All posts tagged "freedom caucus"

'Not ready for prime time': GOP extremists and moderates unite for rare Trump defiance

A long-simmering Republican Party feud is threatening to derail President Donald Trump’s agenda.

Representatives from either ideological end of the GOP U.S. House conference, hard right and moderate center, told Raw Story on Wednesday work on the GOP’s contentious spending bill, covering tax and spending cuts and enshrining Trump's hardline immigration policy, remains a long way from done.

“This one isn't real close,” said Andy Harris (R-MD), chair of the hard-right Freedom Caucus. “It’s not ready for prime time.”

“This as it stands, I’ve been very clear, does not have my support,” said Mike Lawler (R-NY), a prominent moderate demanding a raise in the cap on SALT, the state and local tax deduction key to Republicans from prosperous, Democratic-led states.

“I know the speaker is trying,” Lawler added. “I know he's going to continue to negotiate in good faith. But as this stands right now, I am a no, and so they're going to need to come up with a solution quickly if they want to stay on the schedule they have.”

Speaker Mike Johnson first wanted to get the budget — containing all Trump's spending priorities in “one big beautiful bill” – done by Memorial Day, towards the end of May. Amid marathon mark-up sessions and seemingly endless negotiations, that target has slipped to the next big holiday: July 4.

Republicans control the House 220-213, with two Democratic seats vacant. Johnson cannot afford many nos.

A main aim of the Republican measure, which when passed will have to be reconciled with a Senate version, is to extend tax cuts passed under the first Trump administration in 2017. It’s also needed to fund the deportation force Trump is bent on unleashing nationwide.

Right-wingers want to secure such tax cuts while slashing federal spending and reducing the federal deficit. More moderate members see the need to raise the SALT cap and threats to impose major cuts to Medicaid as threatening serious damage back home.

Other members of the Freedom Caucus voiced their skepticism to Raw Story.

“I'm not flexing this because I'm trying to get something to South Carolina,” said Ralph Norman (R-SC). “I'm trying to get the math in order to get this country back on track financially. And it just hadn't happened.”

Eric Burlison, of Missouri, predicted ongoing “negotiations and discussions” and voiced support for Ron Johnson, the rightwing Wisconsin senator who on Tuesday said the bill could go down “like the Titanic.”

“Ron Johnson, he has doubts on this, and he's right to have doubts,” Burlison said, adding that he “expect[s] the Senate to be more squishy than us.”

Republicans control that chamber 53-47.

Burlison said the budget talks presented “an opportunity to fix Medicaid … an opportunity to do a lot of reform that we're leaving on the table.

“This Medicaid situation is unsustainable,” he said, before raising a familiar Republican boogeyman: “California has figured it out. California gets more money from the federal government and Medicaid than Florida spends on their entire state budget.

“It's crazy … they're gaming the system, they're gaming the federal government, and then this bill is going to lock in that gamesmanship that blue states like California and New York have been playing and that's what's frustrating to me.

“We have the opportunity to fix this stuff or get the United States government on a financially balanced footing, and we're not taking advantage of this opportunity.”

Jason Smith (R-MO) is chair of the House Ways and Means Committee — one of the most stressful jobs on Capitol Hill right now.

He insisted that “we’re gonna get it done” and if it’s “a bumpy ride, the whole ride, everyone should expect that.”

“I’m OK for whatever passes the bill,” Smith said, adding: “I will do whatever is necessary. I've said it all along … I'll do whatever this takes.”

Lawler and his fellow New Yorker Nick LaLota would like Smith and other leaders to give ground on SALT.

“People are passionate to support their constituency,” said LaLota, who held his Long Island seat last year by beating the CNN host John Avlon.

“Their passion [is] to put this great country back on the right track. That that passion has led to some frustrations is totally fine. I think we'll get there.

“I think we all want to come to a deal ultimately, but it's got to be a deal that's both good for my constituents and the country.

“My constituents helped pay for the 2017 tax cuts when [Republican leaders] capped SALT unfairly at $10,000. The bill was placed on districts like mine to pay for the rest of the nation's prosperity. We can't make that mistake” again."

