As murmurs of a mutiny grow, a defiant House Speaker Mike Johnson lashed out at his Republican detractors Tuesday and was adamant that he’s not going anywhere without a fight.
Johnson (R-La.) vexed his far-right flank Monday by rolling out a plan Monday evening to tackle the long-stalled military aid package to Ukraine, elevating concerns about his foes conspiring to oust him.
“I am not resigning, and it is, in my view, an absurd notion that someone would bring a vacate motion when we are simply here trying to do our jobs,” Johnson fired back Tuesday.
“It is not helpful to the cause. It is not helpful to the country. It does not help the House Republicans advance our agenda.”
Last month, firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) flashed a motion to vacate the chair as a warning sign and indicated Monday evening that she was undecided about pursuing it.
The pair met last week, but that did little to change things. Former President Donald Trump also threw his weight behind Johnson during a meeting last Friday at Mar-a-Lago.
“He’s definitely not going to be speaker next Congress if we’re lucky enough to have the majority, and I think that is a widely held belief throughout Congress,” Greene vented to reporters Monday.
Greene’s disillusionment with Johnson, whom she later derided as the “Deep State Speaker of the House funding the Democrat’s agenda,” came on the heels of a House Republican conference meeting in which Johnson laid out his game plan on Ukraine.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) — who, like Greene, split with the far right in opposing efforts to depose Johnson’s predecessor, Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — became the first Republican to publicly back a motion to vacate.
“I just told Mike Johnson in conference that I’m cosponsoring the Motion to Vacate that was introduced by @RepMTG,” Massie revealed Tuesday morning.
“He should pre-announce his resignation (as Boehner did), so we can pick a new Speaker without ever being without a GOP Speaker.”
Massie whined that Johnson had pushed through appropriation bills that topped the highest year of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), backed reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Section 702, and is forging ahead with foreign aid bills.
Johnson’s plan on foreign aid is to take up four separate bills this week pertaining to Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, and a grab bag of national security issues — namely on TikTok.
On Ukraine, the speaker has teased that aid will entail a loan, though he was not forthcoming about the specifics.
The speaker suggested to The Post last month that he refrained from moving a Ukraine aid bill through to avoid complicating the appropriations process needed to fund the government for fiscal year 2024 — which Congress did six months late back in March.
The specific text of those bills is still in the works.
“I regard myself as a, as a wartime speaker, I mean, in a literal sense we are, I knew that when I took the gavel,” Johnson added, underscoring his threadbare majority.
Back in February, the Senate passed a $95 billion national security supplemental featuring aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. Democrats had wanted those items paired together.
“The beauty of this process is, again, that every member, Republican and Democrat, can vote their own district and their own conscience on this thing,” Johnson told “Fox & Friends” on Tuesday.
Last October, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and seven other Republicans banded together with a solid bloc of Democrats to dethrone McCarthy, plunging Congress into a state of paralysis for nearly a month.
Gaetz has signed opposition to a redux this time out of fears of Democrats taking over the lower chamber. Johnson was voted in as McCarthy’s successor unanimously by the GOP last year.
Some Democrats such as Rep. Thomas Suozzi (D-NY) have publicly implored their colleagues to bail out Johnson if he suffers a revolt for taking up Ukraine aid.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre indicated to reporters Tuesday that the administration likely won’t push Democrats to save Johnson.
“We don’t get involved when it comes to congressional leadership,” she said. “[Minority] Leader [Hakeem] Jeffries [D-NY], who is the Democratic leader in the House — that’s something for him and his caucus to decide.”
Despite the clamoring, most House Republicans remain firmly behind Johnson and can barely mask their frustrations with the rabble-rousers in their caucus who are threatening an ouster.
“I say if you lose your job while doing the right thing … it’s a profile in courage,” moderate Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) told reporters Monday evening.
“I think the speaker is doing the right thing,” Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), who chairs the influential Republican Study Committee, said after the closed-door meeting Monday.
Outside of Washington, Johnson has garnered some words of support from prominent Republicans as well.
“Instead of bickering amongst themselves and handing Democrats control of the House, Republicans should do their damn job and vote on the important issues facing our nation,” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp posted on X.
“Enough is enough. I support @SpeakerJohnson.”
Republicans overwhelmingly back aid to Israel, but support for Ukraine has proven to be the sticking point.
President Biden had requested Congress replenish military support for war-torn Ukraine back in August last year, but the legislative branch has dragged its feet for months.
Ukraine has been racking up some setbacks on the battlefield amid a munitions shortage.
Johnson conceded that he believes it’s most likely more Democrats will vote for the Ukraine package than Republicans and that more Republicans will back the Israel package than Democrats.
“That’s probably the way it’ll shake out,” he told “Fox & Friends.”
