House conservatives have organized a team to monitor potential ways to undermine their power in light of House Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson not bowing to the Chaos Crew's demand not to provide aid to Ukraine. So, the House Freedom Caucus has decided to take shifts to guard the House floor to prevent resolutions they'd consider stripping them from any power. The group smelling out any fellow Republicans (hi Mike!) who attempt this is called the Floor Action Response Team (FART).
Specifically, the group doesn't want to change the rule of needing only one member to call for a Motion to Vacate. The Chaos Crew appears happy with a revolving door for the House Speakership.
Via Politico:
While one of the Republicans said the group largely doesn't expect major developments, members also don't want to be caught flat-footed if a GOP colleague tried to seek unanimous consent or a voice vote for a resolution that would change the House's structure. Two potential examples of threats the Freedom Caucus perceives: the removal of its members from the Rules Committee or changes to agreements made at the beginning of this Congress with former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
It's a troubling sign for Speaker Mike Johnson, who's trying to pass a foreign aid package that deeply divides his conference amid a growing ouster threat from his right. While Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) spearheads that push to boot him, a greater number of rank-and-file House Republicans are calling for changes to the concessions McCarthy gave conservatives in order to win the gavel last year.
The huge amount of intraparty power the former speaker had to give to the right flank is making it nearly impossible for Johnson to govern with his tiny majority, in the eyes of those Republicans.
Johnson is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't:
On Steve Bannon's podcast, Three Toes said she doesn't care about a revolving door.
“I don’t care if the Speaker’s office becomes a revolving door,” she said after filing a motion to oust Johnson from his role as Speaker. “If that’s exactly what needs to happen, then let it be. But the days are over of the old Republican Party that wants to fund foreign wars and murder people in foreign lands, while they stab the American people in their face.”
He can only keep his job if Democrats save him.
In a video posted by Patriot Takes, controversial Rep. Lauren Boebert is seen talking to a crowd about FART (I can't believe that I'm typing this) so it's been around for a while. BoBo made a fart joke about the group.
Boebert tells the audience, "We make things really smelly for them."
Ousting the Speaker they voted in after ousting McCarthy is an odd thing to do during an election year. It's like handing Democrats a gift. Thanks, guys.