‘Fight of crazy against crazy’: Wounded Rep. Bob Good confronts ‘forces of evil’

WASHINGTON — If Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) is on a mission from God, as he maintains, someone might want to tell God already.

Since Virginia voters cast their Republican primary ballots on June 18, the two-term incumbent who chairs the far-right Freedom Caucus has been trailing his opponent, state Sen. John McGuire, by upward of 300 votes out of just over 62,000 ballots cast.

Good’s demanding a recount. He’s also trying to pray away “the forces of evil” conspiring against him.

ALSO READ: Marjorie Taylor Greene buys condo in 'crime ridden hell hole'

“I think it’s owed to the 31,000 people in the district who voted for me, and there's those true conservatives in Virginia and across the country that are outraged at the forces of evil that tried to influence this race — that did influence this race — and we owe it to them to make sure that it's right,” Good told Raw Story after voting in the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.

By “forces of evil,” Good doesn’t mean former President Donald Trump or even Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) — both of whom backed McGuire.

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To Good, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is evil incarnate. That feeling has seemed mutual since Good and seven other House Republicans ingloriously, if historically, ousted McCarthy last year.

Good is a graduate of and former fundraiser for Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University. Arguably, his biggest critic contends he’s blinded by his own light.

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“He can't win a real primary, because he's insane,” former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA), who Good defeated in 2020, told Raw Story. “There's no such thing as ‘forces of evil.’ Listen, stupidity and evil look very similar. And I think that's where he gets confused, because he's stupid.”

As is easily surmised, Riggleman — an ex-intelligence official who worked as a data analyst for the select Jan. 6 committee — is no fan of Good.

Good ended Riggleman’s time in Congress in part because he made an issue out of Riggleman officiating a same-sex marriage for a former staffer the year earlier. Good and officials in Virginia’s Republican Party also forced an in-person convention — in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic — of the party faithful, instead of conducting a Republican congressional primary.

Former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA). JLauer/Shutterstock

In the wake of this year’s primary, Good is calling for changes to the rules. He’s especially bemoaning the commonwealth's open primary system that allows independents and Democrats to vote in GOP primaries (as well as allowing Republicans to weigh in on Democratic ones.)

“That absolutely should be changed. We should have party registration in VIrginia. We should have closed primaries, or we need to go back to conventions and not allow Democrats to choose our nominee in primaries,” Good said. “There’s no question we would have won a convention.”

Good contends he won the hearts and minds of his party.

“I know we got the majority of Republican votes. The other side had to reach out and did reach out to Democrats crossover votes. It's an unfortunate reality in Virginia that our system allows Democrats to vote in Republican primaries, and we are certain that there were certainly more than 300 or 400 people who voted in this election for my opponent,” Good said.

A request for comment from the campaign of McGuire, a former Navy SEAL, wasn’t returned.

Riggleman dismissed Good’s griping.

“‘Forces of evil’ — so you're telling me that a primary that's actually fair, rather than a convention where they could limit the number of voters to beat me means that the people are the forces of evil?” Riggleman said. “That's somebody who's mentally unstable.”

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Riggleman added: “Yes, he said he could win in a convention. Because the convention is anti-American. A convention is for those who can't win a primary, which we just saw with Bob Good.”

The Virginia Board of Elections has yet to call the race, even as the chair of Virginia’s Republican Party, Richard Anderson, congratulated McGuire for winning earlier this week.

Good currently trails by 0.6 percentage points,, which means he can call for a recount according to state law, though he’s got to come up with a way to pay for it.

Regardless, he says he’s all in.

“There's some things that are concerning and that need to be reviewed, and we're going to do that. And I'm not going to be particular about that process,” Good said. “I’d rather be 300 votes ahead than 300 votes behind.”

But he’s currently behind: Something for which Good blames McCarthy.

ALSO READ: ‘They could have killed me’: Spycraft, ballots and a Trumped-up plot gone haywire

“It’s money that was wasted. It should have been spent in November to defeat Democrats. It's a race that never should have happened,” Good said. “It was a challenge based on lies by a dishonest opponent and funded by the former speaker whose mission in life seems to be to get revenge on those he holds responsible for him not being speaker.”

But Good says it’s not about payback.

