Columbia Protests Offer Mike Johnson Opportunity for Unity after Ukraine Discord

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is moving to divide Democrats on the wave of anti-Israel protests at Columbia and other universities as he attempts to overcome the fallout from an intraparty fight over Ukraine.

Johnson is navigating a sense of betrayal from his right flank after allowing funding for Ukraine to pass the House on Saturday. Hard-line Republicans demanded the southern border be secured before agreeing to the aid, while some were unwilling to prolong the conflict with Russia under any circumstances.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is threatening to oust Johnson over the vote, while a handful of her colleagues have not ruled out the possibility.

The vote caps off a dramatic falling out between Johnson and the conference’s hard-line members since he assumed the speakership in October. He has also drawn their anger for the deals he cut with Democrats on 2024 spending and warrantless surveillance.

Johnson is not waiting for the House to return on Monday, however, to find out whether those conservatives will attempt to remove him. He has gone on offense with the Columbia protests as Democrats grapple with the harassment of Jewish students in and around campuses protesting Israel’s casualty-heavy war against Hamas.

On Wednesday, Johnson traveled to Columbia University, the epicenter of those protests, to condemn the antisemitism while vowing Congress “will not be silent” on the issue. Next week, the House will consider the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which would codify a Trump-era executive order directing the Education Department to treat antisemitism at universities as a Civil Rights Act violation.

The House already passed a resolution condemning college antisemitism in December and just last week dragged the president of Columbia to Washington for a congressional hearing. But Republicans see the fresh wave of protests, which have spread to universities across the country, as a chance to recenter the national conversation on an issue that brings the party together while sharply splitting Democrats.

More than 120 House Democrats voted for the campus antisemitism resolution, which also condemned the “evasive and dismissive” testimony of three other university presidents, while 84 Democrats voted against it.

“Democrats’ inability to call out pro-Hamas factions gave the speaker an easy opportunity to unite the party, and he smartly seized the moment,” said one House GOP leadership aide, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The pivot by Johnson has not quieted his Republican critics. On Wednesday, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) continued to pan the speaker in media appearances for allowing a floor vote on Ukraine aid despite a majority of Republicans opposing it.

He is among the eight hard-liners who voted to oust Johnson’s predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, last year and has not ruled out doing so again.

But Johnson did receive praise from Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), one of the Freedom Caucus members upset over Ukraine. In a Wednesday post on X, he applauded the visit to Columbia despite their “strong disagreements.”

The issue is a natural choice for Republicans. Beyond the Gaza war, which has caused a rift between pro-Israel Democrats and progressives calling for a ceasefire, it brings the theme of law and order together with the GOP’s disdain for elite universities. Johnson called on Columbia President Nemat “Minouche” Shafik to resign if she cannot get the protests under control.

But one House staffer, who asked only to be cited as a conservative aide, said Johnson is “not going to be able to just message the majority back together after choosing a coalition with Democrats.”

McCarthy tried a similar tactic as he faced his own ouster threat. He unilaterally opened an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, seen as a last-ditch move to appease the hard-liners furious over the debt limit deal he cut with the president. He was removed from the speakership three weeks later.

Johnson is likely to avoid a similar fate. Democrats have already signaled they will provide the votes needed to keep him in the speaker’s chair for the remainder of this Congress, a gesture of gratitude for his decision to bring Ukraine aid to the floor.

But that has not stopped a war of words between Johnson and his Democratic counterparts. Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), who represents the district where Columbia University is located, signaled openness to legislative opportunities to “eradicate antisemitism whenever possible” on Wednesday, but he rejected Johnson’s visit to campus as an attempt to use “this moment to further his political interests.”

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Meanwhile, the state’s Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, accused Johnson of “adding to the division” with his “spotlight” on the protests.

Shafik, after calling in the police to arrest protesters who had set up pro-Palestinian encampments on the Columbia campus, has engaged in days of talks to de-escalate tensions. Over the weekend, Jewish students were targeted by demonstrators seemingly unaffiliated with the campus, prompting Shafik to implement hybrid instruction for the remainder of the semester.

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