President-elect Donald Trump, escorted by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, for a meeting with the House GOP conference, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Washington.
President-elect Donald Trump, escorted by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, for a meeting with the House GOP conference, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Washington.
WASHINGTON – Bucking widespread expectations, President-elect Donald Trump on Monday endorsed Mike Johnson in the Louisiana congressman’s bid to hold onto his position as speaker of the House.
Trump’s nod on his Truth Social platform is important backing for Johnson, R-Benton, who is facing an uncertain outcome when the new Congress convenes and is sworn in Friday.
Johnson needs 218 votes in the 435-seat House on Friday to continue as speaker. Republicans hold a 219-215 seat majority. Johnson can only afford to lose one Republican vote as all the Democratic members have pledged to vote against him.
Johnson faces discontent among far-right members of the House over his handling of legislation that avoided a December shutdown of the U.S. government. Rep. Thomas Massey, R-Kentucky, already has told reporters he wouldn’t vote for Johnson.
Over the Christmas holiday, several national media outlets questioned whether Johnson would survive Friday’s vote.
The conservative anger at Johnson stems from the deal he negotiated with Democrats to ensure passage of a bill to avoid shutdown, a drama that played out over the days before Congress broke for the year on Dec. 21. It took Johnson three tries to get the measure through the House, and it was quickly agreed to by the Senate.
A major factor in the GOP rebellion against Johnson’s first proposal was billionaire Elon Musk, who is close to Trump and was chosen by the president elect as co-chair of his Department of Government Efficiency. Musk blasted that deal in more than 100 posts on X, which he owns.
Trump and Vance then came out against Johnson’s initial deal.
Even Rep. Clay Higgins, a Lafayette Republican Johnson had campaigned for, wasn’t going to support the “bad bill” and predicted his friend would be “crucified.”
Johnson replaced his initial resolution with one that Trump supported. But that legislation failed.
So Johnson returned with a version closer to what had been initially agreed to by Democrats and without an increase in the amount of money the government could borrow, which Trump wanted. That version passed, allowing government to operate into March.
As late as last Saturday, the political news outlet Politico reported that Trump had been “conspicuously silent” on Johnson’s fate as “a host of MAGA voices have filled the void to suggest that Johnson isn’t the right leader for the House GOP.”
But later in the weekend, Johnson’s supporters rallied to his defense.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich commended Johnson on “Cats Roundtable” on WABC radio in New York.
One of the biggest challenges is “to get people to understand that Mike Johnson, speaker of the House, is doing an extraordinary job,” said Gingrich, who held that post from 1995 to 1999.
“When you have no margin and you have to maneuver and listen, and maneuver and listen, that is how the constitutional process works,” Gingrich said. “They need to start this year with a pledge that every Republican is going to stick together.”
Rep. Mike Lawler, R-New York, told ABC’s “This Week” that Johnson would be reelected, noting he has had to deal with the mess caused by the removal of the previous speaker in a GOP rebellion.
“The fact is that Mike Johnson inherited a disaster when Matt Gaetz and several of my colleagues teamed up with 208 Democrats to remove Kevin McCarthy, which will go down as the single stupidest thing I’ve ever seen in politics,” Lawler said.
Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, said on Fox that Republicans still have to “iron out the wrinkles,” but he expected Johnson to be elected speaker some time Friday, though maybe not on the first ballot.
Trump’s backing of Johnson Monday morning came at the end of a long post extolling the recent presidential campaign, criticizing Democrats and impelling Republicans not to “blow this great opportunity.”
Trump wrote: “The American people need IMMEDIATE relief from all of the destructive policies of the last Administration,” he wrote. “Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hard working, religious man. He will do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN. Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement. MAGA!!!”
Johnson responded on the X social media platform: “Thank you, President Trump! I’m honored and humbled by your support, as always. Together, we will quickly deliver on your America First agenda and usher in the new golden age of America.”
Johnson and his number two, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, are relying on Republicans holding majorities in the House and Senate along with the White House. They plan to spend the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency pushing through a large raft of bills addressing issues focused on by Republicans.
Scalise, who is charge of shepherding the majority’s bills through the process, also applauded Trump’s endorsement on X: “Ready to get to work with @realDonaldTrump and @SpeakerJohnson lowering inflation and energy costs, securing our border, and Making America Great Again!”
When the current Congress began in January 2023, conservative opposition led by Gaetz, a Florida Republican, forced a marathon 15 ballots before the House elected Kevin McCarthy, R-California, as speaker.
Johnson won his position later that year in October after right-wing Republicans orchestrated a coup to oust McCarthy. McCarthy’s opponents were infuriated that he had negotiated with Democrats to find enough votes on a funding measure to prevent the government from shutting down that year.
It took three chaotic weeks and the failure of three more seasoned politicians, much of it on television, before Johnson won the speakership.
But the memory of what happened to McCarthy in 2023 should play a big role in Johnson’s reelection, said Rep. Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge, a close advisor to the prior speaker. Graves’ last day in Congress will be Jan. 3.
“There’s a lot of scar tissue from what happened with McCarthy and in the aftermath and electing Mike speaker,” Graves said earlier this month, before Trump’s endorsement of Johnson as speaker. “So I think that you’ve got a lot of bad memories from a lot of members that understand that it’s not just the idea or the will that some may have, you still get to if not Mike, who?”
Email Mark Ballard at mballard@theadvocate.com.
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