MAGA Turns on Speaker Mike Johnson

Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson is facing a backlash from Make America Great Again (MAGA) figures after negotiating a spending deal to fund the government.

Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, along with Democrats Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries announced a 2024 budget deal of nearly $1.66 trillion on Sunday.

The speaker said the agreement slashed $16 billion in spending, according to his letter to colleagues, which, he said, "represents the most favorable budget agreement Republicans have achieved in over a decade."

But since then, Johnson, who replaced Kevin McCarthy as speaker in October 2023, has faced criticism, with some arguing it brings the spending in line with the deal struck last year between Democratic President Joe Biden and McCarthy that led to the former speaker's removal. The deal is around $16 billion less in cuts in the deal reached between McCarthy and Biden.

Newsweek contacted representatives for Johnson by email to comment on this story.

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, one user said Johnson was "bending a knee to Schumer."

Political commentator Gunther Eagleman suggested a motion be filed to vacate the chair because of the spending deal.

"F*** it, if @SpeakerJohnson pushes the $1.6T spending bill through Congress, I say someone should file a motion to vacate the chair... Again," Eagleman wrote.

The anonymous social media MAGA account @catturd2, which has more than 2 million followers, criticized funding for Ukraine included in the deal.

"Blah Blah Blah Blah—you just gave 62 Billion to Ukraine. You don't give AF about our border," they wrote.

Another account called him a "coward."

"Conservatives blast Mike Johnson's total failure in spending deal. They might also blast his total failure as Speaker. Don't put on the big boy pants Mike if you can't play the game. What a freaking coward," they wrote.

Meanwhile, Johnson has also suffered ire from some within his own party who had called for steeper budget cuts.

Representative Victoria Spartz, an Indiana Republican, told Newsweek on Tuesday night that "people here and there" have been seriously considering ousting the speaker.

"Ultimately, it's up to us members to be able to pull the gun," Spartz said. "It's not even just the Speaker. We'll have to figure it out and be strong. Ultimately, Mike [Johnson] needs to show that he can win. He definitely inherited a difficult situation, so we'll judge the result."

"To call this 'unsustainable' is an understatement," the House Freedom Caucus said in the statement. "It is a fiscal calamity. Unfortunately, members of the House and Senate have done little to force a course correction from this calamity. Indeed, many have been party to it. Worse yet, we are extremely troubled that House Republican leadership is considering an agreement with Democrats to spend even higher than the modest $1.59 trillion statutory cap set six months ago by the Fiscal Responsibility Act and to obscure the actual spending numbers with more shady side deals and accounting tricks. This is totally unacceptable."

"I am a NO to the Johnson Schumer budget deal," MAGA Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, from Georgia, wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "This $1.6-trillion dollar budget agreement does nothing to secure the border, stop the invasion, or stop the weaponized government targeting Biden's political enemies and innocent Americans. So much for the power of the purse!"

However, some of his colleagues have come out in support of Johnson.

"I don't know what he would have done differently," Idaho Republican Mike Simpson told POLITICO. "He handled the cards he was dealt."

Representative Ralph Norman added that Johnson's job is not at risk.

"We've just got to have a backbone," he told the publication. "Mike hasn't had time. He's a good man, he's honest. We're just going to have to work through this."

In an interview on Fox Business on Tuesday night, Johnson said the funding framework "isn't everything we want. But remember, we have a one- to two-vote margin, and we're just one chamber of the legislative branch. This is the best we could do right now."