“I'm not really concerned about that. We're just gonna do our best to win this recount,” Good said.

To Riggleman, there’s no pleasure watching these two Republicans digitally knife each other over his former seat.

“McGuire’s crazier than Bob Good. Think about that,” Riggleman said. “You're seeing a fight of crazy against crazy. Nobody's the good guy. No, nobody’s the good guy here. This is just people who want power and payback. It has nothing to do with the American people. It's about their own personal self-aggrandizement and power trips.”

Riggleman, in noting he wasn’t conservative enough for Virginia’s 5th Congressional District, mused that Good — one of the nation’s most conservative lawmakers — might also not be conservative enough.

“That's what's crazy about this election,” Riggleman said. “I think Bob represents Christian nationalism. He represents a decision making methodology that's not based in facts; it's based in fantasy. And I think that really is a lure to a lot of GOP voters, that there's this good against evil battle going on out there and they're on the good side, regardless of facts.”

'Ridiculous,’ ‘chaos,’ ‘foolish,’ ‘turmoil’: Senate GOP smites Marjorie Taylor Greene

WASHINGTON — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is making the Republican Party look ridiculous.

That’s according to Republican senators.

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.

“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.

ALSO READ: ‘Lord of the Flies’: Inside MTG’s effort to oust Speaker Mike Johnson

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?”

ALSO READ: Marjorie Taylor Greene is buying stocks again. Some picks pose a conflict of interest

“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.”

House Republican giggles over Hitler praise — and admits he never listens to Trump

WASHINGTON — A Republican House representative burst into laughter Tuesday when a Raw Story reporter asked him to comment on former President Donald Trump's remarks praising autocrats that included Adolf Hitler.

"You guys still paying attention to what Trump says?" Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) said with a giggle. "Oh my God ... journalists never learn."

Harris, a Freedom Caucus member whose ties to Trump include attendance at a meeting in 2020 to discuss keeping the former president in the White House, admitted that he does not listen to the words that come out of the leading Republican presidential candidate's mouth.

"You guys don't listen to Trump?" Raw Story asked.

"No, of course not!" Harris said. "You look at what he does, not what he says."

Harris' assertion comes as the release of a new book — "The Return of Great Powers" by CNN's John Sciutto — details warnings from former Trump advisers over their onetime boss' admiration for autocrats.

“He likes dealing with other big guys, and big guys like Erdogan in Turkey get to put people in jail and you don’t have to ask anybody’s permission,” John Bolton, who served as national security adviser under Trump, told Sciutto. "He kind of likes that.”

Retired Marines General John Kelly told Sciutto he convinced Trump to stop praising the Nazi leader who masterminded the Holocaust by arguing Italian's fascist dictator Benito Mussolini was "a great guy in comparison.”

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"Hitler did some good things," Trump said, according to Kelly. "[Hitler] rebuilt the economy."

This prompted Kelly to note what Hitler did with that thriving economy: "He turned it against his own people and against the world.

"I said, ‘Sir, you can never say anything good about the guy. Nothing.'"

News of this exchange came as a surprise to Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), who told Raw Story he "didn't know anything about" Trump's professed admiration for strong men leaders and added, "That's crazy."

Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA) came to Trump's defense, telling Raw Story he believed Trump's praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin was simply respect for an intelligent adversary.

"Somebody could be dastardly ... but they could still be smart," Meuser said. But he added, "I'm not going to get into Hitler."

Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) echoed Meuser's adversary argument and accused Kelly of stirring up a fuss because he did not have a war to fight.

"All these old generals, retire, go home, enough is enough," Nehls said. "Oh come on. Praising Hitler? They take that all out of context."

‘We're wounded:’ Speaker Mike Johnson struggles to lead GOP after ‘unnecessary purging’

WASHINGTON – House Republicans are divided over what to do about their internal divisions – or even whether anything’s the matter at all.

Welcome to Speaker Mike Johnson’s Capitol.

After a string of recent tactical blunders – from a failed impeachment vote to pulling the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (or FISA) reauthorization measure he put on the floor this week – some Republicans in the House of Representatives are reassessing the successor to deposed Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Johnson, Republicans’ replacement speaker, has now been on the job 114 days. Yet the GOP still feels rudderless. He is hardly a phoenix, but the GOP is covered in plenty of ashes from the house fire that is the 118th Congress' Republican conference.

