Within the crash, the GOP is trying to force a motion to leave

A top Republican National Committee official asked Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene not to take action against Chairman Mike Johnson during a private meeting Tuesday as top allies of former President Donald Trump seek to end what they see as a pointless and distracting internal conflict. conflict.

The meeting between Greene (R-Ga.) and RNC co-chair Michael Whatley took place just hours later she accused Johnson of cutting a “slimy backroom deal” with Democrats and vowing to force a vote to impeach him.

Whatley, who has been in office less than two months, met with Greene in his office after skipping his briefing that morning from House Republicans, where he had emphasized the importance of party unity. He said much the same thing to Greene.

“He said, first of all, this isn’t helpful, and second of all, we want to expand and grow the majority in the House,” said a person familiar with Whatley’s message to Greene. “He was clear that any disruption to the conference on these efforts – including the filing of these [motion to vacate]does not contribute to the cause of party unity.”

In another era, a directive from the Republican Party’s top official would certainly not go unheeded by a House rank and file. Even in this era, Whatley’s choice as Trump’s hand-picked RNC steward has given him weight within the MAGA orbit.

But Greene pushed back on Whatley, arguing 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 in the day, leaving the impression that the former president had told her much the same thing as Whatley.

The truth was that Greene had backed herself into a corner, and this morning she faces a potential lose-lose situation: back down and look weak, or stand firm and risk breaking with Trump.

She will hold a news conference at 9 a.m. Wednesday with fellow Johnson critic Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), and her fellow Republicans are bracing for the fact that she will announce a vote on Johnson’s gavel as early as the afternoon. If so, expect a quick vote.

Her threats have already taken a toll on her standing within the House Republican conference, where more and more lawmakers are growing tired of her self-aggrandizing antics, as Jordain Carney and Olivia Beavers write.

Greene’s latest effort, for example, comes as the Republican Party seeks to capitalize on campus unrest to address anti-Semitism in reporting. But, they write, instead of “going on the offensive” by attacking Democrats for not sufficiently condemning pro-Palestinian protests on campuses, Republicans are now bracing for Greene to drag them into another internal battle which most of them would prefer to postpone until after Election Day. ”

The bigger problem is that Greene is defying not only her colleagues in the House of Representatives, but also Trump and his hand-picked deputy, who made the unusual personal call yesterday.

Whatley said in a statement that “nothing is more important than party unity and ensuring we focus on defeating Joe Biden and the Democrats in November.”

Others in Trump’s inner circle are irritated, to say the least, 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 made public their support for Johnson yesterday morning — suggesting that Greene had been baptized to become a new to unleash murderous conflict.

“Fresh bait always finds a fish,” said a senior GOP official. “Jeffries throwing that out there, it’s a buddy 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 President Trump’s America First agenda when he returns to the White House. The Democrat-backed Mike Johnson is not.”

But another senior GOP official suggested there could be consequences for Greene if she doesn’t start playing team ball soon. She might be frozen out of some parts of the MAGA world, where she has long been adored.

“If she blows everything up… we’re not going to get her in trouble for anything,” that person said. “She’s on her own.”

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