OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
A fellow Republican took to CNN to trash House GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia regarding her as-yet-non-privileged motion to vacate House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) chair.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) described Greene as “a total waste of time” and “a horrible leader” during his interview with CNN’s Lauren Fox.
On Tuesday, the Senate approved a $95 billion foreign aid bill, a measure that had faced staunch opposition from Greene and other Republicans in the House. The bill passed with a bipartisan vote of 79-18 in the upper chamber.
The legislation includes provisions for new military assistance to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. President Joe Biden is expected to sign the bill into law on Wednesday, Newsweek reported.
The package, consisting of four separate bills, received approval from the House on Saturday, following support from Speaker Mike Johnson. Johnson had blocked earlier attempts to pass similar legislation earlier in the year.
Greene said Johnson had “betrayed” Republican voters and called for him to resign, warning he would face a formal motion to vacate, which could remove him from office if not.
“Mike Johnson’s Speakership is OVER! He has betrayed Republicans by handing the gavel to Joe Biden, (Senate Majority Leader) Chuck Schumer, (House Minority Leader) Hakeem Jeffries, and the rest of the Democrats. He betrayed us on border security. He betrayed us on funding endless foreign wars,” she wrote on X.
The motion Greene filed is not privileged, meaning the House does not yet have to take it up. But if she changes it to a privileged motion, the House must vote on whether to vacate the chair within two days, though several Democrats have already said they would vote to keep Johnson in place.
Referring to Greene, Tillis said: “I think she is uninformed, she is a total waste of time, and I’m embarrassed to have actually lived geographically in her district at one time before she was there.”
“She is a horrible leader. She is dragging our brand down. She, not the Democrats, are the biggest risk to us getting back to a majority,” he added.
Utah Senator Mitt Romney added, per The Daily Beast: “There are some folks who try to get themselves as many tweets, as many followers, as they can. A lot of sound and fury signifying nothing.”
Senator Kevin Kramer from North Dakota noted as well that if Johnson “is not good enough, no one’s going to be good enough.”
Johnson defended his support for the package during a press conference on Saturday, citing a perceived joint threat to the US from Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran.
“Three of our primary adversaries, Russia, Iran, and China, are working together…and they’re a global threat to our prosperity and our security. Their advance threatens the free world, and it demands American leadership,” he said, as The Guardian reported.
“If we turn our backs right now the consequences could be devastating. It’s an old military adage, but we would rather send bullets to the conflict overseas than our own boys, our troops?” he noted.
For his part, Johnson has received the backing of former President Donald Trump, whom he met with at Mar-a-Lago earlier this month.
“Johnson and Trump have already been at odds on the House passing an additional $60 billion in aid to Ukraine, which Johnson has for months declined to allow the House to vote on legislation already passed by the Democratic-led Senate,” Fox News reported.
“Trump has previously stated that he would end the war within 24 hours should he be reelected, while he has also touted converting the cost of weapons transfers to Ukraine into a loan. Trump also encouraged GOP lawmakers to successfully kill reauthorizing FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a measure Johnson backed. The speaker is set to try again to push the measure through the House,” the outlet added.
Trump is anticipated to support Johnson’s leadership, though, as he represented the outgoing president during two impeachment trials.
