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Like David, I’m still not clear that we have a satisfying explanation of just why the last week on Capitol Hill happened. For the moment I’m just glad it happened. Ukraine will now get a major infusion of military aid which should at least stabilize the Ukrainian war effort. But even if we don’t really know why Mike Johnson did what he did, there are some other takeaways worth noting.
Majorie Greene was on social media all weekend going completely berserk on Johnson, threatening him, denouncing him, everything. And yet she still hasn’t pulled the plug on his Speakership, which she could do at any moment. Maybe this will all change tomorrow or the next day. But at the moment Johnson has totally stood her and her crew down. It was all talk basically.
One possible rejoinder is that she isn’t doing it because Johnson has a deal with Democrats to backstop his Speakership. So what’s the point of her calling the vote?
Maybe. But in her position making him retain the Speakership with Democratic votes is like making him drink from a poisoned chalice. So why not do it? The best answer is that Republicans are already facing a very challenging election in the House. A month of chaos looking for yet another Speaker only makes that worse. And none of her colleagues really want that. She probably doesn’t even want it. I think we underestimate the degree to which last October’s spectacle was driven by the personal and impetuous actions of a single man: Matt Gaetz. Others joined once he did it. But it’s not clear to me that the others were ever going to pull to do it themselves.
Every threat and attack Greene makes just underscores for anyone paying attention that she was all talk. Turning that talk up to 11 doesn’t change that.