Marjorie Taylor Greene Savaged by Fellow Republican: 'Total Waste of Time'

House Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene has come under fire from GOP Senator Thom Tillis who branded her "a total waste of time" and "a horrible leader" in an interview with CNN's Lauren Fox on Tuesday.

The Context

On Tuesday, the Senate passed a $95 billion foreign aid bill, which had been bitterly opposed by Greene and other GOP hardliners in the House, with a bipartisan 79-18 vote. The legislation, which provides new military aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, is expected to be signed into law by President Joe Biden on Wednesday.

The package was approved by the House as four separate bills on Saturday after being backed by Speaker Mike Johnson, who had blocked attempts to pass similar legislation earlier in the year.

Greene said Johnson had "betrayed" Republican voters and called for him to resign, warning he would face a formal motion to vacate which could remove him from office if not.

"Mike Johnson's Speakership is OVER! He has betrayed Republicans by handing the gavel to Joe Biden, (Senate Majority Leader) Chuck Schumer, (House Minority Leader) Hakeem Jeffries, and the rest of the Democrats. He betrayed us on border security. He betrayed us on funding endless foreign wars," she wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday.

The Georgia representative has filed a motion to vacate targeted at Johnson but has not pushed for the resolution to be immediately taken up.

What We Know

Referring to Greene, Tillis said: "I think she is uninformed, she is a total waste of time, and I'm embarrassed to have actually lived geographically in her district at one time before she was there."

"She is a horrible leader. She is dragging our brand down. She, not the Democrats, are the biggest risk to us getting back to a majority," he added.

An edited clip from Tillis' remarks was posted on X by the Acyn account, which shares U.S. politics footage, where it received more than 330,000 views.

Newsweek contacted Rep. Greene's office by email at 2:45 a.m. ET on Wednesday. This article will be updated if they comment.

Views

Greene's move to oust Johnson, just over six months after Kevin McCarthy was removed from the speaker's office by GOP hardliners, has sparked an angry response from some Senate Republicans.

Utah Senator Mitt Romney said, per The Daily Beast: "There are some folks who try to get themselves as many tweets, as many followers, as they can. A lot of sound and fury signifying nothing."

Senator Kevin Kramer from North Dakota said that if Johnson "is not good enough, no one's going to be good enough."

On Sunday, The New York Post published a doctored image of Greene wearing a Soviet-style hat on its front page along with the headline "Nyet, Moscow Marjorie."

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Johnson justified his support for the package in response to what he claimed was a joint threat to the United States from Moscow, Beijing and Tehran.

He said, per The Guardian: "Three of our primary adversaries, Russia, Iran and China, are working together...and they're a global threat to our prosperity and our security. Their advance threatens the free world, and it demands American leadership.

"If we turn our backs right now the consequences could be devastating. It's an old military adage, but we would rather send bullets to the conflict overseas than our own boys, our troops."

What's Next?

To successfully remove Johnson, Republican hardliners like Greene would require the votes of House Democrats, which they had against McCarthy in October.

Several House Democrats have indicated they would oppose any attempt to remove Johnson at this point, including Florida Rep. Jared Moskowitz who told Fox News such a move would embolden America's enemies on Sunday.

Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna from California also indicated he would oppose any move to oust Johnson saying he "deserves to keep his job till the end of his term."

Correction 4/24/24, 8:55 a.m. ET: This article was updated to correct Rep. Ro Khanna's state.