Richard “Rick” Manning, President of Americans for Limited Government is one of the smartest observes of the Washington scene we know. So, when he posts something to ALG’s Daily Torch we pay attention.
Rick’s latest post is about Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, an erstwhile conservative who has managed to do in a few short months what it took establishment Republicans Kevin McCarthy, Paul Ryan and John Boehner years to accomplish – have a significant portion of his House Republican Conference calling for his head on a platter.
We addressed this topic in our column “Speaker Mike Johnson: A ‘Personal Conservative’ Betrays The Conservative Movement” without really going into the internal dynamics of the House Republican Conference, and Rick Manning’s May 1 column fills that gap.
As Rick explained:
Generally speaking there are three distinct groups of Republicans in the House, and for that matter the Senate as well.
The first group believes that America is on a precipice of disaster which must be met head-on, right now, regardless of consequences. This group believes that the ship of state is on a river rapidly approaching a fatal waterfall and is desperately trying to convince their shipmates of the impending doom while trying to steer the boat toward a branch of the river that doesn’t go over the edge.
The second also believes that America is on a pathway that ends disastrously but by working toward gradual corrections, our nation will survive as it always has.
The third doesn’t see the doom at all. They seem to believe that no problem cannot be solved with more military spending and lower taxes. While aware of the concerns of both of the above groups, this cohort thinks that they are either simply over-reacting to events or in the case of the first group, dangerous alarmists who are rocking the boat by yelling waterfall when they don’t see it.
While the majority of the House Republican Conference are in the second and third groups, the first rightfully believes it is their duty to their sworn oath of office to do everything in their power to turn around the country before it is too late. This group is hard for the second and third to understand because they are willing to risk their political careers and the perks of Washington by using their limited power to do everything to stop the current destructive course.
Here is the problem.
The first group is right on all of their concerns about issues ranging from illegal immigration to cultural Marxist indoctrination in the schools to the almost impossible to fix annual deficit and the accompanying crushing national debt. They just don’t have the votes to pass fixes, even in the House.
As Rick further explained, the group of conservatives who see the imminent doom of the American experiment in constitutional liberty have resorted to withholding their votes to try to force action on a whole range of issues – and lost every time.
Their frustration has finally boiled over into another open rebellion because they thought Mike Johnson was one of them and they threw their votes behind him in the Speaker election that was precipitated by Kevin McCarthy’s ouster, only to have Johnson make deals with the Democrats to pass legislation opposed by most conservatives.
The question is what should happen next?
One small group including Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar, and Thomas Massie has introduced another Motion to Vacate the Chair and has threatened to force a vote on Johnson’s speakership.
In Rick Manning’s analysis – and we must reluctantly agree – this would be an unforced error and the most likely outcome of Johnson being ousted is the emergence of a Democrat/Republican power sharing House of Representatives.
That would likely spell the end of Republican hopes to maintain and expand their narrow majority in the House and have equally negative effects on the presidential campaign and the campaigns to take back the Senate.
The answer says Mr. Manning, and again we must agree, is for the House conservatives who are demanding Johnson’s scalp to focus on the big prize – electing a larger and more conservative House Republican majority in November, to complement a reelected Donald Trump and a Republican Senate majority.
Our message to our friends Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar, Thomas Massie and others who may have a mind to call a Motion to Vacate the Chair is that chaos favors the Left and we need to take the energy currently being expended on attacking Johnson and focus it on electing real conservatives who won’t wilt or succumb to the inducements offered to newcomers by Washington’s permanent political class.
Rick Manning
Americans for Limited Government
Speaker Mike Johnson
Challenge to Mike Johnson
Marjorie Taylor Greene
Republican House Agenda
Military Spending
Lower taxes
Illegal immigration
cultural Marxism
Constitutional liberty
Kevin McCarthy
Paul Gosar
Thomas Massie
2024 Election
Donald Trump