You’re on your own, pal.

That, in so many words, was the response from House conservatives to Rep. Mark Meadows after he launched his quixotic bid this week to boot John Boehner from the speakership.


In fact, the message has been delivered to Meadows three times since Tuesday afternoon — by some of the North Carolina Republican’s closest friends and political comrades in the House. Just hours before Meadows introduced his so-called motion to vacate the speakership Tuesday, leading members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus held an emergency meeting and pleaded with him to reconsider.

After the measure was unveiled, the caucus held a members-only phone call Tuesday night to discuss their response.

And Wednesday morning, the three dozen members of the Freedom Caucus met again. Conservative lawmakers there told Meadows they were livid he had opened a Pandora’s box with his unexpected move on Boehner.

“Virtually every board member tried to talk Mr. Meadows out of doing this. We had a phone call last night and I was a little angry. Getting surprised by this,” said one Republican member, who, like several other House conservatives, asked to speak without attribution to avoid openly criticizing a friend. “The whole reason that we formed the Freedom Caucus is that we wanted to work as a team and stop these kind of disorganized, one-man shows.”

Prominent members of the caucus — its chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), and Reps. Raúl Labrador (R-Idaho) and Ron DiSantis (R-Fla.) — quickly moved to distance themselves from Meadows’ effort, informing Boehner’s staff during a Wednesday morning meeting they were not involved and did not back the move.

Indeed, multiple conservative lawmakers told POLITICO they first learned of Meadows’ plans from news reports. The handful of allies to whom Meadows did entrust his plans, like Jordan and South Carolina Rep. Mick Mulvaney, urged him to reconsider.

Sources close to senior members of the conservative caucus say that while there is still deep dissatisfaction with how Boehner runs the House, lawmakers feel that dropping a bombshell like this right before August recess was a miscalculation. Republicans wanted to spend the recess discussing the leaked Planned Parenthood videos and their opposition to the Iranian nuclear deal — not internal splits within the House GOP conference.

These sources say that it also undermines the conservatives’ goal to work more closely with leadership to move legislation rightward. The Freedom Caucus and the GOP leadership team have a fractious relationship, but Jordan has repeatedly stressed that he wants to work with Boehner and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to avoid dramatic showdowns on the floor over votes.

“I think of all the things we should be talking about, to distract us from what is going on with the Iran agreement is just that — a distraction. We shouldn’t be doing it,” said Florida Rep. Richard Nugent, who is not a member of the Freedom Caucus. “I voted against the speaker. That was in January. I stood up in front of everybody to do that. But that was then and today is today.”

Meadows does have at least one backer. Republican Rep. Walter Jones, a North Carolinian who has voted against Boehner in the past, told CNN on Wednesday he would support Meadows’ motion if it came to the floor.

At this point, that seems unlikely.

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) speaks during the "Exempt America from Obamacare" rally, on Capitol Hill, September 10, 2013 in Washington. | Getty

Because of procedural rules, the motion to vacate has been referred to the House Rules Committee, which is chaired by Texas Rep. Pete Sessions, a close ally of Boehner’s. He is unlikely to bring it up for debate, and the GOP leadership team also isn’t bringing up the measure — even though allies of the Ohio Republican say they would have the votes to defeat it.

Meadows, or any member, could bring up the motion to vacate as a privileged motion at any time, and force a vote within days. But the second-term congressman has seemed to rule that out. He told reporters that he wanted to spark a conversation about Boehner’s leadership tactics.

“My motive today is really more about trying to make sure that we have a real discussion … about real issues that matter,” Meadows said Tuesday night. “When we allow there to be a punitive culture here it thwarts debate, and that’s something that we shouldn’t have. … If we can have some real discussion about making sure that every voice and every vote is respected, and votes of conscience are respected and not punished, then I think that would be a good day.”

Meadows seemed to anticipate he wouldn’t have much support from fellow conservatives. He said on Tuesday that he specifically didn’t ask them to be co-sponsors on such a controversial effort.

Boehner, for his part, dismissed the latest run-in with his right flank as a sideshow and expressed confidence in his job security.

“You got a member here and a member there who are off the reservation,” the speaker said Wednesday. “No big deal.”