Marjorie Taylor Greene attacks Mike Johnson again

GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is slamming House Speaker Mike Johnson for failing to secure a GOP supermajority despite voters giving President-elect Donald Trump a “mandate.”

Trump, who defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in last week’s election by 85 Electoral College votes and about 3 million popular votes, gave Johnson his enthusiastic approval to continue as speaker during a meeting with House Republicans on Wednesday, the Associated reported Press.

While some media outlets have predicted that Republicans will continue to have a razor-thin grip on the House, the election results are not official and control of the chamber has yet to be taken over by the AP. Whatever the final tally, it appears unlikely that the GOP will significantly expand its House majority next year, even as it switches control of the Senate and White House.

Greene, a staunch supporter of Trump but a frequent critic of Johnson, made no mention of the president-elect’s support and blamed the speaker for a weak electoral performance by House Republicans during a brief interview with CNN’s Manu Raju on Wednesday.

“We should have a large majority, a supermajority,” Greene said. “We don’t have that, I think it’s just because of the performance of this Congress. This Congress has experienced many failures in the eyes of our voters and the American people.”

She continued: “The American people gave a mandate last Tuesday for the kind of policies they want, the agenda they want. This is President Trump’s policy, which he laid out during his campaign.”

Raju then asked Greene if she thought Johnson was “to blame for this,” to which the Georgia Republican said, “Yes, unfortunately his leadership. He has fully embraced the Biden-Harris agenda.”

Newsweek Johnson’s office emailed Johnson for comment on Wednesday.

Raju also said Johnson told him on Wednesday that he was “not worried” about the possibility of opposition to his continued leadership in the House because he believes “Donald Trump will help him get there.”

Republicans announced plans to challenge Johnson for the speakership chair during the GOP leadership meeting, and his role must be confirmed by the full House of Representatives in a vote in early January.

Assuming Republicans retain control of the chamber, Johnson’s continued role as speaker is likely to be in jeopardy if a very small number of Republicans refuse to vote for him, regardless of Trump’s support.

Johnson must receive at least 218 votes to remain speaker. As of Wednesday afternoon, the AP predicted that Republicans would control at least 217 House seats, with 11 races still contested.

However, only five of the remaining races were Republican-leaning. With the Republican majority at 222 seats, Johnson can only afford four Republican “no” votes, assuming all Democratic members vote against him.