Here’s what could doom Johnson — even as a functional 'coalition' emerges: GOP consultant

22 April 2024

When the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bipartisan bill that includes military aid to Ukraine, far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) responded by repeating her threat to oust Rep. Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) as speaker, even as liberal Rep. Ro Khanna (D-California) has come out against ousting Johnson.

During a Sunday, April 21 appearance on ABC's "This Week," Khanna told host Jonathan Karl, "I would actually vote to table any motion to vacate him…. I disagree with Speaker Johnson on many issues and have been very critical of him. But he did the right thing here, and he deserves to keep his job until the end of this term."

That same day, Greene tweeted, "Mike Johnson's Speakership is OVER! He has betrayed Republicans by handing the gavel to Joe Biden, Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, and the rest of the Democrats. He betrayed us on border security. He betrayed us on funding endless foreign wars. He betrayed us on FISA. He betrayed us on fully funding Biden's DOJ. And Mike Johnson did it all by working with the Democrats. It's time for him to resign, so Republicans can elect a Speaker who will work for our party."

In an op-ed published by the New York Times on April 22, conservative consultant Brendan Buck laments that pursuing a "path of realistic policymaking" may cause Johnson to lose his position as House speaker.

"For all its rank partisanship," Buck argues, "the House right now is functionally and uneasily governed by a bipartisan group of Republicans and Democrats. The House is led by a conservative speaker, but for any matter of lawmaking, he cannot count on a Republican majority. Instead, a coalition has emerged that is willing to do what is necessary to save the House from itself. But still, we must wonder how long a GOP speaker can sustain a position he owes to Democrats. It is no small thing for any speaker to rely on the opposition party to govern."

In the past, Buck worked with two conservative GOP House speakers: former Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) and former Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin). And he argues that in the 2024 House, "critical items are getting done" despite an "era of negative partisanship."

Johnson, according to Buck, has been torn between House Freedom Caucus "hardliners" and a "path of realistic policymaking."

"The speakership seems to have given Mr. Johnson, who himself rose to the job from the ranks of the discontented conservatives, a new perspective on the hardliners, who simply cannot be counted on," Buck writes. "And the past week has demonstrated that governance is still possible in the House if, as the speaker said last week, you 'do the right thing.' Whether it's Mr. Johnson or (former House Speaker Kevin) McCarthy or the two previous Republican speakers for whom I worked, it has not been the Republican leadership that cut out the Freedom Caucus. The Freedom Caucus, by believing in the myth of their own power, made themselves irrelevant to legislative outcomes."

Brendan Buck's full New York Times op-ed is available at this link (subscription required).

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