April 18, 2024 12:14 PM UTC

Boebert Appears Ready To Choose Chaos

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• by: Colorado Pols

It seems like just yesterday that carpetbagging calamity Rep. Lauren Boebert was celebrating her endorsement in the crowded CO-04 Republican primary by newly-minted Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, who won the job with Boebert’s support in hope of ending the chaos that followed the ouster of now-historical footnote Kevin McCarthy:

But even in early January when Boebert trumpeted Johnson’s endorsement, Speaker Johnson had already begun to erode the trust of the far right of his caucus by tamping down impeachment expectations and negotiating in good faith on spending agreements to keep the government running. In February, Rep. Boebert complained publicly about the lack of leadership in her caucus to Steve Bannon, who by then was calling for Johnson’s head. And then just before the Easter recess, Boebert’s arch-rival for far-right virality Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene announced her intention to file a motion to vacate against Johnson.

It looks like despite her poor relationship with MTG, Boebert is closer to on board with sacking Johnson than ever:

The growing standoff between Speaker Johnson and MAGA Republicans opposed to any further aid to Ukraine puts MTG and Boebert on the same side despite their personal differences. Johnson’s latest strategy to get foreign aid legislation passed is to run three separate bills for aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan–each having their own in some cases non-overlapping majorities to pass them. If the Ukraine aid bill passes as expected with heavy Democratic support, that will likely be the trigger for MTG’s motion to vacate to move forward. MTG’s questionably emphatic opposition to Ukraine aid earned her the nickname “Moscow Marjorie” as coined by Colorado’s retired Rep. Ken Buck last week. Wouldn’t this make Rep. Boebert “Bolshevik Boebert?”

The far-right Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is ungovernable and should be known as “Moscow Marjorie”, said a former Republican colleague in the US House, accusing Greene of “getting her talking points from the Kremlin” when opposing new federal aid for Ukraine.

“My experience with Marjorie is people have talked to her about not filing articles of impeachment on President Biden before he was sworn into office, not filing articles of impeachment that were groundless based on other individuals in the Biden administration,” Ken Buck, a Colorado rightwinger who left Congress last month, told CNN.

So what comes next? The reality is that Johnson has proven more honest in his dealings with Democrats than his predecessor, and his good faith has resulted in spending agreements that reduced the overall sense of perpetual crisis in Washington since Johnson became Speaker. Democrats have the ability to protect Johnson from a motion to vacate, which they declined to do in McCarthy’s case. It’s a question of whether Johnson has proven worthy of saving from his own, or whether Democrats are better served politically by letting Republican infighting rage on through the election.

The worst case for the Freedom Caucus if the motion to vacate fails is pretty bad: an even greater loss of influence, and a Speaker with a motive for revenge of his own. It’s tough to imagine how the self-inflicted wound that began with McCarthy’s ouster could be made worse for the razor-thin House GOP majority, but this is a scenario to achieve exactly that.