A senior Republican National Committee official asked Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene not to oppose Speaker Mike Johnson during an in-person meeting Tuesday. battle.
A meeting between Greene (R-Ga.) and RNC Chairman Michael Whatley took place just hours later. She criticized Johnson He pledged to stop “secret backroom deals” with Democrats and force a vote to oust him.
Whatley, who had been in office less than two months, skipped a briefing for House Republicans that morning and met with Greene in his office after Greene stressed the importance of party unity. He said the same thing to Green.
“He said, number one, this is not helpful, and number two, we want to expand and grow our majority in the House,” said a person familiar with Whatley’s message to Greene. “He has made it clear that the disruption of the meeting due to these efforts, including the filing of this (movement motion), is not conducive to party unity.”
In another era, directives from top Republicans would not be ignored by their supporters in the House. Even in this era, Whatley’s selection as Trump’s hand-picked RNC steward brought him into the MAGA orbit.
But Greene rebutted Whatley, arguing the party has time to bounce back from a leadership change before the election. And she told him she had spoken directly to Trump earlier that day. It left the impression that her former president had said much the same thing to her as Whatley.
The truth is that Greene has been backed into a corner and this morning she faces a potential lose-lose situation. You can either stand back and look squishy, or stand firm and risk making a break with Trump.
At a Wednesday morning news conference with Johnson’s fellow congressman Thomas Massey (R-Ky.), Greene announced that she would call a vote on Johnson next week, saying Johnson “has become unrecognizable to any of us.”
Johnson fired back, saying, “This action is wrong for the Republican Party, it is wrong for the institution, it is wrong for the country.” The effort is expected to reach table agreement, with Democrats voting to keep Johnson in line with most Republicans.
As Jordain Carney and Olivia Beavers write, Greene’s threats hurt her standing in the House Republican Conference. As Jordain Carney and Olivia Beavers write, more and more lawmakers are growing tired of Greene’s self-aggrandizing antics.
Her latest push, for example, comes as Republicans attempt to use campus unrest to send a message about anti-Semitism. But they said, “Instead of attacking Democrats for not doing enough to condemn pro-Palestinian protests on campus, Republicans are now setting up Greene to drag them into another internal fight that she wants to put off until after Election Day. ”
The bigger problem is that Greene is ignoring not only her House colleagues, but also Trump and his hand-picked representatives, who made an unusual personal appeal yesterday.
“Nothing is more important than party unity and our focus on defeating Joe Biden and the Democrats in November,” Whatley said in a statement.
Others on Trump’s side are annoyed, to put it mildly, by Greene’s lack of political discipline. Some have noted that she had kept quiet in recent days until House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and other top Democrats publicly endorsed Johnson yesterday morning, a move Greene hopes will spark another internal fight. It suggests that the rope has been doped.
“Fresh bait always finds fish,” said one senior Republican official. “When Jeffries throws it out there, it’s a friend in the water. “Everyone knows what he did.”
One person close to Greene said of Whatley and others’ calls for unity, “The only person destroying Republican unity is Mike Johnson.” “Republicans need a speaker who will deliver President Trump’s America First agenda when he returns to the White House. Mike Johnson, whom the Democrats support, does not.”
But another senior Republican said there could be consequences if Greene doesn’t start playing as a team quickly. She may find herself frozen out in some part of the long-loved MAGA world.
“If she blows everything…” We won’t entangle her in anything she does.” The man said. “She is alone.”
Greene allies have rejected suggestions that she might be left out, citing her strong support among the Republican grassroots and her corresponding fundraising abilities.
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Correction: An earlier version of this report included an incorrect title by Michael Whatley. He is the RNC chairman.
