Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene will force a vote on her motion to remove Speaker Johnson “next week” because of the “betrayal” he has committed against the conservative movement. The speaker is not in much danger, however, thanks to support from the other side of the aisle. 

Ms. Greene first introduced the motion to vacate against Mr. Johnson in March following passage of a government funding deal negotiated between House GOP leadership and Senator Schumer. Following that deal, Mr. Johnson pushed forward with a reauthorization of warrantless surveillance power, and passed a $95 billion foreign aid package to which Ms. Greene was opposed. 

“Next week I am going to be calling this motion to vacate, absolutely,” Ms. Greene said at a press conference, standing beside one of the co-sponsors of the motion, Congressman Thomas Massie. “I can’t wait to see Democrats go out and support a Republican speaker. … I also can’t wait to see my Republican conference show their cards and show who we are because voters deserve it.”

Behind Ms. Greene and Mr. Massie were two large poster boards showing photographs of Mr. Johnson hugging the Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, during a ceremony in October when he was elected speaker. At one point, Ms. Greene put a freshly minted “MUGA” hat on top of one of the posters, which she said stood for: “Make Ukraine Great Again.”

Mr. Massie said he and Ms. Greene would like to see the speaker announce his resignation pending the selection of a successor, as Speaker Boehner did in 2015. Instead, he says, Mr. Johnson is “clinging” to Democrats in order to hold on to power. 

On Tuesday, Mr. Jeffries and his leadership team released a statement saying they would vote for a motion to “table” — or kill — Ms. Greene’s motion to vacate. The Sun spoke with several Democrats, some of whom are very liberal and in no way support Mr. Johnson who said they would follow their leader on the issue.

“Why would Hakeem Jeffries endorse a Republican speaker? Aren’t they arch-rivals?” Mr. Massie asked at Wednesday’s press conference. “What does Hakeem Jeffries want, after all? He wants an open border, he wants more spending, he wants to take back the majority, and most of all, he the Democrat conference want President Trump to lose. Who do they think can deliver on all four of those things? Mike Johnson will deliver these things.”

Ms. Greene and Mr. Massie say it’s of vital importance that Republican voters see how their own GOP representatives vote on whether or not to keep Mr. Johnson, given his “capitulation” to Democrats. 

“We’re coming back and we’re voting on this next week, and you get to have the choice, if you’re a Republican: Are you going to embrace Hakeem Jeffries like Mike Johnson has? Are you going to embrace the uniparty like Mike Johnson has?” Mr. Massie asked. 

“Right now, they are both holding that gavel,” the Kentucky libertarian said of Messrs. Johnson and Jeffries. 

Ms. Greene’s desire to oust the speaker has not only been complicated by Democrats’ support for Mr. Johnson, but by President Trump’s support for the speaker as well. On April 12, Mr. Johnson traveled to Mar-a-Lago to meet with the former president. 

“I stand with the speaker,” Mr. Trump said at a press conference after their meeting, adding that Mr. Johnson is “doing a very good job. He’s doing about as good as you’re going to do.”

Ten days later, he said the math of the slim House Republican majority made it impossible to do a better job than Mr. Johnson is doing. “Well, look, we have a majority of one, OK? It’s not like he can go and do whatever he wants to do. I think he’s a very good person. You know, he stood very strongly with me,” the former president said, according to Politico. 

Even if the speaker is safe for now, it is unclear if he will have the support to lead the Republican conference following the November elections — whether he seeks the position of speaker or minority leader. 

One Freedom Caucus member who does not support the current motion to vacate, Congressman Ralph Norman, told the Sun on Tuesday that no one else has the votes to lead the conference at the moment, but the GOP could look for new leadership after the election. “That’s a question for another day,” Mr. Norman said of seeking a new leader in the fall.