President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly expressing doubts about House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) leadership, especially during the fight over passing a stopgap measure to prevent a government shutdown.
Johnson is on shaky ground after trying to navigate the debate over federal spending and has come under fire for working with Democrats to make sure the measure passes. Despite the speaker’s claim that Trump was “certainly happy” with the deal, insiders are telling a different story.
Trump is reportedly dissatisfied with the failure to get the increase in the debt ceiling that he pushed for, according to a Politico report.
Amid the chaos in Washington, I was in Palm Beach talking to people close to the past and future president and called up other confidants afterward. This much became clear to me: Not only is Trump unhappy with the funding deal, he’s unhappy with Johnson, too.
He’s unhappy that he didn’t get the debt ceiling hike he made clear he wanted. He felt blindsided by the initial deal Johnson struck with Democrats. And, in the end, he was unimpressed with the entire chaotic process, which left the incoming administration questioning whether Johnson is capable of managing an even thinner majority next year.
“The president is upset — he wanted the debt ceiling dealt with,” said one Trump insider, who like others was granted anonymity to speak candidly about Trump and Johnson.
“In the past couple weeks, we’ve questioned whether [Johnson has] been an honest broker,” said another.
“No one thinks he’s strong. No one says, ‘Damn, this guy’s a fighter,’” went another reaction I got to Johnson’s bid to keep the speaker’s gavel.
“I don’t see how Johnson survives,” said a fourth.
Critics have criticized Johnson’s inability to successfully push Trump’s agenda in the negotiations. One insider told Politico that, “You can’t bring the president a deal that you say you have the votes for if you don’t have the votes.
Members of Trump’s inner circle and senior Republicans have been divided over Johnson’s performance as speaker after he turned to Democrats to pass the measure because he could not win over Republicans. In fact, it is not clear whether he will be able to retain his position as speaker after the debacle.
Conservative podcaster and former Trump advisor Steve Bannon said, “Clearly, Johnson is not up to the task.”
Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN) castigated the speaker, saying he “dragged President Trump into this circus” and intimated that his failure to include the president-elect’s debt ceiling demand alienated Trump allies and Republican officials. “It’s almost disrespectful, where members, at the last second, have a 1,500-page bill and they expect them all to vote [a certain way],” the lawmaker said, according to The Hill.
Further complicating matters for Johnson are recent statements from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who indicated recently that he would not come to the speaker’s rescue if his position were challenged.
During an appearance on MSNBC with host Jen Psaki, he addressed the matter, saying “There will be no Democrats available to save him or the extreme MAGA Republicans from themselves based on the breacing of a bipartisan agreement that reflected priorities that were good for the American people” if there was a challenge to Johnson’s speakership.
There are already many reasons to believe Johnson might lose his position as speaker. But if President-elect Trump withdraws his support, he can pretty much kiss that gavel goodbye.
Throughout the debate over the debt ceiling and government shutdown, Republicans have sided with Trump, even going so far as to criticize conservative GOP lawmakers like Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) who argued against increasing the debt ceiling without significant spending cuts.
However, it is worth noting that it is difficult to imagine that a different GOP lawmaker could have accomplished much more than Johnson in this battle. The fact that Republicans have a slim majority in the lower chamber, along with President Joe Biden still in the White House, it is doubtful that Trump and the GOP were going to get everything they wanted out of this deal.
Still, Johnson’s failure to effectively negotiate among Democrats and Republicans while sticking to his guns is not exactly good optics for the speaker. With Trump poised to take office again, Republicans are going to want a leader who projects strength — and Johnson does not appear to fit that bill.