent to me, and I oppose it."
He continued, "I stand with Mike Johnson. He is maybe the only guy in history that could potentially perform and help us navigate through these very dark and challenging times when he has to deal with it with a one-vote majority in the House of Representatives. He's got a Democrat-controlled Senate and a weaponized Democrat-controlled White House."
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"You've got one guy that can deal with that," Higgins continued. "You know, who it is? My brother, Mike Johnson. I stand with Mike."
Higgins then called on all Republicans to unanimously oppose Marjorie Taylor Greene's "big mistake."
Why every Republican should support Speaker Mike Johnson… pic.twitter.com/BMXq3gsA7J
— Rep. Clay Higgins (@RepClayHiggins) March 22, 2024
If Republicans want to cut spending, they need to expand their majority in the House, flip the Senate, and win the White House. This is entirely possible if they are united. But if they're fighting among themselves, they might as well concede everything to the Democrats.
