Rep. Mike Johnson has been busy in his short time as Speaker of the House.
But he hasn’t been busy pleasing his base.
In less than six months into his new position of power, Speaker Johnson has refused to hold the Biden administration accountable for the border crisis, he has endlessly advocated funding Biden’s wars, and recently, he pushed for more warrantless spying on American citizens.
Some Republicans have finally had enough.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has introduced a Motion to Vacate the speaker, and Rep. Thomas Massie has announced that he will cosponsor the bill.
BREAKING REPORT:⚠️ Rep. Thomas Massie to cosponsor MOTION TO VACATE Speaker Mike Johnson..
DO YOU SUPPORT A MOTION TO VACATE THE HOUSE SPEAKER? pic.twitter.com/jphkElyRBu
— Chuck Callesto (@ChuckCallesto) April 16, 2024
Speaker Mike Johnson has thrown our GOP conference into chaos by serving the Democrats and passing Biden’s agenda.
Last week, Speaker Johnson shoved warrantless spying on Americans down our throats with FISA.
Now, Speaker Johnson is going to fund foreign wars while refusing to… https://t.co/LXZVgRZ1ET pic.twitter.com/rhHAhL81P3
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) April 16, 2024
Some wonder why Massie suddenly decided to cosponsor the bill, and his response was blunt.
All of the above. This camel has a pallet of bricks.
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) April 16, 2024
In the meantime, Speaker Johnson says it’s just business as usual, nothing to worry about.
And he has absolutely no plans to resign.
He said he won’t resign. I said to him that he is the only one who can prevent us from going through what happened last fall.
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) April 16, 2024
Speaker Mike Johnson says he is not resigning and that he is simply just trying to do his jobpic.twitter.com/NkauVmVCZk
— FOX NIIGHT (@FOXNIIGHTGALAXY) April 16, 2024
While Johnson remains defiant, he may have more support than some may think.
It’s just not support from his side of the aisle, which is fairly telling.
CNN just moments ago:
"A number of Democrats are indicating that they will vote to save Mike Johnson, especially if he moves ahead on a Ukraine aid package…"
Speaker Mike Johnson may have more Democrat friends in the House than Republicans at this point. pic.twitter.com/ZD70xgujJv
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) April 16, 2024
One thing the House Republicans should consider is this could go badly for them if they’re not careful.
It is a trap. They will vote Jeffries pic.twitter.com/kTAuWPOZtx
— Elon Musk Citizen Journalist (Parody) (@xcitizenjournal) April 16, 2024
With any luck, this won’t be a repeat of the fiasco that followed McCarthy’s ousting. The narrowly controlled Republican majority in the house needs a leader who has their thumb on the pulse of the base.
No matter what follows, removing Johnson as speaker is the only way to make that happen, as he is clearly unwilling to do that.
NBC News has more on the recently filed motion to oust the speaker:
A second House Republican said he will support an effort to oust Speaker Mike Johnson from power over his handling of foreign aid for Ukraine and other issues.
Rep. Thomas Massie, of Kentucky, who is a member of Johnson’s own Rules Committee, said he informed the speaker directly in a closed-door meeting of House Republicans on Tuesday that he is co-sponsoring a resolution offered by far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., to remove Johnson, R-La., from the top job.
“He should pre-announce his resignation (as Boehner did), so we can pick a new Speaker without ever being without a GOP speaker,” Massie wrote on X, referring to former GOP Speaker John Boehner, who resigned in the middle of his term in 2015 while facing a similar conservative rebellion from Massie and others.
In addition to objections over Ukraine aid, Massie also faulted Johnson for pushing through a massive government funding package this year and passing a bill to renew a controversial FISA spying tool last week.
“He’s going for the trifecta, the Triple Crown,” the Kentucky congressman said.
“There are people riding him like a horse here. They don’t care if the horse collapses,” Massie added. “I do because it’s going to throw our conference into turmoil.”
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