“We're wounded. I'm not saying that's because of Mike Johnson. It’s because of the situation we put ourselves in, no matter who came out of that,” Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) told Raw Story. “There's a lot of things that are out of his immediate control with the suddenness of this happening.”

ALSO READ: Uncivil war: How Speaker Mike Johnson’s dream of bipartisan decency died in his hands

The Republican unrest with Johnson (R-LA) is starting to become undeniable, even to his allies such as LaMalfa.

“It feels like there’s a little more unrest. Or that the unrest is now bubbling to the surface?” Raw Story asked.

“I think there’s some underground bubbling going on,” LaMalfa said.

The Republican Party still hasn’t healed since members ran McCarthy out of the speaker’s chair — and right out of Congress. While Johnson hasn’t had his speakership challenged by the gang of eight Republicans who ousted McCarthy, he’s constantly under pressure from every faction of his fractious conference.

“In fairness, I think the problem changes every day, depending on where he's got to focus,” Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN) told Raw Story in front of the Capitol this week. “Sometimes it's just the issue of the day. It's just a tough, tough time.”

Johnson’s job is only getting more complicated now that the 2024 election has fully engulfed the U.S. Capitol. Campaign considerations helped derail a bipartisan Senate border security compromise and cast a broadly bipartisan foreign aid package – and U.S. allies Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan – in limbo.

Speaker in empty suit only?

Looming over everything, including Johnson’s speakership, is former President Donald Trump.

Trump, for example, single-handedly killed the border bill before lawmakers even finished drafting it.

That’s begged the question: Who’s running the show on Capitol Hill?

“Is Donald Trump calling the shots here, Mr. Speaker?” Meet the Press host Kristen Welker asked Johnson a couple Sunday’s ago.

“He’s not calling the shots. I am calling the shots,” a defensive Johnson replied.

The reserved speaker was animated, if not entirely believable.

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“Certainly, Trump has influence on people. I don’t want to say he’s in charge. We do a lot of things that Trump disagrees with,” Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) told Raw Story just off the House floor.

Johnson is known as a staunchly conservative Christian nationalist, but lawmakers still don’t know how to define his leadership style.

As Raw Story revealed in January, Johnson came to Congress in 2017 with big dreams of bipartisanship and civil discourse among lawmakers. Those dreams dashed, he’s embraced the MAGA mantle, ever-evolving – or devolving – as it is.

“He’s just trying to figure out some things,” Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) told Raw Story Thursday.

The speaker is getting pulled in most every direction, and he doesn’t seem to tell anyone ‘No.’

That hurt Johnson last week when he stepped in a political dogpile.

Basically, Johnson backed fringe-right Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT) in Montana’s U.S. Senate GOP primary. Within hours of that news dropping, the speaker reversed course. The pressure came from old guard Republicans in the House and the National Republican Senatorial Committee who, along with Trump, are backing retired Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy in the race against Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT).

Rosendale was one of the eight GOP lawmakers who ousted McCarthy, making him anathema to the majority of House Republicans who remain bitter over last year’s speaker battle. After formally announcing his Senate bid last Friday, Rosendale reversed course — and withdrew. Johnson’s highly publicized reversal seems to have led to the demise of the Freedom Caucus member’s longshot bid – the opposite of what he set out to do.

Johnson’s a leadership novice, and everyone seems to know it.

“You got some advice for Speaker Johnson?” Raw Story asked former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) – who served as House minority whip during the 1980s – as he strolled past the House floor Wednesday.

“Every now and then,” Lott, now a lobbyist, said with a laugh — and without detailing what that advice is. “I spent a little time over here in leadership. I still stay in touch with them.”

When not crying, Democrats are laughing at the dysfunction.

“Tell them to keep up the good work!” Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) told Raw Story as he was entering the Capitol on Wednesday, the day after Democrats won the special election in New York to replace expelled former Rep. George Santos (R-NY).

Despite Democratic chiding, many Republicans say there’s still time to salvage the least productive Congress in recent decades.

