House Republicans in the Freedom Caucus have been warning Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) for months that his grace period to run the show sans their ire is over — ever since the newly minted speaker first worked with Democrats to pass a two-tiered “clean” continuing resolution to keep the government open last November, just a few weeks after he was elected. As soon as Johnson announced his plan to push the two-tiered proposal that would keep funding the government at current levels, it became clear that Johnson was not the Golden Boy that his most outspoken backers had promised, equipped with some magic power to unite the conference increasingly run by extremists.
Freedom Caucus members are angry, but appear reluctant, at least as of this week, to make use of the one-person motion to vacate threshold they used to oust McCarthy last year.
Seems to me that they at least recognize that continuously (politically) beheading their own chosen leader will limit their perceived influence and control of the Speakership. People might stop taking them seriously…
I’ve seen some reporting from earlier conference meetings in which GOP members couldn’t tell just what exactly Johnson had been saying to/promising the caucus wrt budget negotiations. Whether that’s been by design or due to Johnson’s ineptitude as a speaker, that sort of thing doesn’t bode well for his tenure as Speaker.
But then again, the present balance of power in Congress does not bode well for anyone in the House’s GOP leadership.
All jobs look easier from the outside than from the inside. Mikey is in way over his head, even more so than McCarthy was. I’d guess he’s saying whatever he needs to to get some people out of his face. Just like McCarthy did.
But perhaps a few folks are waking up to the fact that Empty Greene’s ravings and threats of more are going to have a negative influence on their look and therefore on their continuing job security, so they’re holding back?
How many Rs have retired early? What are the current numbers for the House?
I just saw this article in NYT
Another Republican, Representative Bill Johnson of Ohio, is resigning as of Sunday to take a job as a university president, lowering the number to 217 if Representative Harold Rogers of Kentucky, the 86-year-old dean of the House, is unable to quickly return from recuperating from a car accident. Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 2 Republican, is out until at least next month while undergoing cancer treatment.
Ever since mini-god was made Speaker, I have said that there would be a group of fundy Christofascists in the House (see Virginia Foxx and friends) who would make it known that actions taken against mini-god would be taken personally by them.
I have a feeling that for this group, removal of mini-god from the Speaker’s office can only happen if Dems retake the House. They never thought they would have one of their own as Speaker and they never want it to end.
Johnson is a creep, but foxier than Kev. The Dems will give him enough votes to overcome a vote to vacate and send him packing if he gives them enough on the budget deal. Hakeem and Nancy are still in control. Hard not to be when dealing with a pack of incompetent morons.
McCarthy was apprised of the fact that you really CAN’T lie to people on every side of an issue: usually SOONER than LATER people figure it out and then come out w/knives and sickles
Nobody liked McCarthy. He was a good fundraiser and other Republicans liked the money he raised. Otherwise he was a dimwit and a chronic liar. No one had any respect for him.
I continue to believe this is the key to explaining Kevin’s ouster. It’s become an article of faith that he “worked with Dems” to avert a shutdown and got punished by hardliners. Yet he brought his “clean CR” immediately after trying hard and failing to pass a MAGA suck-up bill. When he pivoted, he did so under rule suspension, which required Dem help for passage (2/3 threshold)
And yet–he gave them no time to read a 70-80 page GOP bill whose only obvious headline was “no $ for Ukraine”. Instead he immediately ran to the media to paint Dems as obstructing a deal. Only Jeffries’ savvy with the “magic minute” bought them the time they needed to understand what was in the bill, check for poison pills, and support it on the merits.
Who treats allies like this? I believe McCarthy tried to pull a fast one, and use Dems’ natural distrust of him against them. They’d kill the bill by withholding their vote, and as the world realized the bill had been a clean olive-branch whose only price was separating the UKR funding issue, the MAGAs would get their shutdown, and the Dems would take the blame. McCarthy would come off a party hero.
It all blew up in Kev’s face instead, the clean bill passed, MAGAs moved to vacate, and critically, he got none of the Dem support he’d have had if there were an actual deal in place, because he’d just tried to cynically fuck them over.
I doubt Johnson would go down the same apparent “bipartisan deal” road without obtaining bona-fides of support for his speakership.
The cohort for the ‘Evening Briefing’ seems less likely to post ‘cat pics’ and less likely to aim to be ‘first’ than does the cohort for the ‘Morning Memo’, according to my pre-publication research.
There are some big Trump tax cuts extensions that Democrats are willing to trade for the Child Tax credit and a few other things. While some of the Freedom Caucus might not care to protect the Republican donor class most of the Republican members are very interested in those tax cuts being renewed. That probably has the attention of the hardliners. I bet that even MTG doesn’t want to bite the hand that feeds her.
