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Rep. Thomas Massie is no fan of House Speaker Mike Johnson, going so far as to try and oust him last year.
But now he believes the speaker’s fate falls to one person: President Trump.
Mr. Massie said he would not try to oust the speaker again, but believed that Mr. Johnson’s fealty to the president could also be his undoing.
“Mike Johnson is speaker as long as Trump wants him to be speaker, and the only thing that takes Mike Johnson out is Donald Trump,” the Kentucky congressman said in an interview with The Washington Times. “And I do think there’s a danger there for Mike Johnson. Mike Johnson’s biggest attribute is his promise to carry the water for Donald Trump.”
Last year, Mr. Massie joined fellow Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona to try and remove Mr. Johnson. They were frustrated that the speaker continually capitulated to Democrats’ desires for government funding and foreign aid to Ukraine.
At the time, Mr. Johnson commanded a razor-thin GOP majority similar to the one he holds today.
The difference between then and now is that Mr. Trump, with whom the speaker has closely aligned himself, is in the White House, and Democrats no longer control the Senate. That sets up Republicans to ram the president’s agenda through Congress.
Still, Mr. Massie does not believe the speaker is doing enough. He recalled a conversation with the president shortly after the election where he told Mr. Trump, “I think you’ve got six months after the inauguration to get your stuff done.” After that, the window of opportunity would close.
“He’s halfway through that, and we haven’t really consummated any part of his agenda legislatively,” Mr. Massie said.
He has had a chilly relationship with the speaker since last year’s push to oust him. House Democrats came to Mr. Johnson’s rescue after he passed a $95 billion foreign aid package, most of which went to Ukraine, against the wishes of many House Republicans.
Mr. Massie carried that grudge into the new Congress, where he refused to support Mr. Johnson during the speaker election. Mr. Johnson had to sway two other holdouts to retain his gavel.
Hardline conservatives and fiscal hawks have often grumbled or threatened to derail legislation Mr. Johnson has brought to the floor, only to be won over after a push from the president.
Mr. Massie, however, is unflinching in his opposition to legislation that doesn’t address the national debt, earning public rebukes from Mr. Trump.
The latest example came this month when the president vowed to lead the charge to oust Mr. Massie in next year’s GOP primaries after the congressman opposed a six-month government funding extension backed by Mr. Trump and most Republicans.
Mr. Massie also voted against the House GOP’s budget blueprint, a key step to creating a filibuster-proof package Republicans will use to ram through Mr. Trump’s agenda.
Mr. Massie also believes Mr. Johnson doesn’t have the fortitude to deliver the necessary votes.
“Mike Johnson and Donald Trump may have a falling out,” Mr. Massie said. “Mike Johnson is not as competent as [former Speaker] Kevin McCarthy at the job. And if Mike Johnson says he’s going to carry Trump’s water, the problem is Mike Johnson’s got a leaky bucket, and he’s prone to dripping.”
In response to the barbs against the speaker, a source close to House Republican leadership told The Times that Mr. Massie “has consistently and publicly shown he’s willing to try and stop President Trump’s America First agenda.”
“Speaking of competence, when you’re on the wrong side of the American people, the White House, and reality, you might want to sit this one out,” the source said.
English (US) ·