‘I wish we did less’

With Democrats recapturing Santos’ seat, Republicans are now down to a mere two-seat advantage on floor votes. House Republicans aren’t calling to reverse course — rather the loudest voices in the conference this week have been bemoaning the bipartisan ouster of Santos, a demonstrated liar and credibly accused fraudster who faces numerous federal charges and potential prison time.

"I voted against expelling George Santos. He wasn’t convicted of anything, and I don’t think he should have been expelled. And I think it was a very bad strategy from our conference to expel a member of Congress who hasn’t been convicted," Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) told Raw Story at the Capitol. “We shouldn't have lost that seat to begin with.”

Johnson was also back in the headlines this week when he pulled a FISA – think warrantless wiretapping – reauthorization from the House floor after it became clear Republicans were prepared to kill the measure.

“Pulling the FISA bill – doesn't that make y'all look like you can't govern?” Raw Story asked Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), the new head of the far-right Freedom Caucus.

“Well, what you guys call ‘not governing’ is not doing more bad stuff, not doing more of what Democrats want to do, not doing more what the D.C. swamp wants us to do, not doing more of what the status quo is,” Good said while walking through a tunnel leading to the Capitol Thursday. “What is it you want us to do more of that would show we could govern?”

“Even when it comes to unwinding the administrative state, you guys are historically a piss poor Congress,” Raw Story replied. “Like, you can't even unwind what you want to unwind, right?”

“Well, I would argue, we are historical in the sense that we have not worsened the administrative state, and we have not done more harm to the American people on the level that most congresses have done,” Good said.

“I wish we did less. Unless we had absolute control of government, and we could truly undo all the harm. At least we're not layering it on and adding to it,” Good said. “Just take FISA, if it weren't for the Freedom Caucus conservatives, FISA would already have been reformed in a way that totally trampled on and expands upon the harm being done to the citizens.”

The House has now joined the Senate on an extended President’s Day recess.

When the two chambers return to town in two weeks, they’ll have just a handful of legislative days to fund the government before federal funding starts clicking off on March 1.

Can Democrats solve Johnson’s problems?

Everything’s not fine in the GOP, and rank-and-file Republicans know it. That has some conservatives now calling on Johnson to do what’s become anathema in today’s GOP: Work across the aisle.

“He’s got a tough job. He’s got the toughest job in America, so he's got to reach out to Democrats to get things done,” Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) told Raw Story on his way to vote on the House floor this week. “He doesn’t really have much of a choice.”

Johnson was no one’s first choice to be speaker. In fact, he wasn’t the GOP’s second, third or fourth choice, either.

Over three long weeks last year, Republican speaker-designates Reps. Steve Scalise (R-LA), Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Tom Emmer (R-MN) all quit after failing to solidify enough GOP support to win the gavel on the House floor.

The party needed someone – anyone, really – to replace McCarthy as speaker.

In that environment, many of the party’s proven leaders refused to run, and thus Speaker Mike Johnson was born.

“This was all made difficult by the unnecessary purging of McCarthy,” LaMalfa of California told Raw Story. “In some cases, the cream of the crop of who would be the ideal leader, weren't presenting themselves – and this is not a personal knock to any individual – so Mike kind of evolved from those different pools.”

Since he was anointed, Johnson’s had to host fundraisers, travel to member’s districts and run the House. He’s proven a quick study in fundraising from GOP donors, and Republican members have been happy to host him in their districts. It’s the whole running the House of Representatives that Johnson seems to be struggling with most these days.

That’s largely because of the same far-right Republicans who seem to hijack most every measure that hits the House floor. The new boss seems to have the same problem as the old boss.

“They’re not going to be happy with anything,” LaMalfa said. “They don't give a s—. They don't care.”

GOP chaos caused by Freedom Caucus' 'impossible purity': Conservative

A major conservative magazine chief links chaos in the House of Representatives to the far-right Freedom Caucus setting a standard of “impossible purity,” he said in a New York Times opinion piece.

“National Review” editor-in-chief Rich Lowry argued Tuesday that House Republicans have been unable to live up to the standards set by a conservative group whose members include Trump's former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows (a co-defendant in the racketeering case against Donald Trump), Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

“The pattern was that the right, associated with the House Freedom Caucus after its founding in 2015, would hold out a standard of impossible purity, and then when leaders inevitability [sic] failed to meet it, denounce them as weak and traitorous,” Lowry wrote.

