United States – Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a conservative firespitter, on Wednesday moved to have another Republican, Mike Johnson, removed as speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, a collective move that may set the internal wrangling precedent months prior to the November elections.
Unprecedented Challenge Against Trump’s Ally
The act is probably a rare open one of opposition against the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who has publicly stated that Johnson is his favorite and has called the movement for ouster an “unfortunate idea.”
“Mike Johnson cannot do the job he has repeatedly proved over and over again,” Greene said to the press on Wednesday. She said that she would call for a vote the coming week, as reported by Reuters.
Johnson’s Defiant Response
According to the statement, Johnson qualified her statement by calling a threat misguided. “This resolution contravenes the Republican agenda, is unconstitutional for the Institution, and is wrong for the country,” he reiterated.
Potential Upheaval
If Greene’s “motion to vacate” were to be passed, the House would have to find a new speaker for the second time since October when hard liners dumped McCarthy’s protégé, Kevin McCarthy, from the top post. It was then an unusual act in US politics.
However, prior to the House voting down the amendment, the effort may have been brought to an end.
For the most part, House Republicans are against the move, which raises doubts about the party’s ability to govern in a race where President Biden is beating Trump, and the House Republicans have just a 217-212 slender majority.
Accountability and Transparency
The Democrat leaders in the House announced on Tuesday that they would help stall this process if necessary, by using the procedure called tabling to put off Greene’s push. They concluded that Greene’s campaign “will not succeed.” They did, however, say they did not know how many Democratic House members would be taking this extraordinary step to vote for the speaker of the opposition party.
“Why would you go through with this? Look, we didn’t get elected to make excuses,” said Representative Thomas Massie, who supports the move and joined Greene at a news conference. “We didn’t get elected to say we shouldn’t even try. We got elected to come here and give it our best and also to impose transparency.”
Greene submitted her plea in March following Johnson’s ability to avert two partial shutdowns of government by using more Democrats than Republicans in the House to move the budget bill through. She affirmed she had not yet made up her mind to take another shot if the bill were to be defeated in the House.
She gained the co-sponsorship of Representatives Massie and Gosar while the House considered and later passed legislation that is helpful for Ukraine by making it a fighter against the Russian invasion and other laws that most Republicans voted against, as reported by Reuters.
As a shocker to some Republicans, especially in the face of Trump’s disapproval and McCarthy’s pledge that the weeks of political paralysis will not be extended, Greene moved the House rule mandating a vote on Johnson.