In a presidential election year where their likely nominee often leads in the polls, it is close to unheard of that the leaders of that party would be under direct and very public attack from the base and their own elected leaders, yet Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel are facing increasing dissatisfaction – and even some calls for their ouster.
After two critical and “embarrassing” losses Tuesday night – one on the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the other on aid to Israel, some House Republicans and staffers have called into question the “decision-making abilities” of Speaker Mike Johnson, according to Punchbowl News.
“Tuesday’s debacle — failing to impeach DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and then choosing to lose a vote on $17 billion in aid to Israel — is truly one of the most embarrassing days in recent House GOP history,” Punchbowl News reported. “Inside Johnson’s leadership circle, there are plenty who doubt his decision-making capability while being forced to begrudgingly execute his questionable strategies. And among rank-and-file House GOP lawmakers, there are a lot of people scratching their heads about where he’s leading them.”
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Late Wednesday morning, Speaker Johnson defended those failures, telling reporters “democracy is messy,” while blaming Democrats for bringing one of their members who had been in the hospital in to vote.
When confronted with remarks attacking him from Republican Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky, that ousting Speaker Kevin McCarthy “was an ‘unmitigated disaster’ for your party,” Johnson tried to turn the tables.
“Well, look, it was a mess, what happened here, but we’re cleaning it up. And Massie is one of my dear friends and colleagues and I don’t think that this is a reflection on the leader. It’s a reflection on the body itself.”
On the other side of Congress, Politico reports, Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is “under open attack from the right for even trying to work with Democrats on the border.”
McConnell’s “far-right critics are speaking out more loudly: Several held a press conference Tuesday where they denounced his handling of the border talks, with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) calling on McConnell to step down.”
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McConnell put U.S. Senator James Lankford (R-OK) a hardcore conservative, on drafting the border bill that includes funding for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. McConnell supported Lankford and endorsed the legislation, before walking away and throwing Lankford, as Mother Jones’ David Corn noted, “under the bus.”
Politico adds that “Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) posted a fundraising link asking donors to ‘kill this border bill’ in the middle of a closed-door GOP meeting on Monday and demanded ‘new leadership,’ while Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) memed McConnell as Charlie Brown whiffing on an attempt to kick a football held by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.).”
“’I’ve been super unhappy since this started,’ Johnson said in an interview. ‘Leader McConnell completely blew this.’”
Over at the RNC, various reports state that Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel has either already quit, is “expected to leave amid pressure from Donald Trump,” or offered to resign, possibly after the South Carolina primary.
The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reports, “RNC chair Ronna McDaniel discussed with Trump stepping down after South Carolina primary, per person familiar. NYT reported she told Trump she’s planning to step down. Trump met with her at Mar-a-Lago yesterday where Trump didn’t ask her to quit but told Newsmax she needed to go.”
A quick NCRM review found only one other time in the U.S. when the chair of a major national political party stepped down just months before a presidential election: the DNC’s Debbie Wasserman Schultz, after emails were leaked in 2016. Donald Trump, the Republican, went on to win that election.
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