The Fizzled Rebellion of Marjorie Taylor Greene

 

OPINION

The Fizzled Rebellion of Marjorie Taylor Greene

 

May 8, 2024

Michelle Cottle

By Michelle Cottle

Opinion Writer

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/07/opinion/greene-johnson-fizzled-rebellion.html

 

Let’s just come right out and say what pretty much everyone keeping an eye on Marjorie Taylor Greene’s effort to blackmail House Speaker Mike Johnson is now thinking: Way to keep screwing this up, congresswoman!

 

After huddling for several hours in two days of meetings with Greene this week to discuss her elongated crusade to oust him, the speaker emerged unscathed Tuesday afternoon, apparently without having committed to any ridiculous concessions. And really, why would he?

 

There was no way Johnson was going to get booted by Greene and her wee band of bomb throwers over the Ukraine funding bill. A majority of House Republicans are tired of her antics, and the Democrats were prepared to step in and save the speaker in the unlikely event he found himself in real danger from the wingers.

 

Not that there was a snowball’s chance of that happening once the report started circulating that Donald Trump had basically told his Georgia minion to stand down. The MAGA king does not respond well to displays of disobedience.

 

And so Greene and her wingman, Thomas Massie, were reduced to gas-bagging on the steps of the Capitol after their meetings with Johnson, insisting that this showdown isn’t over. Really! They mean it! Massie boldly proclaimed that the rebel forces will be watching to make sure the speaker makes “hourly” progress on the sprinkling of demands put before him.

 

I could bore you with what some of those demands are, but why bother? If Johnson is feeling indulgent, he can throw the rebels a bone or two. Assuming it won’t cause him too much trouble. But it’s not as if they have the upper hand — or much of any hand, really. At this point, they are less like blackmailers threatening a victim than like exhausted preschoolers begging for attention from their teacher.

 

Indeed, what Greene & Co. seem to need more than anything is a timeout, followed by a nice, long nap.

 

Michelle Cottle writes about national politics for Opinion and is a host of the podcast “Matter of Opinion.” She has covered Washington and politics since the Clinton administration.

@mcottle