The bizarre feud between former allies Marjorie Taylor Greene and Mike Johnson, explained

On Tuesday, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and House Speaker Mike Johnson will meet once again as Johnson seeks to talk down Greene’s plans to remove Johnson from his job. Greene would do that by triggering a motion to vacate, effectively turfing him out of the speakership if she can get enough votes in support. How did it come to this?

On the surface, the two should be natural allies. Both are hardline conservatives and ardent supporters of former president Donald Trump. Both voted to object to the 2020 presidential election results after January 6 and both have made a point of criticizing President Joe Biden on immigration policy.

But prior to his ascent as speaker, few people had heard of Johnson — whereas Greene was one of the most visible faces of the pro-MAGA wing of the Republican Party.

After Republicans took back the House of Representatives in 2022, Greene closely aligned herself with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on the grounds that Republicans needed to be unified to investigate Biden’s administration. As a junior member of House leadership, Johnson also voted for McCarthy all 15 rounds it took before McCarthy ultimately earned the gavel.

In addition, Greene emerged as the loudest opponent in the GOP of providing aid to Ukraine. In the previous Congress, Johnson also voted against providing aid to Ukraine.

In September of last year, after protracted negotiations with hardline conservatives, McCarthy put a stopgap spending bill to the floor to keep the government open — but without providing aid to Ukraine.

That triggered Representative Matt Gaetz to file a motion to vacate against McCarthy, which both Johnson and Greene opposed. The three-week search for a replacement began. Johnson, who first won