Speaker learns 'outrageous' trick to stop extremists 'throwing him into volcano': report

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson reportedly spoke with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky Thursday about the "vital" need for passage of aid to help with that country's war effort against Russia. He also announced who the managers would be for the impeachment effort against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas — two moves that play to the wishes of both Democrats and Republicans respectively.

But Johnson shocked some people when he named Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene as one of the managers. Greene, a fierce opponent of Ukraine aid, filed a motion to initiate a no-confidence vote against Johnson last week.

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According to The Independent's Eric Garcia, Johnson's decision to name her as a manager "shows how the leader of the U.S. House of Representatives has tried to balance keeping conservatives happy while also fulfilling his basic duties of governing."

"For every one act of governing, he has to pull one outrageous stunt that keeps the extremists in his conference from throwing him into the volcano the way they did his predecessors," Garcia writes.

Ever since the ouster of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Johnson’s majority has been chipped away until it's become even slimmer than McCarthy’s was, thanks to the resignations of Reps Brian Higgins (NY), Ken Buck (CO) and Bill Johnson (OH).

As Garcia points out, McCarthy's ousting taught Johnson two valuable lessons: "The far-right will oppose anything resembling governing, but also that he cannot give them whatever they want because they will never be satisfied."

"As a result, he’s learned to ignore his right-flank on issues that matter while offering a sacrifice to the right-wing volcano in exchange for them not tossing him into the lava."

Read the full op-ed over at The Independent.