{"id":2251899,"date":"2024-05-24T06:15:02","date_gmt":"2024-05-24T10:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mike-johnson-keeps-calm-questions-remain-about-governing-a-small-and-unruly-gop-caucus\/"},"modified":"2024-05-24T06:18:26","modified_gmt":"2024-05-24T10:18:26","slug":"mike-johnson-keeps-calm-questions-remain-about-governing-a-small-and-unruly-gop-caucus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mike-johnson-keeps-calm-questions-remain-about-governing-a-small-and-unruly-gop-caucus\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Johnson stays composed: Queries linger on managing a small and rowdy GOP caucus"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmike-johnson-keeps-calm-questions-remain-about-governing-a-small-and-unruly-gop-caucus%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2251899&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The ongoing struggle for control\u2064 within\u2064 the\u200d House GOP continues as \u2062Speaker\u200b Mike Johnson\u2064 faces \u2062challenges navigating\u2062 the party&#8217;s diverse demands,\u200b from fiscal \u2063responsibility to foreign aid. \u200dAmid\u2062 ideological divides and \u200cstrategic disagreements, Johnson remains \u200cfocused\u200b on articulating a \u200cconservative vision\u2063 and \u200bfostering unity\u2064 to address the nation&#8217;s pressing \u2063issues. Amidst the internal\u200c strife in the House GOP, Speaker \u200bMike Johnson grapples \u200dwith a range\u200b of party \u200ddemands,\u2064 from \u200dfiscal \u2063responsibility to\u2064 foreign aid. Despite ideological contrasts and strategic discord, Johnson \u2064maintains his\u2062 commitment to outlining a conservative vision and promoting\u200b cohesion to \u200ctackle \u2063critical national concerns.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cLike Saturn,\u201d wrote the Genevan journalist Jacques Mallet du Pan, \u201cthe Revolution devours its own children.\u201d For a few fateful weeks, House Speaker <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/mike-johnson\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Mike Johnson<\/a> (R-LA) looked like he was the next entree on the menu.<\/p>\n<p>The House Republican majority was hanging by a thread. Johnson\u2019s grasp on the speaker\u2019s gavel looked just as tenuous. Republican lawmakers were clamoring for the 52\u2013year-old\u2019s ouster. \u201cThis is not personal against Mike Johnson,\u201d Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/marjorie-taylor-greene\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Marjorie Taylor Greene<\/a> (R-GA) told reporters in March. \u201cHe\u2019s a very good man. And I have respect for him as a person. But he is not doing the job.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Although there was little indication that this was the majority sentiment within the House Republican Conference, it didn\u2019t need to be. It took just eight Republicans to bring down the last speaker, paving the way for Johnson\u2019s improbable ascent. But then, just as improbably, Johnson survived.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>(Illustration by Dean MacAdam)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>When the <em>Washington Examiner <\/em>met with Johnson in his office in mid-May, he was already looking to put the failed motion to vacate in the rearview mirror. \u201cThe first six months of my speakership, we had very difficult things to do, very complicated things, sometimes controversial things. But we had to get them done,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cWe did. And now we turn the page, and in the next six months is a much easier agenda for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs is always the case in an election year, especially in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kamala-who-has-not-ruled-out-packing-supreme-court-tells-conference-an-independent-judiciary-is-critical-to-a-healthy-democracy\/\" title=\"Kamala, Who Has Not Ruled Out Packing Supreme Court, Tells Conference: \u2018An Independent Judiciary Is Critical To A Healthy Democracy\u2019\">presidential election year<\/a>, you move more into more legislation that does not have a good chance to become law, you know is referred to as messaging bills,\u201d he continued. \u201cThere will be a lot of that. There will be issues that help show the contrast between our side and the other side. Those are things that unify our side and often divide the other.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnson was quick to enumerate several examples of what he prefers to call \u201cvision casting\u201d rather than messaging. \u201cThere will be lots of votes on securing the border,\u201d he said. \u201cThere will be lots of votes on confronting China. We\u2019ll be dealing with this antisemitism scourge that has overtaken the land and pushing the White House to be more resolute with regard to foreign affairs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The speaker even allowed himself to look past November, contemplating a federal government under Republican control and headed by former \u2014\u00a0and, in his projection, future \u2014 President<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title> Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe, of course, would like to tackle all the challenges from rising crime to rising cost of living to energy policy and all the rest,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cBut we won\u2019t have an opportunity until January, and I\u2019m absolutely convinced that we will at that point. So, the remainder of the six months here will be preparing to govern. [For] when we do have unified government, and we have Trump in the White House, a Republican-led Senate, and a larger majority of the House.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnson nevertheless realizes it will take more than \u201cvision casting\u201d to convince the electorate Republicans deserve this opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut we have big challenges facing the country,\u201d he told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>. \u201cAnd you can make an argument we have the greatest collection of challenges of the modern era, maybe since World War II. Or maybe since the Civil War. Maybe they\u2019re right. But we have to try breaking into the middle of that and showing the American people that we can be trusted to solve those problems.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some contentious battles do still lie ahead. The 2025 federal budget will test the bipartisan alliance that tabled the motion to vacate against Johnson, derided by critics as \u201cthe uniparty.\u201d Democrats will want more spending and to find ways to hamstring a possible Trump administration in case the election doesn\u2019t go their way. The more hawkish Republicans will want additional money for Ukraine and their other priorities.