Johnson Breaks With Trump Over Greene Resignation, Sparring With MAGA Hard-Liners in House Leadership Fight

House Speaker Mike Johnson, the devout Louisiana Republican who ascended to power as a loyal architect of President Donald J. Trump’s agenda, publicly broke ranks with the White House on Friday, assailing Mr. Trump’s dismissal of Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene’s abrupt resignation as “cruel and shortsighted.” The rebuke, delivered in a rare floor speech amid a cascade of G.O.P. resignations, has plunged the Republican majority into open warfare, with hard-line Trump allies accusing Mr. Johnson of disloyalty and moderates rallying to his defense. As whispers of a “motion to vacate” the speakership echo through the Capitol corridors, the episode has exposed the fragility of Mr. Trump’s iron grip on his party, igniting what one senior G.O.P. aide called a “MAGA civil war” that threatens to upend the House’s razor-thin majority before the 2026 midterms.

Ms. Greene’s announcement late Thursday — a 10-minute video posted to X in which she decried the “toxic swamp” of Washington and vowed to vacate her Georgia seat on Jan. 5 — sent shockwaves through Republican ranks. The firebrand, once a fierce Trump surrogate who spearheaded the ouster of Mr. Johnson’s predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, in 2023, cited irreconcilable rifts over stalled efforts to declassify Jeffrey Epstein files as her breaking point. “I came here to fight for truth, not to be muzzled by a speaker who bows to the boss in Florida,” she said, her voice trembling with fury as she leveled blame at both Mr. Johnson and Mr. Trump, who had branded her a “traitor” for pushing the disclosure. Mr. Trump, undeterred, amplified the attack on Truth Social early Friday: “Marjorie’s quitting is GREAT NEWS — one less headache for real winners. MAGA moves on!” The post, viewed over three million times, drew cheers from his base but rebukes from Capitol Hill, where Ms. Greene’s departure triggers a special election in her safely red district that Democrats are already eyeing as a pickup opportunity.

Mr. Johnson’s response was swift and uncharacteristically pointed. Taking the House floor at noon, flanked by a bipartisan group of appropriators, he condemned Mr. Trump’s rhetoric as “a betrayal of the family we’ve built” and defended Ms. Greene as “a warrior whose voice we need now more than ever.” “This isn’t leadership; it’s cruelty that drives good people away,” he said, his voice rising in a departure from his usual soft-spoken demeanor. The speech, interrupted by applause from Democrats and stunned silence from many Republicans, marked the speaker’s sharpest public divergence from Mr. Trump since assuming the gavel — a move aides said was born of desperation after three other G.O.P. members announced early retirements this week, citing burnout from the 43-day government shutdown that ended in mid-November.

The clash has fractured the G.O.P. conference along fault lines long simmering beneath its MAGA veneer. Hard-liners like Representatives Matt Gaetz of Florida and Lauren Boebert of Colorado, who joined Ms. Greene in past speaker rebellions, flooded X with calls to “dump MAGA Mike” before he “sells us out to the swamp.” Mr. Gaetz, in a midday interview on Newsmax, accused Mr. Johnson of “backstabbing the president who gave him the gavel,” while Ms. Boebert posted a meme of Mr. Johnson as a puppet with White House strings, captioned: “Time to cut the cords.” The vitriol escalated when Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris circulated a letter demanding Mr. Johnson’s resignation, signed by at least 15 members by evening — enough, if Democrats sit out a vote, to force his ouster without opposition support.

Moderates and institutionalists, however, have coalesced around Mr. Johnson, viewing his stand as a bulwark against Mr. Trump’s dominance. Representatives Don Bacon of Nebraska and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, whose swing districts flipped in recent off-year elections, praised the speaker’s “gutsy move” in a joint statement, warning that unchecked White House meddling risks a “blue wave in ’26.” “Mike’s not attacking Trump; he’s saving the majority from Trump’s tantrums,” Mr. Bacon said in an interview, his voice laced with exhaustion from holiday constituent calls decrying shutdown hardships. Behind closed doors, a group of 20 centrists met Friday afternoon to strategize, floating alliances with Democrats on must-pass bills like disaster aid — a taboo that could further enrage the MAGA wing.

The White House, sensing a threat to its legislative firewall, moved aggressively to quell the uprising. Chief of Staff Susie Wiles placed frantic calls to wavering Republicans, while Mr. Trump hosted a virtual “unity call” for donors, blasting Mr. Johnson as “weak sauce” and teasing primary challenges for dissenters. “Loyalty is everything — disloyalty gets you primaried fast!” he warned, according to participants. Yet the intervention appeared to backfire: Polling from a G.O.P.-aligned firm, leaked to Axios, showed Mr. Johnson’s internal approval holding steady at 52 percent among House Republicans, buoyed by frustration over Mr. Trump’s Epstein stonewalling and his veto threats on bipartisan probes into the shutdown’s economic toll.

Democrats, long sidelined in the G.O.P.’s internecine drama, watched with undisguised glee. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York quipped during a strategy huddle: “MAGA’s eating itself — pass the popcorn.” His team has already funneled $500,000 into Georgia’s special election, targeting Ms. Greene’s successor with ads tying the vacancy to “Trump’s chaos.” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., scheduled a Monday vote on a discharge petition to force Epstein declassification — the very bill that precipitated Ms. Greene’s exit — betting it could peel off enough Republicans to embarrass Mr. Johnson’s rivals.

For Mr. Johnson, 53, the moment is existential. Elected speaker after 15 ballots of chaos in January 2025, he has threaded a needle between Mr. Trump’s demands — from mass deportations to tariff hikes — and the House’s 219-216 majority, often delaying votes on divisive measures to avoid revolts. But the Epstein pushback, coupled with shutdown recriminations, has eroded his coalition. “He’s stunned by how fast it unraveled,” one leadership aide said, recounting a tearful all-hands meeting where Mr. Johnson invoked his evangelical roots: “We’re called to unity, not division — even when it hurts.”

Historians see echoes of past G.O.P. implosions, from Newt Gingrich’s 1998 resignation amid internal strife to John Boehner’s 2015 exit under Freedom Caucus fire. “Trump’s chokehold was always a house of cards,” said Julian Zelizer, a Princeton political historian. “Johnson’s attack isn’t rebellion; it’s survival — but in MAGA world, that’s heresy.” On X, the platform Mr. Trump favors, #MagaCivilWar trended with over 1.5 million mentions, blending clips of Ms. Greene’s video with Mr. Johnson’s speech and memes of Mr. Trump as a warring general.

As the weekend looms, Mr. Johnson retreated to the speaker’s balcony for calls with Mr. Trump, seeking détente. But with more resignations rumored — including from Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a Trump critic — the civil war shows no signs of abating. In a party forged in Mr. Trump’s image, loyalty is the ultimate litmus test, and Mr. Johnson’s defiance may prove the spark that consumes his gavel — or, improbably, liberates the House from its gilded cage. For Republicans, the math is merciless: Lose three seats, and the majority evaporates. In Washington’s zero-sum arena, Johnson’s attack on Trump isn’t just personal; it’s a desperate bid to keep the lights on.