There’s No Place Like Home: MTG Returns to the Fringe
There’s No Place Like Home: MTG Returns to the Fringe
Plus: Lawmakers want Formula One to include Americans.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is again demanding that House Speaker Mike Johnson resign on the threat of a motion to vacate if he refuses. I would say she “renewed” her demand, but that would imply a longer pause than she’s apparently been able to take: For weeks, in response to Johnson telling the Republicans opposed to helping Ukraine to pound sand, Greene has been saying “don’t make me force a vote” to anyone who will listen. Johnson's display of good-faith governance on the issue is expected to ensure his survival, especially given Democratic leadership’s move to protect him. Public humiliation is the likeliest result of the fracas for Greene.
Greene told reporters in a press conference Wednesday that she will trigger the motion to vacate some time next week if Johnson does not announce a targeted resignation date. Greene’s decision to give Johnson the weekend to think it over also gives her time to try to convince more colleagues to vote with her if she does force a vote. (Pegging the vote to next week is also a relief to the many lawmakers, staff, and journalists who don’t want to work over the weekend—thanks for that, Rep. Greene.).
If she does go through with making her resolution privileged to bring the motion to vacate to the floor next week, then procedurally, a vote will be required within two legislative days. The specific day and time will depend on the chamber’s work calendar unless Johnson decides to get it over with and bring it up for a vote immediately. (His predecessor, McCarthy, chose the immediate option, and he was promptly humiliated in front of his friends, colleagues, and the entire country.)
Democrats have publicly declared they will have Johnson’s back by voting to table the motion to vacate if Greene tries to bring it to the floor. A vote on tabling Greene’s resolution would be a preliminary vote, not a vote on her actual resolution; that’s important because the Democrats believe voting to table would not amount to the same thing as actually voting for Johnson. (It is the same thing, really; it just doesn’t leave as bad a taste in their mouths.)
Johnson hasn’t bent to Greene the way McCarthy did. The speaker has even gone as far as to say, “Bless her heart. . . . I don’t think she’s proving to be [a serious lawmaker]. I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about her. I gotta do my job.”