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Speaker Johnson Defeats Motion To Vacate, But Trump’s Statement Shows He May Not Have Much Longer

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Well, well, well. It seems the Democrats really like this Johnson guy.

Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

So the latest is that Speaker Mike Johnson and his crew just took in a win.

Marjorie Taylor Greene tried to oust him but the hordes of Dems and most Republicans swarmed in to protect him.

The scoreboard speaks volumes: 359-43 to table Greene’s motion.

Only 10 Republicans sided with Greene.

Looks like Johnson’s got the speaker’s chair on lockdown, at least for now.

NBC News reports:

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and his allies beat back a dramatic effort by far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to oust him from power Wednesday, ending — for now — months of threats against his speakership.

The vote to “table” or kill Greene’s motion to vacate the speaker’s chair was 359-43. Just 10 Republicans voted with Greene, R-Ga.; seven Democrats voted present.

There were 196 Republicans and 163 Democrats who voted to kill Greene’s motion; along with the 11 Republicans, 32 Democrats voted to move forward with her motion.

“I appreciate the show of confidence from my colleagues to defeat this misguided effort,” Johnson said in Statuary Hall, just off the House floor, after the vote. “Hopefully, this is the end of the personality politics and the frivolous character assassination that has defined the 118th Congress. It’s regrettable. It’s not who we are as Americans, and we’re better than this. We need to get beyond it.”

Greene, who had threatened for weeks to force the issue, dragged her feet as it became clear she didn’t have enough support to remove Johnson. Unlike in last year’s successful vote to remove former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., many Democrats had made it clear they would vote to save Johnson, especially after he helped stave off a government shutdown, pushed through the renewal of a critical intelligence surveillance spy tool and passed billions of dollars in foreign aid for Ukraine after months of delays.

During the last vote series of the week, Greene stood on the floor and announced she was filing a privileged motion to vacate the speaker’s chair. Colleagues promptly booed her.

“This is the ‘uniparty’ for the American people watching,” she said in response to the boos, pointing with both hands at Republicans and Democrats in the chamber.

Johnson’s mentor and top ally, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., moved immediately to “table,” or “kill,” Greene’s motion. Johnson’s GOP allies were in a strong position to beat back her efforts given that Democratic leaders said on April 30 that their rank-and-file members would help dismiss her motion.

“Amid this circus, House Democrats have been the adults in the room,” said Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., a moderate who is running for governor. “We have too much work to do to waste time on petty political games.”

That saves Johnson’s job at least temporarily, though the fact that Democrats voted to keep him in power is sure to infuriate conservative activists and outside groups. And nothing would prevent Greene or any other conservative foe from forcing another vote on his fate down the road.

The 10 Republicans who voted with Greene against tabling the motion were Warren Davidson of Ohio, Alex Mooney of West Virginia, Barry Moore of Alabama, Victoria Spartz of Indiana, Chip Roy of Texas, Eric Burlison of Missouri and Paul Gosar, Eli Crane and Andy Biggs, all of Arizona.

However, it isn’t clear all of them would have voted on a resolution to oust Johnson had the motion to table failed; Roy said he was undecided.

While Greene was passionate about toppling Johnson, her campaign never really gained momentum among her colleagues. Conservatives Massie and Gosar were the only co-sponsors of her resolution. And under normal circumstances, those three GOP votes would have been enough to depose Johnson given the GOP’s razor-thin majority if all Democrats voted to remove him.

But members of both parties are still smarting from the paralysis that took over the House for three weeks last fall after Johnson’s predecessor, McCarthy, became the first speaker to be ousted in the middle of a congressional term. Greene, a staunch McCarthy ally, vehemently opposed ousting him and ultimately voted no.

The idea of Democrats’ stepping in to save Johnson began bubbling up over the past several months, with members publicly and privately saying they would vote against Greene’s effort in favor of governing.

In her resolution, and on the floor, Greene quoted Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who said in a recent CBS “60 Minutes” interview: “Even though we’re in the minority, we effectively have been governing as if we were in the majority, because we continue to provide a majority of the votes necessary to get things done. Those are just the facts.”

“Speaker Johnson’s tenure is defined by one self-serving characteristic,” Greene said on the floor before the vote. “When given a choice between advancing Republican priorities or allied with the Democrats to preserve his own personal power, Johnson regularly chooses to ally himself with Democrats.”

Although he signed on to Greene’s motion to vacate, Massie repeatedly said he didn’t want to force a vote to oust Johnson and cause similar chaos and instead pressed him to resign voluntarily.

Lawmakers, including many conservatives, have said they don’t want a repeat of the fall speaker fight. In an interview last weekend, Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley urged party unity when he was asked about Greene’s threat to force a vote to oust Johnson, arguing that the GOP wouldn’t be able to flip the Senate and expand its House majority if the party is divided.

WATCH the longer video:

Perhaps the most interesting nugget in this whole saga today was when President Trump weighed in.

He posted this to his TruthSocial,

That’s a VERY interesting post and multiple layers in there to dissect.

First, he shows he’s on team MTG (and Gaetz) by giving her support first and foremost.

He then shifts and makes a case for Republican Unity right now, backing the Motion to Table, which keeps Johnson in place.

He then gives conflicting statements on Speaker Johnson, saying he is a good man who is trying hard, but that he wishes different things had been done over the last two months.

He also seems to indicate when the Republicans have a stronger majority, he will be in favor of a Motion to Vacate.

I told you, a lot of layers in there!

So is Trump blindly supporting Speaker Johnson like some feared?

I don’t think so.

What do you think about Speaker Mike Johnson?

I find it curious that so many on both sides came to his aid in this vote.

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