The GOP Was Right To Reject Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Attempt to Remove Mike Johnson as Speaker
The stakes could not be higher as we enter the 2024 Presidential election cycle. With the incompetent and corrupt current President opening the border, ruining the US economy, and destroying America’s credibility around the world, this will be the most consequential election the country has held in decades. The MAGA agenda that is focused on reforming corruption in government, keeping taxes lower with the Trump tax cut set to expire, and making sure the America First philosophy is how we center our foreign policy, is on the line. While certainly, if leaders are abdicating their responsibilities or violating core principles, those individuals should be called out and held to account, the Republican party cannot afford to appear to be able to govern at such a critical time in our nation’s history because of one or two policy disagreements.
This is why even though Marjorie Taylor Greene has been a productive member of Congress and an important ally of the MAGA movement, House Republicans needed to defeat her ill timed and poorly thought out effort to remove the Speaker of the House, Congressmen Mike Johnson. Johnson has the support of President Trump and he’s been a staunch conservative for many years, while some members of the party disagreed with his decision to bring legislation providing aid to Ukraine to the floor for a vote, nearly half of Republicans in the House supported sending money to Zelensky’s government, and most Senate Republicans supported the foreign aid package as well.
Greene’s only real problem with Johnson was her disagreement over aid to Ukraine, an issue the Republican party is divided on. While the Congresswoman from Georgia cited the Speaker not giving members enough time before votes and his support of warrantless FISA surveillance, she clearly activated her motion to remove Johnson primarily because of the recent vote on foreign aid. The core problem with Greene’s motion was Republicans are divided on aid to Ukraine. Trump also signaled his support of Johnson after the legislation passed. The passionate congresswoman also did not propose any alternative candidate to replace Johnson, and she made no effort to get enough votes to oust the Speaker either. MTG was joined by just 10 Republicans when the vote was held on Wednesday.
The Democratic party should never have the power to decide who the Republican Speaker of the House is. I don’t agree with how the Republican party has handled aid to Ukraine or with Johnson’s votes on some issues such as FISA warrants, but the Congressmen from Louisiana is a conservative and he’s also a staunch supporter of Trump and the MAGA movement. Agreeing with the Speaker on every issue is never going to happen, and voting to replace a leader simply because of policy disagreements without a valid replacement or any serious effort to persuade members of your own party to join her is not productive. Greene got just 10 Republicans to side with her motion to replace Johnson, she knew the overwhelming majority of House Republicans and President Trump supported him. She also refused to even name a person whom she would support as the successor. Greene has been a productive member of Congress, but her recent efforts seemed more like a publicity stunt, than a serious or productive effort to help the party.
The Republican party should encourage disagreement, the way former Speakers such as Pelosi ran the House was a disgrace. There should be healthy debate both within the party and in Congress in general. Still, voting to remove a speaker every time you have a policy disagreement in an election year where the stakes could not be higher is not productive. If MTG’s motion had succeeded the House may have had to go without a speaker for months, since there was no clear candidate to replace the Congressmen from Louisiana. Johnson is not perfect, but MTG’s efforts to replace him were ill-timed and not well thought out, the Republican Party was right to reject her motion.
