Rachael Bade writes:

When Speaker Mike Johnson summarily fired House Intelligence Chair Mike Turner this week, everyone assumed it was about Donald Trump.

Actually, it was about power — not the incoming president’s, but Johnson’s.

After spending more than a year tiptoeing around a Republican Conference where intervening in even miniscule factional disputes could risk his gavel, the speaker’s intel machinations this week represented an uncharacteristic — and messy — show of political muscle.

Out went Turner (R-Ohio), a brash, prickly defense hawk who had been elevated by former Speaker Kevin McCarthy and had become an internal headache for Johnson due to what many saw as his hamfisted handling of a divisive intraparty debate over surveillance powers.

In came Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.), a more MAGA-friendly, America First type who, crucially, had better relationships with the House GOP’s hard right — the fractious bloc that Johnson needs to keep happy as he tries to pass Trump’s agenda with a razor-thin majority in the coming months.

In, too, came a new crop of rank-and-file Intel members — each of whom helped Johnson with parochial political problems in the House. He rewarded Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas), who helped run his speaker vote whip operation, and found a consolation prize for Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.), who lost out on the Foreign Affairs Committee gavel.

Problems solved. But, also, problems created.

The easygoing, always smiling Johnson is quickly learning that wielding power means making enemies — especially when you bungle the execution.

Johnson entered his private meeting with Turner armed with a host of internal conference reasons for firing him, but the speaker’s decision to briefly cite “concerns from Mar-a-Lago” as a justification for his decision vexed Trump’s inner circle, who said that the president-elect had nothing to do with the matter and accused Johnson of trying to paper over his own political considerations.

Perhaps more importantly, he has made a new enemy in Turner, who declined to comment.

The former chair is not exactly a beloved figure on Capitol Hill. He can be brusque, even condescending, some say. But he has a close group of allies on national security issues who are now aghast at Johnson’s move — especially, they say, after the Intel chair had played a key role in brokering a deal with Democrats to reject a far-right putsch against Johnson. [Continue reading…]