Mike Johnson is the most conservative speaker ever to control the House of Representatives. So why would Democrats save him?
Johnson could face an effort to oust him as soon as this week from far-right firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene. The Georgia Rep. considers Johnson a traitor to his party after he pushed through $60 billion in aid to Ukraine, used Democratic votes to thwart a government shutdown and passed a surveillance measure that security services say is vital to battling terrorism, but that Greene says bolsters a Deep State that she says is hostile to Donald Trump. In short, Johnson's great sin in her view is that he wants to govern. Greene, a nihilistic, pro-Trump member, would be quite happy to shatter the underpinnings of the federal governing system to see where the pieces fall.
Johnson is vulnerable because you can count his majority on fewer than the fingers of one hand. But if it comes to it, Democrats are planning to lend the speaker at least enough votes to keep him in place. In an often dishonorable town, this is the only decent thing to do, since he put his job on the line to try to help save Ukraine and to advance Biden's top foreign policy priority.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries argues that his party is getting what it wants, thanks to Johnson. "Even though we're in the minority, we effectively have been governing as if we were in the majority," Jeffries told CBS' "60 Minutes." "We continue to provide the majority of the votes necessary to get things done."
Democrats are also posing as responsible, while Republicans descend into chaos. "Sometimes some people have to behave like grownups and we're happy to try to bring some stability to this institution," said Rep. Jim McGovern, the top Democrat on the powerful Rules Committee, on Monday. He's obviously got his eyes on November's election when Democrats hope to take back the House.
But just because Democrats are helping Johnson now — in almost an unlikely US manifestation of coalition government — doesn't meant they will prop him up indefinitely. If he starts trying to push hardline right-wing legislation, it will prove impossible for Democrats to bolster him. And his position could erode in his own party if Democrats prop him up.
Still, the rare flair for managing his conference that Johnson has shown in recent weeks is in evidence again. He spent two hours trying to talk Greene down in his office on Monday, and they plan to have another meeting.
Trump's position could be critical since he has, surprisingly given Johnson his blessing, even though Greene is one of his most vehement supporters. This was partly because Johnson recently traveled to Mar-a-Lago to bolster his lies about election fraud in 2020. Trump may reason that his own reelection hopes are not helped by weeks more GOP chaos in the House while lawmakers search for another speaker.
But loyalty is a one way street for the ex-President. If Trump decides at some point that the rookie speaker from Louisiana is a liability, he may not last long.
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