The GOP Women Are Humiliating Mike Johnson
Move aside, Freedom Caucus. There’s a new House Republican insurgency in town.
The boys club
Quite a few House Republicans have broken away from Speaker Mike Johnson in recent weeks, and he only has himself to blame. Like his predecessors, Johnson is an ineffective speaker when Trump is not driving the car for him. But what stands out about this particularly perilous moment for Johnson is who is causing it. It’s the women in the House Republican Conference who are demonstrating that they have the balls to stand up to leadership.
First, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) maintained her support of the discharge petition to force the federal government to hand over all its files on Jeffrey Epstein in spite of pressure from party leaders to let it go. Amid the ultimately successful push for the petition, Greene repeatedly criticized top GOP lawmakers, and even President Donald Trump. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) also resisted pressures from Johnson and the White House to remove her name from the petition.
This week, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) filed her own discharge petition to override the speaker’s refusal to bring her bill banning stock trading for members of Congress to the floor for a vote.1 It has just 14 signatures at the moment—nine of whom are Republicans—but should acquire more as lawmakers get the opportunity to attach their names.
Both Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have previously expressed support for a ban, but the speaker, who has delayed bringing various proposals to the floor for a vote, backtracked on Wednesday.
“We don’t want people cheating the system and abusing their office. So there’s probably a way to do that that still allows for lawful conduct by members,” Johnson said. “You don’t want another deterrence for good people running for office.”
As for Luna’s insurgency, Johnson said she “gets anxious and wants things to happen quicker.”
In response, Luna wrote on X, “I would say the term is more frustrated lol. Anxious is what happens when you get nervous. I’m not nervous. I’m pissed lol.”
There are more examples of women Republicans giving Johnson the bird while their male counterparts suck up the indignity of being subservient cogs in the