Democrats say they’ll save Johnson from Marjorie Taylor Greene’s ouster attempt: ‘I’ll hold my nose’

House Democrats don’tlike the fact that they might have to save House Speaker Mike Johnson. But they are coming to accept they will do it, if it means stopping Johnson from cutting a deal with Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.

On Tuesday, Greene met for more than an hour with the speaker in his office, even as votes began on the House floor and Johnson was set to meet with King Abdullah II of Jordan.

Afterwards, Greene told reporters the outcome lay with the speaker.

“We will see,” she said. “It is up to Mike Johnson.”

Greene filed a motion to vacate the chair, which would trigger a no-confidence vote in Johnson, back in March. Last week, Greene (and Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky) said that she would trigger a vote to oust the speaker after House Democratic leadership said they would consider tabling Greene’s motion to vacate.

But that does not mean Democrats will relish doing so.

“I thought they fell in love again,” Representative Jim McGovern, the top Democrat on the Rules Committees, told The Independent, after the meeting between Johnson and Greene, “and I wouldn’t have to hold my nose and vote not to vacate the chair.”

Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell of California criticised Greene for seeming wobbly on pushing Johnson out.

“I can just speak for our side — we’re gonna be the side that wants to get s**t done, we’ll be united, we’ll deliver the votes,” he told The Independent. “And as I said, it looks more like a motion to vacillate than a motion to vacate because she can’t decide what she wants to do other than try and be famous.”

Meanwhile, some GOP members are brushing off Greene’s fight with the speaker.

Representative Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina, said Greene won’t