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?

“Some of these members consider the legislative process in and of itself corrupt, and refuse to participate even if they can increase the negotiating leverage of their own side.”

Lowry traces the origin of the caucus to the Tea Party movement, which he describes as populist, but was later discovered to have been orchestrated and funded by the libertarian billionaire Koch brothers.

Once again, Lowry says the problem was “purity.”

“The Tea Party of the 2010s seemingly reflected the same tendency toward greater conservative purity,” Lowry argues.

“Yet, it was more populist and more disaffected with the G.O.P., which is why so many of its leaders and organizations lined up so readily behind Donald Trump.”

The op-ed, which was headlined: “How the Right’s Purity Tests Are Haunting the House G.O.P.,” chastises U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz for prioritizing glitz over politics when he orchestrated the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, whom Lowry describes as “a pragmatist and coalition-builder.”

House Democrats might raise an eyebrow at that last descriptor, considering McCarthy made his reputation about a decade ago as a key obstructionist against then-president Barack Obama.

"We've gotta challenge them on every single bill,” McCarthy reportedly said, “and challenge them on every single campaign."

That McCarthy ultimately toppled when bombarded by his own tactics from his own party is not the point, Lowry decrees. The point is exhaustion.

“The question for House Republicans, mired in a weeks-long demonstration of their internal dysfunction, is: Does anybody here want to play this game?”

Trump fake elector prosecutions could soon ensnare members of Congress

WASHINGTON – The justice system is closing in on former President Donald Trump, and soon, some expect that dragnet will ensnare elected members of Congress.

Before lawmakers left town for a month-long recess, Raw Story caught up with two Republicans the U.S. House January 6 select committee named as central to the scheme to get then-Vice President Mike Pence to certify slates of fake electors after Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election.

The two lawmakers were dismissive and said no prosecutors, either local or federal, had contacted them in their quest to hold fake electors and their enablers accountable.

“Not me. I've gotten nothing,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) – who allegedly tried to pass Wisconsin fake electors to Pence — told Raw Story at the Capitol. “There’s nothing to come after me for.”

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI)

Johnson also dismissed the fake elector case in Michigan as “absurd.”

Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) – chairman of the House Freedom Caucus – also brushed aside concerns and said he hasn’t been contacted.

“No,” Perry – who the January 6 select committee flagged to the House Ethics Committee for refusing to sit for an interview – told Raw Story while walking to the Capitol. “I don’t have any concerns.”

Others aren’t so sure. During the Jan. 6 select committee proceedings, former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) accused Perry of asking Trump for a pardon after the failed insurrection.

ALSO READ: Mark Meadows ‘flipped hard’ on Trump: ex-January 6 committee adviser

“Look at the congressmen and their text messages, they obviously were in some coordinating function. The issue is, does it rise to the level of indictment?” former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA) – who served as an adviser to the Jan. 6 committee – told Raw Story this week. “But as this testimony comes out, I think they're going to get on one of those things called a Pucker Factor 10. I think they're going to be biting buttonholes in their underwear when the actual evidence comes out.”

Perry and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows exchanged at least 62 text messages between the 2020 election and President Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2021. In one exchange, Perry informed Meadows they’d begun the “cyber portion” of their efforts to overturn the election results in Wisconsin, Michigan and Arizona.

Hot pursuit of fake electors

In July, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel dropped felony charges on 16 Republicans she alleges were at the center of her state’s fake elector scheme. Last week, the Associated Press reported the FBI and Justice Department questioned Wisconsin Elections Commission administrator Meagan Wolfe earlier this year.

The scheming around fake electors is also central to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s case against Trump. He dubs the “criminal scheme” to send slates of fake electors to Congress the “Wisconsin Memo.”

“The plan began in early December,” the indictment reads, “and ultimately, the conspirators and the Defendant’s Campaign took the Wisconsin Memo and expanded it to any state that the Defendant claimed was “contested” — even New Mexico which the Defendant had lost by more than ten percent of the popular vote.”

