In Bid to Oust Johnson, Greene Tries to Reclaim a Powerful Perch on the Fringe

When Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, first dangled the threat of ousting Speaker Mike Johnson, she received a call from a longtime ally and fellow hard-right Republican who urged her not to follow through.

“I don’t know how this helps us, six months before an election when we’re trying to win the White House,” Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, told her, he said in a recent interview. Republicans were in a strong position to win back the Senate, Mr. Jordan said, and former President Donald J. Trump had a decent shot at winning the White House.

“The only thing that makes me a little nervous is, could we somehow lose the House?” he told Ms. Greene, adding: “Let’s don’t make it a chance.”

Mr. Jordan was far from the only person Ms. Greene respected telling her to stand down. Mr. Trump, who thinks the chaos in the House is harming his re-election chances, publicly vouched for Mr. Johnson as someone doing “about as good as you’re going to do” and has gently pressed Ms. Greene in private to move on, according to people familiar with their conversations who described them on condition of anonymity.

Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who elevated Ms. Greene and turned her into one of his top allies during his abbreviated time in the top post, never criticized her publicly. But privately, he called Mr. Johnson and offered to intervene with her on his behalf, according to people knowledgeable about the exchange.

Ultimately, none of it mattered. Ms. Greene could not be controlled — even if her campaign against the speaker has left her isolated within her party.

So on Wednesday morning, wearing a red MAGA cap and standing in front of a blown-up picture of Mr. Johnson embracing Representative Hakeem