In exclusive interviews with 22 Republican U.S. senators, Raw Story found a trend — ranging from annoyance to anger to alarm — over the Georgia Republican congresswoman’s plan to formally deploy her motion to vacate House Speaker Mike Johson this week.
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“I think it's ridiculous, it's counterproductive, and, frankly, just foolish,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) told Raw Story. “Blowing up the speakership undermines conservative principles profoundly.”
Last week, Greene told Raw Story polls showed Trump’s base is behind her. Her own party isn’t, though. And some of her own constituents aren’t, either, according to Raw Story interviews conducted last week across Georgia’s 14th Congressional District. Greene is now angling for a deal.
“It's stupid, and it's selfish on her part,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) told Raw Story. “It's either one, a political stunt [or] two, selfish on her part.”
While Democratic leaders feel they have a solid chance of recapturing the House this November, over in the United States Senate GOP leaders and rank-and-file members alike see a winnable path back to the majority in November.
‘Certain individuals tear us apart’
Greene’s antics have some senators worried they’ll cost Republicans majorities in the House and Senate.
“I’m focused on winning the Senate majority,” Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) – who’s chairing the National Republican Senatorial Committee this election cycle – told Raw Story. “It’s time to come together and not have certain individuals tear us apart.”
Daines isn’t alone in his refusal — Voldemort-style — to even say Greene’s name out loud.
Among the others: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s former right-hand man, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). The senior Texan in the U.S. Senate served as Republican whip under McConnell but was term limited out and replaced by Sen. John Thune (R-SD) — who Cornyn is now running against in his bid for McConnell’s gavel.
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Cornyn, who’s still one of McConnell’s close confidants, dismisses MTG out of hand.
“She’s becoming more marginalized by the day,” Cornyn told Raw Story.
In the McConnell leadership retirement shakeup, Senate Republicans’ current number three, Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), is running to be the party’s second in command in the Senate. Barrasso initially brushed aside Raw Story’s inquiry. Ask a House member, he said.
“But is that a distraction for the party?” Raw Story pressed.
“We need to make sure we win the presidency, win the Senate and hold the House,” Barrasso, not answering the question, told Raw Story. “And that’s where my focus is.”
'Just don't think it's helpful'
It’s not just wannabe GOP leaders.
Some of former President Donald Trump’s top Senate allies refuse to criticize Greene publicly — even though they oppose her effort.
“I just don’t think it’s helpful,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) told Raw Story. “About all I can say.”
Others who proudly rep the MAGA-rightwing of the Senate may not personally know Mike Johnson, but they have their alternative set of facts down.
“What do you think of Speaker Johnson?”
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“Well, you don’t get up and tell people you’re gonna do one thing and do another. You lose all integrity that way. Now, he better have a good excuse for what he did,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) told Raw Story, before offering. “I don’t know the guy.”
These days, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is the leading libertarian of the Senate Republican Conference. This is why it’s probably no surprise that he’s all in with Greene after she helped make his isolationist view of foreign policy more mainstream in today’s GOP.
“If you’re a Democrat, Mike Johnson’s probably done a pretty good job,” Paul told Raw Story. “He got their spending bill through – $1.5 trillion deficit this year. He worked on them to kill reform of FISA, and then he worked on them to give money we don't have to Ukraine. So I'd say, from a Democrat point of view, Mike Johnson’s a pretty good speaker. That's why they're saying they may vote to keep him.”
As for whether Greene challenging Speaker Johnson will hurt the Republican Party?
Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) – who told Raw Story he’s “close to MTG” – says he’s not worried.
“She obviously has the prerogative to do it,” Vance said. “I don't think it ultimately goes anywhere, but she knows better than me because it's her chamber.”
“Do you think it's bad for the party heading into November?” Raw Story asked.
“No. I think obviously there's a lot of frustration over how the security supplemental went down,” Vance said. “Sometimes these things are necessarily messy, but I think having this debate, having this fight is not the worst thing.”
When nudged, Vance – who’s rumored to be on Trump’s vice presidential shortlist – did admit he wouldn’t be with MTG on her anti-Johnson quest if he served alongside her.
“Look, if I was in the House, do I think we should be sacking the speaker right now? No,” Vance said. “But I don't think that's going to happen. So having the debate is actually, I think, a pretty healthy thing.”
Whether it’s healthy for today’s Republican Party to again broadcast their party’s civil war across the globe isn’t — to many in the GOP — up for debate.
Senator who served in House sees ‘turmoil’ ahead
Many more senior Republicans are braced for another brawl.
“I don't think the House needs any more turmoil,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) told Raw Story. “I’m sorry to see it happen, I hope it's not successful.”
