House Democrats weigh Mike Johnson's fate as discord roils GOP

politics @lemmy.world – 114 points – 9 months ago

As House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) stares down growing threats of removal from his rebellious right flank, Democrats are debating whether they would save him or or vote to oust him like they did former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Even some Democrats who see a clear contrast between Johnson and McCarthy say the former still needs to prove himself a trustworthy governing partner.

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Here's what NC Dem Representative Jeff Jackson said about McCarthy's removal at the time. (emphasis added). I'm sure the same stands true for Johnson today.

Some folks in the minority were expecting him to reach out and say, “Hey, let’s make a deal. I’ll offer you this, and I want your vote.”

But instead, he went on TV the day before and basically said, “Here is my offer to the other party: Nothing.”

The minority party heard that from him and said, “Well, ok then, best of luck.”

That said, I’m not sure the Speaker could offer anything to the minority party. If he did, and his party found out, they’d be furious, and then he wouldn’t need six votes anymore - he would need 20 or 30 or 50.

I think that there are more moderate Republicans who don't want another protracted Speaker vote, and there would be more political cover for Johnson to reach across the aisle to prevent his ouster.

I also think that the courts could give the GOP an out with Trump, and that would shake loose the MAGA monkey on their backs and dramatically decrease the power of the far right. MTG and Matt Gaetz don't have the sway among voters as the Orange Mussolini, so the party leadership will be less likely to duck and cover.

Also, it's election season. They're already fractured due to Trump and his sideshow, so doing another multi-round speaker vote while they try to eke out a handful of votes by prostrating themselves, would result in another zombie House doing nothing and would be political suicide for the party as a whole.

If he did, he'd probably have those votes from the other side of the aisle he reached across.