House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) tried to project confidence on Wednesday after his party suffered yet another stinging special election defeat, but members of his own party are already knifing him in interviews with Politico.
According to Politico, GOP insiders are facing "buyer's remorse" with Johnson, whom they see as "a man perpetually without a plan."
In fact, one source described as a "senior Republican lawmaker" said just that to Politico when comparing Johnson to former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
“Kevin would have a strategy, he’d shop it around, then he’d make a play call,” a senior Republican lawmaker said. “The more I’m around Johnson, the more it’s clear to me he doesn’t have a plan.”
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A senior GOP aide, meanwhile, said that Johnson seemed to be careening from one position to another in the desperate hopes of not facing a vote to vacate the chair by rebellious Republican members.
“I’m as confused as ever about what he wants,” they said. “He hasn’t given us any direction... I think right now he’s in survival mode.”
Republicans say that Johnson appears to lack a trusted group of advisers who will keep the rest of the conference in the loop about his thinking, which has left many members in the dark about his actual plans until he announces them publicly.
An aide for Johnson, however, countered that there's a good reason that the speaker is keeping his cards close to his vest.
“They’re left in the dark because they leak," they said of Johnson's critics.
Politico notes that Johnson's predecessor Kevin McCarthy, who has since left Congress, offered some unsolicited advice for him earlier this week.
“Make a decision and go," he said. "I would do the exact same thing that I did before. You can’t be afraid of someone trying to throw you out.”
