President-elect Donald Trump on Monday threw his support behind Mike Johnson to remain speaker of the House ahead of a threatened coup.
But sources tell the Daily Beast Johnson’s job security as the No. 1 leader in the House isn’t a sure thing. Conservative firebrands, including members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, are still mulling whether to put forth a challenger.
Speculation had been mounting on Trump’s level of support for Johnson in the aftermath of a mutiny against Trump’s preferred government funding plan.
“The American people need IMMEDIATE relief from all of the destructive policies of the last Administration,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. “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!”
The ethically challenged former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), a close Trump ally whose nomination to become attorney general failed, hailed Trump’s endorsement of Johnson as the ultimate “art of the deal” and called attempts to oust Johnson “futile.”
And he took a shot at his old nemesis, Kevin McCarthy, whose ouster Gaetz orchestrated, saying, “Republican voters weren’t all that eager to see us getting back to being Biden’s bit– (which Kevin ultimately did anyway).”
Johnson enthusiastically welcomed Trump’s endorsement, posting on social media, “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. The American people demand and deserve that we waste no time. Let’s get to work!”
Trump’s endorsement of Johnson came at the end of a long-winded post about the GOP Party he adopted when he first ran for president in 2016.
“We are the Party of COMMON SENSE, a primary reason that we WON, in a landslide, the magnificent and historic Presidential Election of 2024,” Trump said in typical all-caps fashion. “ALL SEVEN SWING STATES, 312 ELECTORAL COLLEGE VOTES, AND THE POPULAR VOTE BY MILLIONS OF VOTERS.” (A victory, he claimed—echoing allegations made by right-wing influencers—that came in spite “widespread voter fraud.”)
Rep. Thomas Massie has publicly declared he will not support Johnson for speaker when the vote happens on Jan. 3, when the new Congress will be seated. Johnson, whose party has an incredibly thin majority, can lose no more than two GOP votes—unless Democrats come to his rescue. Democratic leaders have signaled they will not support Johnson.
Senior members of the House Freedom Caucus discussed possible speaker replacements as recently as a few days ago.
Trump isn’t even in the Oval Office yet and already he’s facing blowback from the independent-minded right flank in Congress as the MAGAverse implodes in civil war.
The week before Christmas, a number of rebel Republicans, led by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), pushed back against Trump’s demand that a short-term government funding plan include a provision to raise the debt limit. Johnson went along with Trump’s demands, but the bill failed—an epic snub to both Trump and Johnson.
Not having a speaker of the House in place before Congress’s scheduled Jan. 6 certification of the 2024 presidential election results could spell disaster for Trump. A speakerless House would be rendered paralyzed, and potentially unable to perform its official constitutional duties revolving around the presidential election and inauguration of the incoming 47th president.
And several of the 38 House Republicans who voted against the Trump-Johnson debt limit bill are still bitter. Demands for inclusion of a debt limit increase came directly from the president-elect and his DOGE team leaders Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
Trump’s endorsement could provide Johnson a lifeline. He “has some wind in his sails,” a senior House Republican source told the Daily Beast. But he doesn’t have the necessary support locked up.
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