A top Republican National Committee official called on Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene not to act against President Mike Johnson in a face-to-face meeting Tuesday, as former President Donald Trump’s top allies seek to avoid what they see as a pointless internal discussion that distracts battle.
The meeting between Greene (R-Ga.) and RNC co-chair Michael Whatley came a few hours later she accused Johnson to reach a “slimy backroom deal” with Democrats and promised to force a vote to remove him.
Whatley, who has been in office for less than two months, met with Greene in her office after she had skipped her briefing with House Republicans that morning, where he had stressed the importance of House unity. game. She told Greene the same thing.
“He said, one, this is not helpful, and two, we want to expand and grow the majority in the House,” said a person familiar with Whatley’s message to Greene. “He made it clear that any disruption to the conference on these efforts, including the presentation of this [motion to vacate]”It does not help defend the unity of the party.”
In another era, a directive from a top Republican Party official certainly wouldn’t go unnoticed by a House representative. Even in this era, Whatley’s selection as Trump’s hand-picked RNC delegate has given him weight within the MAGA orbit.
But Greene rejected Whatley, arguing that the party had time to recover from a leadership change before the election. And she told him that she had spoken to Trump himself earlier that day, leaving the impression that the former president had told her the same thing as Whatley.
The truth is, Greene had backed herself into a corner, and this morning she faces a potential lose-lose situation: back down and appear soft, or stand her ground and risk breaking with Trump.
She will hold a 9 a.m. news conference Wednesday with fellow Johnson critic Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), and her fellow Republicans are preparing for her to announce a vote on Johnson’s gavel as soon as in the afternoon. If so, she expects a quick vote for the board.
His threats have already taken a toll on his standing within the House Republican conference, where more and more lawmakers are growing tired of his self-aggrandizing antics, as Jordain Carney and Olivia Beavers write.
Greene’s latest push, for example, comes as the Republican Party attempts to take advantage of campus unrest to spread messages about anti-Semitism. But, they write, instead of “going on the offensive by attacking Democrats for insufficiently condemning pro-Palestinian protests on campuses, Republicans are now preparing to be dragged by Greene into another infighting that most of them would prefer to delay until after election day. “
The bigger issue is that Greene is defying not only her House colleagues, but also Trump and his hand-picked deputy, who made yesterday’s unusual personal appeal.
Whatley said in a statement that “nothing is more important than party unity and ensuring we are focused on beating Joe Biden and the Democrats in November.”
Others in the Trump-aligned orbit are upset, to put it mildly, by Greene’s lack of political discipline. Some noted that she had remained silent in recent days until House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and other top Democrats went public with their support for Johnson yesterday morning, suggesting that Greene was drugged to provoke another internal fight.
“Fresh bait always finds a fish,” said one senior Republican official. “If Jeffries throws that out there, he’s a friend in the water. “Everyone knows what he did.”
A person close to Greene responded to calls for unity from Whatley and others: “The only person destroying Republican unity is Mike Johnson,” the person said. “Republicans need a speaker who will deliver on President Trump’s America First agenda when he returns to the White House. Mike Johnson, backed by Democrats, right?
But another senior Republican official suggested there could be consequences for Greene if she doesn’t start playing as a team, and quickly. She might find herself excluded from some parts of the MAGA world, where she has long been adored.
“If she ruins everything… we are not going to involve her in anything,” that person said. “She is alone.”
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