As our editor Becca Lower reported, the House of Representatives effectively silenced GA Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in her motion to vacate House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) from leadership.
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The House voted 359-43, with 11 Republicans voting against, and seven Democrats choosing to vote present. This came after Monday and Tuesday meetings between Greene and Speaker Johnson to have a meeting of the minds on the issues Greene was having with the Speaker. The fact that this vacate vote was brought on Wednesday could well be a result of those meetings.
Greene is not well-liked amongst her colleagues, and beyond Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar and her partner in this quixotic quest, Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, Greene was not moving the needle in rallying more Republicans to her cause.
Rather than having the motion withdrawn, it might have looked better for Greene to appear resolute, knowing full well that the vote would fail. The normally loquacious and camera-loving Greene has been radio silent since the vote was done. And “Sassy with Massie” also didn’t go very far.
Massie took to X to lament the power of the Uniparty in keeping Speaker Johnson firmly in place.
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It’s not a new paradigm.
Say what you will about Pelosi and the Democrat faction, they aren’t stupid—they know how to play the long game. They also understand that a speakership food fight would destroy any electoral goodwill they might have (which is smaller than they think), and distract from their agendas of abortion, mutilation, destroying norms, and destroying Trump, and not necessarily in that order.
As reported in April, California Rep. Ro Khanna had already stated he would vote to table any motion to vacate, and both South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn and New York Rep. and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries alluded to the fact that they would be inclined to do the same. So, why Massie is surprised at this shows that he either had his own agenda, or he simply does not have a clue about the pulse of his own chamber.
Perhaps a bit of both.
Johnson’s favorability has also been on the rise over the past few weeks. Soon after the egregious Ukraine aid vote that had Greene’s and Massie’s hackles up, Johnson exhibited real leadership in addressing the college campus protests erupting across the country and calling for the president of Columbia University to quell the unrest or resign.
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In terms of Republicans and their inclinations, my colleague Duke wrote:
We only have 182 days until the November election.
The GOP majority in the House of Representatives is razor-thin.
Removing the Speaker of the House of your party TWICE in less than one year, which is now also a presidential election year, is a really bad idea.
Why we are even talking about this is baffling with just six months before the most important election of our lifetime[.]
Duke echoes the sentiments of many Americans, who simply want the House to get down to the business in front of their faces, and the majority of the House agreed. There are much bigger fish to fry, and tabling this motion to vacate vote has at least quelled this distraction so that Congress can get back to business.