Capito is far from alone. Other former House Republicans are gently trying to dissuade Greene by gently offering lessons applicable to everyone from, say, a toddler, all the way on up to a member of the House of Representatives.
“She's within her right,” Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) told Raw Story. “But there are lots of things that are within your right that you don’t get.”
This is the first Senate term for Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), but she has four terms in the House under her rodeo-sized belt buckle. While there, Lummis was a member of the far-right Freedom Caucus – the same group of giddy conservative bomb throwers who booted Greene last year for publicly cursing out Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO).
Lummis didn’t overlap with Greene, but she’s buddies with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), the lead co-sponsor in Greene’s effort to oust Johnson.
“Well, I'm a huge Thomas Massie fan. That said, I think that that's ill-advised. I wish they would reconsider. There's been enough chaos around the Capitol building,” Lummis told Raw Story.
She may not be a party leader, but Lummis knows few things rally the Republican base like fighting regulatory overreach, whether real or merely perceived. That’s why she wants to keep the focus not on a fellow Republican, but the top Democrat of them all — President Joe Biden.
“This may be a better time to let the dust settle,” Lummis said. “Let's get through this absolute deluge of rules that are coming out of this administration. Let's stop this obscene rulemaking. And the way we can best do that is just to join forces, especially as Republicans, to stop the onslaught.”
Still, other former House members are almost embarrassed by the antics.
“I think it’s a waste of time,” Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) told Raw Story.
Other Republican senators agree, though they, of course, say it in their own senatorial way.
'Don't understand the dynamics over there'
Talking to many Senate Republicans, one comes away feeling as if the House and Senate inhabit different universes, as opposed to being housed in the same, historical building.
“Look, this is my 40-what … 43rd year in the Senate,” Sen. James Risch (R-ID) told Raw Story. “I’ve never served in the other House. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in those 43 years, don’t try to tell them how to do their business.”
No one – at least none of his colleagues – asked Risch. And no one’s asking his colleagues, though senators have thoughts, even the ones who tell you they don’t.
“It’s not up to me. House members will handle it,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) told Raw Story. “Now, do I think Speaker Johnson should be removed? No. But no one over there’s gonna ask our opinion, so why offer it?”
Twins.
“That’s up to the House of Representatives,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) told Raw Story. “But they won’t be successful.”
Grassley’s fellow Iowan, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), feels the same way. But even though she says it’s not a matter for senators, she has … thoughts.
“House’s business, obviously,” Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) told Raw Story. “I just would love to see those that continually threaten Republican leadership, can they do a better job?”
“Well, they haven’t even put forward a replacement,” Raw Story noted.
“Exactly,” Ernst said.
Other senators claim utter ignorance when it comes to House matters.
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“I don’t understand the dynamics over there. I don’t have a comment on that,” Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) told Raw Story. “House math is very different than Senate math, so I don’t think I should weigh in on that, because I know nothing about how it works over there.”
Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) never served in the House. Nor does he ever want to. He’s running for governor of Indiana.
In fact, Braun’s locked in a six-way GOP primary. Indiana Republicans will decide his fate this Tuesday when they cast their primary ballots, which may be why he’s concerned Greene’s bomb throwing is going to result in his gubernatorial campaign getting hit with unnecessary shrapnel.
“I don't know why we’d do that. In the sense of, who would do much better?” Braun told Raw Story. “I understand some of the frustrations there, but, I think, politically that looks like you're sowing the seeds of chaos and not focusing on some of the key issues.”
‘Embarrassing herself and embarrassing the chamber’
The impulse to stay in one’s senatorial lane is strong on the northern, formerly more deliberate side of the United States Capitol, the one senators call home. Senators are senators; House members are just different, at least to senators. “The House is a mystery,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) told Raw Story. “I don’t know, I don’t know.”
The House may be a mystery but some Republicans say the mystery isn’t innate to the chamber. They say the problem is the person. One they won’t even discuss these days.
“I have no thoughts on Marjorie Taylor Greene,” Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) told Raw Story.
“Yeah?” Raw Story pressed. “But she’s going to move on the motion to vacate Speaker Johnson…”
“I got nothing on her, man,” Young – head down, avoiding eye contact – replied.
“But do you think it’s bad for the party to have another motion to vacate fight?”
“I don’t feel like offering a comment on this,” Young, his back to Raw Story, said as he entered a Senate elevator. “Thank you.”
He may be retiring at the end of his term, but Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), the former GOP standard-bearer as a 2012 presidential nominee, knows politics and hates political ploys.
“She's doing her very best to get attention and contributions,” Romney told Raw Story. “She's embarrassing herself and embarrassing the chamber, I'm afraid.”