The indictment then quotes a Dec. 6 email from former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows that accompanied the Wisconsin Memo.

“We just need to have someone coordinating the electors for states,” Meadows is quoted on page 23 of the indictment as sending campaign staff.

Then, on Dec. 27 – just over a week away from the “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C. – the acting attorney general, Jeffrey Rosen, told Trump, according to the indictment, “that the Justice Department could not and would not change the outcome of the election.”

“Just say that the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen,” Trump is quoted as replying.

The evidence speaks for itself, Riggleman tells Raw Story.

“To quote Hunter Thompson: facts are a million-pound s— hammer. And fact-based insights based on data is a 2-million-pound s— hammer,” Riggleman said.

All eyes are now watching to see if other state attorneys general follow Michigan’s lead and seek prosecutions for those involved in the fake elector plot, including Republicans on Capitol Hill.

“I give credit to the attorney general because people are not above the law, and they broke the law,” Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) recently told Raw Story. “These are people that lied about the most important thing, which is our democracy.”

'I don't care': Marjorie Taylor Greene waves off Freedom Caucus

WASHINGTON — House Freedom Caucus drama broke out on Tuesday evening as Republicans were cagey about whether or not there was a full caucus vote to expel Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) from their ranks.

On Wednesday, Greene told Raw Story she couldn't possibly care less about the Freedom Caucus.

When asked about whether she had heard about anything involving her status from Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), Greene said she hadn't spoken with him.

"I'm mostly focused on what I'm doing and serving my district," she said. "Not interested in any drama just interested in working on the NDAA."

The NDAA is the defense-funding bill from which Greene wants to remove Ukraine. She called the Ukraine funding a "red line" for her, and she thinks that they could simply remove Ukraine from the bill to appease her.

Her other top issue for defense funding is to "put the Hyde Amendment in there." The Hyde Amendment is already a law and doesn't need to be added to any other bills. It prevents the government from paying for abortions for employees. Currently, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) is holding up military promotions over the idea that women who need to travel to other states for an abortion can be compensated for the travel. She also wants to remove funding for transgender medical services.

When asked if she would consider running for caucus chair, she said it wasn't something she was interested in pursuing.

She was then asked if she'd attend the next caucus meeting. Greene said she's only in Congress for "my district."

Reporters brought up the dichotomy of the Freedom Caucus, saying that you can't support leadership and be in the caucus at the same time.

"I'll say this, is Freedom Caucus' purpose to be anti-leadership, or is it to promote conservative policies and protect the Constitution?" she asked, pointing to her record.

When asked if she was waiting for the caucus to approach her or if she was going to contact Perry, she simply said: "I don't care. I don't care. I don't think I can say that loud enough."

She went on to point out her devotion to Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).

"I'm very grateful for his support, and I support him," she said of McCarthy. "I think he's doing a great job. He's very conservative and he's in a tough job; I don't think people recognize that enough."

She also celebrated him as the highest fundraiser of any Republican speaker in he past. The comments come amid McCarthy headlining an event for Greene on the Hill.

'Political hooligans' in Freedom Caucus so 'impotent' they can't even boot MTG: columnist

The Freedom Caucus group that recently held a vote to boot U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is made up of a bunch of "political hooligans" who are so "impotent" they couldn't even properly eject her from their ranks, a political columnist wrote.

Greene, who has reportedly been dodging the group's calls before and after the vote to remove her, is known for the same types of dramatic political theater as the Freedom Caucus, but the relationship has soured nonetheless – purportedly because Greene sided with Speaker Kevin McCarthy over conservative activists.

The caucus itself was created not to get things done, but to grind government to a halt, according to Paul Waldman.

"In its early days, the caucus made life miserable for Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, who eventually decided he’d rather retire than deal with this bunch of political hooligans. When Republicans took back the House in 2022, Freedom Caucus members figured they could do something similar to new Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif," Waldman wrote on Friday.

While Greene seemingly fit right in with the group, her error, strangely, was becoming a part of the system, which in their eyes is flawed.

"Greene is just about the last person you’d think would become an inside operator. She’s more of an internet influencer than a legislator; her idea of lawmaking is to introduce pointless impeachment resolutions. In fact, she and Boebert were arguing about their dueling measures to impeach Biden," the piece states.

