Politics / May 13, 2024

House Democrats Should Stop Bailing Out Mike Johnson

They should let the Republican caucus clean up its Marjorie Taylor Greene mess.

John Nichols

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) talks to reporters after surviving a vote to remove him from the Speaker’s position in Washington, D.C., on May 8, 2024.

(Photo by Allison Bailey / Middle East Images / Middle East Images via AFP)

Mike Johnson, the most conservative speaker in the history of the US House of Representatives, faced down a challenge to his leadership role last week from members of his own caucus who don’t think the Louisiana Republican is sufficiently extreme.

Johnson got on the wrong side of Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene and a handful of GOP dissidents when he decided it might be a good idea to maintain the US commitment to support Ukraine in its fight against the invading forces of Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

So the Greene team made a ham-handed move to “vacate” the speaker’s position.

Johnson survived with what he celebrated as an overwhelming “show of confidence.” He ran up his numbers by cobbling together a coalition of Republicans who are desperate to avoid another implosion of their caucus and, for reasons that didn’t make a whole lot of sense, the vast majority of Democrats.

Three hundred and fifty-nine members of the chamber, including 196 Republicans and 163 Democrats, supported Johnson, while just 43 members backed the effort to remove him.

Why did the vast majority of Democrats join in Johnson’s “show of confidence”? House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Greene’s move “threatened to throw Congress further into chaos, crisis and confusion.”

True enough. But that doesn’t explain why the Democrats went all in to bail out the Republican speaker of the House. Why give the hyper-partisan speaker a bipartisan stamp of approval when they could have simply stood aside and let the Republican caucus clean up its Marjorie Taylor Greene mess?

Jeffries argued that the Democrats would be rewarded in the long run for keeping the House functioning. “As long as House Republicans continue to peddle chaos, dysfunction, and extremism, and as long as House Democrats continue to solve problems for everyday Americans and deliver real results,” he said, “then the American people are going to vacate the extreme MAGA Republican majority in November.”

Perhaps. But, even if that is the case, it wasn’t necessary for Democrats to boost Johnson. Only 11 Republicans voted against tabling Greene’s motion, and even Donald Trump argued that backing Johnson was beneficial to the GOP. The former president and GOP front-runner, who has often counted on Johnson to do his political dirty work, posted on Truth Social, “If we show DISUNITY, which will be portrayed as CHAOS, it will negatively affect everything! Mike Johnson is a good man who is trying very hard.”

Had House Democrats left it to the Republicans, Johnson would have been able to carry on, with a 196-11 “show of confidence” from his own party. Instead, as Greene declared after the vote, “the Democrats validated him.” Johnson offered the Democrats who sided with him nothing in return for the favor. Instead, he announced, “I am a lifelong, movement conservative Republican and I intend to continue to govern in accordance with those core principles.” And his top lieutenant, House majority leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) cheered on a vote that meant Republicans could “keep all of our focus on fighting President Biden’s radical agenda, electing President Trump, and expanding our House Republican majority.”

As it happened, 32 Democrats, by and large progressives, voted to let the anti-Johnson move go forward. They weren’t about to show confidence in a Republican who, as Texas Democrat Greg Casar notes, “supported overturning the [2020 presidential] election and has been an apologist for crazy right-wing ideas in the country.”

Most House Democrats, fearing utter chaos and perhaps some media blame-laying, weren’t prepared to cast a conscientious “no” vote. But there was another principled option.

Seven Democrats, including progressives such as Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, and Mark Pocan of Wisconsin voted “present.”

Pocan, the former cochair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, explained his “present” vote as a rejection of both Greene and Johnson.

“Did I vote with the extremist White Christian Nationalist who called a motion to vacate the Speakership or did I vote to save the extremist homophobic Christian Nationalist Speaker to keep him in office? Neither,” Pocan said. “I voted ‘present’ on this sideshow.”

Can we count on you?

In the coming election, the fate of our democracy and fundamental civil rights are on the ballot. The conservative architects of Project 2025 are scheming to institutionalize Donald Trump’s authoritarian vision across all levels of government if he should win.

We’ve already seen events that fill us with both dread and cautious optimism—throughout it all, The Nation has been a bulwark against misinformation and an advocate for bold, principled perspectives. Our dedicated writers have sat down with Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders for interviews, unpacked the shallow right-wing populist appeals of J.D. Vance, and debated the pathway for a Democratic victory in November.

Stories like these and the one you just read are vital at this critical juncture in our country’s history. Now more than ever, we need clear-eyed and deeply reported independent journalism to make sense of the headlines and sort fact from fiction. Donate today and join our 160-year legacy of speaking truth to power and uplifting the voices of grassroots advocates.

Throughout 2024 and what is likely the defining election of our lifetimes, we need your support to continue publishing the insightful journalism you rely on.

Thank you,
The Editors of The Nation

John Nichols

John Nichols is a national affairs correspondent for The Nation. He has written, cowritten, or edited over a dozen books on topics ranging from histories of American socialism and the Democratic Party to analyses of US and global media systems. His latest, cowritten with Senator Bernie Sanders, is the New York Times bestseller It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism.

More from The Nation

Independent Senate candidate Dan Osborn speaks during his campaign stop at the Handlebend coffeshop in O'Neill, Neb., on Monday, October 14, 2024.

Why the UAW's Shawn Fain Is So Excited About Nebraska Independent Dan Osborn Why the UAW's Shawn Fain Is So Excited About Nebraska Independent Dan Osborn

The union leader says that electing a genuinely working-class senator like Osborn could upend all of American politics.

John Nichols

Portraits Along the Arkansas Delta

Portraits Along the Arkansas Delta Portraits Along the Arkansas Delta

Taken by Jim Goldberg, these photographs of the Delta region stitch together a pastiche of post-civil war lineage, industrialization, and more.

Jim Goldberg

Go Vote Now!

Go Vote Now! Go Vote Now!

Active shooters.

A close-up of a yellow T-shirt reading

On the Ground in Georgia, Organizers Fight to Eke Out a Win On the Ground in Georgia, Organizers Fight to Eke Out a Win

Local Democrats are feeling more isolated than they have in previous election cycles, and voters are harder to reach. Why?

Joan Walsh

A protester holds a sign reading

Reproductive Freedom Is on the Ballot In New York Reproductive Freedom Is on the Ballot In New York

Abortion rights in New York State are protected, but not guaranteed. New York voters can fix that by turning their ballots over and voting for Proposition 1.

Alexis McGill Johnson

Trump and Netanyahu

The War on Gaza Is an Outrage. Sitting Out the Election Could Make It Worse. The War on Gaza Is an Outrage. Sitting Out the Election Could Make It Worse.

Either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump is going to win the presidency. Not voting, or voting third-party, risks putting Palestinians in even more danger.

Katha Pollitt