Greene booed as Republicans turn on her over bid to oust Speaker Johnson
Washington PostMay 09
House Tables Motion to Remove Speaker Johnson
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The Facts
The US House on Wednesday retained Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) as speaker when it voted 359-43 to table a motion to vacate the chair 15 minutes after it was introduced.
The motion put forward by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) was rejected with unprecedented bipartisanship, as members of a minority party had never voted in favor of the other party's speaker. But all but 39 Democrats joined with all but 11 Republicans to maintain Johnson in his post.
The Spin
Establishment-critical narrative
The House has unity, but at what cost? Johnson now owes the Democrats for his survival as Speaker. There's no telling what policies will result now that he's beholden to the opposition party moving forward.
Republican narrative
This is not the time for removing the speaker and continuing any divisions in the Republican Party. It's crucial that the GOP shows a unified face while it competes with the radical-left Democrats. There are important elections coming up and a chance for a unified Republican Party to grow its House majority and retake the Senate.
Democratic narrative
Democrats were shrewd to show America it's the mature, responsible party at this point and time — in contrast to the chaos of the GOP. But Democrats also know that a replacement for Johnson would probably be someone from Green's wing of the party who wouldn't be as easy to work with. So the Democrats and a functioning Congress are the big winners.
Nerd narrative
There's an 85% chance that Johnson will remain Speaker for all of 2024, according to the Metaculus prediction community.