Waldman says Greene's perceived betrayal of the caucus was serious, yet notes that the group has failed to formally oust her.

"That leaves the rest of the Freedom Caucus in a familiar position for hard-right true believers: angry and frustrated at both the continued existence of a large federal government and their inability to do much about it," Waldman wrote. "But one thing they could do is tell Marjorie Taylor Greene they don’t want her in their club anymore. And they’re struggling to even do that. It’s a sign of just how impotent they’ve become."

You can read it here.

'Crazy': Inside the fight that got Marjorie Taylor Greene booted from the Freedom Caucus

WASHINGTON – Two years ago, Democrats booted Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) from her committees over racism, conspiracies and threats.

Greene is back in the committee game. But some two weeks ago, the far-right Freedom Caucus in part ousted her for cursing: specifically, for calling Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) “a little b----” on the House floor.

Politicians talk dirty. But not that dirty, at least not within the ranks of the Freedom Caucus — a gleefully brazen band of far-right rabble-rousers with a history of fighting GOP leadership.

In exclusive interviews with Raw Story, one current and two former members of the Freedom Caucus — who requested anonymity to speak candidly about a colleague — described the inner-workings of the group and why its members could no longer tolerate Greene’s antics.

“That’s a big damn deal in there. You don’t have to agree with everybody. What you do have to f------ do is not violate anyone's confidence,” one former Freedom Caucus member told Raw Story. “I can never remember anyone ever yelling at anyone in a Freedom Caucus meeting. Ever.”

The Freedom Caucus is notorious for its methodical secrecy. For one, the group keeps its full membership rolls hidden from the public. And members prize having candid meetings with one another even when there’s fierce intellectual disagreements within the group.

“The sort of code of the members: You disagree with somebody, you still don't burn them down because it's important for you to be able to have an honest discourse,” the former Freedom Caucus member said.

While the former member doesn’t know Marjorie Taylor Greene personally, the former member questioned whether Greene knows herself.

“What’s important to MTG? I don't know the answer to that question — that's rhetorical,” the former Freedom Caucus member asked. “It may have backfired, but it may not have. She may have gotten exactly what she wanted. Who knows?”

Tactics are one thing. Just ask now-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). At the start of the year, over 15 Groundhog Day-esque ballots, a mere handful of Freedom Caucus members — along with some of their far-right allies — kept McCarthy in political purgatory until he doled out concession after concession.

Greene — whose aides didn’t make her available for an interview — wasn’t a part of the speaker standoff. She was fully in Camp McCarthy, which also left bitter feelings among some corners of the Freedom Caucus. McCarthy has since rewarded Greene.

Tact is another value Freedom Caucus members prize, and critics say Greene doesn’t have much.

ALSO READ: 'The House will be in order': Kevin McCarthy gives Marjorie Taylor Greene speaker's gavel

“You can’t say things like that,” the Republican lawmaker told Raw Story. “I really don’t understand these people who will say crazy things just to get in the papers, and — maybe that’s her personality — I would never say anything like that.”

The Freedom Caucus lawmaker fears populist politics is overtaking prudent policy making.

“There are some of the newer members who would prefer to be hardlined, and it does worry me for the future of the Freedom Caucus — because if you push out the intellectual debate aspect, I’ll think you’ll chase off a lot of people,” he said.

While the Freedom Caucus is only eight years old, it’s already strayed from its fiscal conservative roots, according to another former member who has since left the U.S. House but remains in elected office elsewhere.

“When I joined the Freedom Caucus, I was hoping that I’d finally found a place where fiscal conservatives could go — and I think that’s why a lot of other people went there,” the former Freedom Caucus member said. “And then it turned out that, maybe, that wasn’t the major driver even for the Freedom Caucus.”

In the past, the Freedom Caucus was more selective on the front end.

“I don’t think we ever kicked anyone off when I was there,” the former member told Raw Story. “But there were people that wanted to join that we decided not to invite to join and it tended to be people who struggled so hard to articulate their positions in a pleasant way without insulting groups of people that we didn’t want to be identified with them.”