Rep. Bacon: Possible Johnson Could Be Removed Over Ukraine Aid

Speaker Johnson (R-LA) has found himself between a rock and a hard place as of late.

He did not want to see the government shut down, so he helped pass a $1.2 trillion spending bill in the House that had more support from Democrats than Republicans.

Rep. Bacon (R-NE) now seems to think the Ukraine aid that Johnson has promised to put on the floor after the Easter recess could doom him to the same fate as Speaker Emeritus Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).

Is Johnson Doomed to Repeat McCarthy's Fate?

Bacon was recently on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” where he was asked about the future of Johnson.

Host Kristen Welker was referring to the previous motion to vacate made by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who seemed to make it clear she was going to push for Johnson’s removal if he continued to conduct business as usual in the House.

Bacon responded, “It’s possible. I’m not going to deny it. We have one or two people that are not team players.

“They’d rather enjoy the limelight, the social media and the fact is with the one-seat majority and we’ll wind up with a three or four-seat majority after the special elections and it’s not three or four or five people and one or two people can make this a minority.

“I’m of the view that you work with the team. I don’t want to get 100%. 80% is the Ronald Reagan rule, but we have some people that if they don’t get 100% they want to bring the House down and they make it dysfunctional.

“I do think there are Democrats who do not want to see this election and they don’t want to be there for a vote and after the bill we may have a standoff with the speaker. I hope the speaker prevails.

“He’s doing the right thing. It’s in our national security interest that Ukraine remain independent.”

This is a really interesting situation because I see the merit on both sides of this argument.

Johnson disregarded some known concerns of the caucus when he pushed through legislation with less than 72 hours to review, not to mention all the earmarks that were included.

On the flip side of that, I also believe that Republicans need to get this all ironed out and at least give the appearance they are capable of governing without this endless stream of drama that has been taking place since they took back the House in 2022 with a razor-thin majority.

I would note that 2022 was promised to be another red wave, but it was barely a ripple, resulting in a thin majority that is now down to about two extra votes.

If I were Johnson, I would hold a caucus meeting as soon as Congress comes back from the break to get everyone on the same page before he puts another single bill on the floor for a vote.

With the current rules, it only takes one person to start his removal, and Democrats could easily decide to toss the House into more chaos by rallying around Greene’s motion to vacate, knowing they would only need two more Republicans to make the motion successful.

If the GOP loses the House and wins the presidential election, Donald Trump will be a lame duck the moment he takes his oath.