It was almost a month ago when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, reversing her previous position, she launched an attempt to oust her party’s Speaker of the House of Representatives. In the days and weeks that followed, a total of zero Republicans signed onto the right-wing Georgian’s efforts, leading to speculation that the Speaker Mike Johnson may never face a vote on his fate.
The wind has changed direction quickly. On Tuesday, Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky signed Greene’s motion to evict, and today the duo became a trio. NBC News reported:
By some accounts, the number of Republicans willing to kick Johnson out of the chairman’s office is likely to increase one notch soon.
Following up on our reporting a few days ago, in a chamber of more than 400 members, the fact that some want to impeach Johnson may seem trivial, but the legislative arithmetic remains very relevant: with one GOP member on the verge of In the coming days, the House of Representatives Republican Conference will shrink to just 217 members, leaving party leaders with a one-vote margin.
If Greene were to force a vote on the fate of the speaker of the House of Representatives, she would have more than enough votes to impeach Johnson — if Democrats were to vote against him the same way they voted against then-Speaker of the House in October the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy voted.
By contrast, if members of the Democratic minority bailed out the incumbent Republican leader—a dynamic that has emerged again and again—Johnson would almost certainly retain his gavel even though he would be severely weakened, and his dependence on Democratic support would complicate his future.
In case that isn’t enough, there is also the question of what exactly Democrats can expect from the Speaker of the House of Representatives in return for their bailout. Would passing on security assistance be enough? Could that be just part of a larger Democratic wish list?
For his part, the incumbent Speaker of the House of Representatives told reporters this week that he would not resign, add“I’m not worried about this.” Watch this space.
This message updates our related previous reporting.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