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson is a soft-spoken, bespectacled man. The teetotaling Southern Baptist seems unfazed by the chaos around him, more than enough to drive anyone to drink. But occasionally, it is clear that he feels the weight of the moment. Johnson pointed to an op-ed by one of his predecessors, former House Speaker <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/newt-gingrich\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Newt Gingrich<\/a>. \u201cHe said Johnson has the most challenging speakership since the Civil War 160 years ago,\u201d the current speaker said. Johnson said Gingrich told him in a telephone call he was \u201cdoing an excellent job, but the job is nearly impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe made the point that he had 16 years to prepare to be speaker, to build the team, the agenda, the plan, and all that,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cHe said I had about 15 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gingrich fought his way from the back benches, where he was a frequent thorn in the side of House leadership, to become minority whip. Even in that position, he led the conservative resistance to then-President George H.W. Bush\u2019s promise-breaking tax increase in 1990. Gingrich leapfrogged the long-suffering House Minority Leader Bob Michel, who had labored in the minority since the 1950s, to become the first Republican speaker in 40 years.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/john-boehner\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>John Boehner<\/a> was part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/top-takeaways-from-trumps-first-rally-since-news-of-looming-indictment-threat\/\" title=\"Top takeaways from Trump's first rally since news of looming indictment threat\">initial leadership team<\/a> after the 1994 \u201cRepublican Revolution,\u201d becoming conference chairman. He was soon booted in favor of JC Watts, a charismatic black Republican congressman from Oklahoma. Boehner had to climb all the way back up the ranks to become minority leader and then speaker.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/paul-ryan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Paul Ryan<\/a> was a policy wonk much beloved by conservative magazines and think tanks. As chairman of the House Budget Committee, his \u201croadmaps,\u201d later rebranded the Path to Prosperity, were thought to be the future of Republican entitlement reform. He won his dream job at the helm of the House Ways and Means Committee before he was pressed into a run for speaker.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/kevin-mccarthy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Kevin McCarthy<\/a> presided over unlikely House Republican gains in the 2020 elections that set the party up for a majority in the first midterm elections under President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/joe-biden\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Joe Biden<\/a>. While the anticipated \u201cred wave\u201d never fully materialized, McCarthy was a prodigious fundraiser who helped Republicans make gains in California that put them over the top. He fought through 15 ballots to become speaker.<\/p>\n<p>For every one of them, it ended badly. Gingrich was eased out of the office after the 1998 midterm elections went poorly amid an unpopular impeachment drive. Boehner and Ryan both clashed with the Freedom Caucus, ultimately opting to leave Washington entirely. McCarthy was toppled as speaker after only eight months, in the first motion to vacate since 1910 and, at this writing, the only successful one.<\/p>\n<p>Only <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/dennis-hastert\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Dennis Hastert<\/a> managed to survive eight years as speaker and go out entirely on his own terms, though even under his watch, conservative discontent with high federal spending simmered. He later went to prison for reasons unrelated to his speakership. It was the \u201cHastert rule,\u201d a requirement that only legislation with majority support from the GOP conference would be brought to the floor, that looked like it might be Johnson\u2019s undoing. \u201cIf you start to rely on the minority to get the majority of your votes, then all of a sudden, you\u2019re not running the shop anymore,\u201d Hastert said in 2013.<\/p>\n<p>The revolt against McCarthy was sparked by legislation that attracted substantial Republican opposition and more Democratic than Republican votes but still had the backing of most of the GOP conference. Johnson passed two bills \u2014\u00a0one to fund the government, the other to aid <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/ukraine\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Ukraine<\/a> in addition to Israel and Taiwan \u2014 that violated the \u201cmajority of the majority\u201d standard. In both cases, an identical 101 Republicans voted for the measures, and 112 voted against.<\/p>\n<p>The Ukraine aid was especially explosive. Greene and the \u201cAmerica First\u201d faction of the House GOP had pledged not one more dime of funding for Kyiv in its war with Russia. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/republican-party\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Republican Party<\/a> is in the midst of an ideological and demographic transition, but Ukraine was a matter in which many lawmakers wanted to resist the populist tide. Johnson was seen as a leader who could thread the needle, a bridge between <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/ronald-reagan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Ronald Reagan<\/a> and Trump, but by passing the aid, Republican critics thought he had picked a side.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson had voted against Ukraine aid previously. He explained that he wanted to press the White House on unanswered questions about transparency and the endgame for the war. By the time of this spring\u2019s aid vote, he said some of those questions had been answered to his satisfaction, and Ukraine was running out of ammunition.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Greene spearheaded the motion to vacate resolution. But Republicans were weary after the protracted fight to replace McCarthy. None of the likeliest replacement options had been able to win a majority previously, and most were not unambiguously more conservative than Johnson.<\/p>\n<p>House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) told the <em>Washington Examiner <\/em>Johnson was \u201cnavigating a tricky situation well.\u201d He believed even before the vacate vote that most Republicans did not want to go through the experience of replacing the speaker again based on the whims of a minority of the conference.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey lived through that three-week period. They saw how damaging it was,\u201d Cole said.<\/p>\n<p>Trump also threw Johnson a lifeline. \u201cWell, look, we have a majority of one, OK?\u201d he told reporters. \u201cIt\u2019s not like he can go and do whatever he wants to do. I think he\u2019s a very good person. You know, he stood very strongly with me on NATO. \u2026 I think he\u2019s trying very hard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think he has strong support amongst most of the rank and file. Trump helps,\u201d Republican strategist John Feehery, a former Hastert aide, said of Johnson. \u201cThat being said, you don\u2019t want a majority of the majority to vote against you too often. It looks bad.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Many of the conditions that allowed Johnson to become speaker in the first place, when the fourth-term congressman calmly waited out three other more prominent candidates, helped him keep it. He maintained his composure throughout the ordeal. But this time, House Democrats weren\u2019t willing to abet the chaos, either. The House voted 359 to 43 to table the motion to vacate.<\/p>\n<p>To Johnson\u2019s critics, the vote signaled the Democrats held sway over the House.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVacating Kevin McCarthy was a huge mistake. Every Democrat voted to vacate him because he fought them tooth and nail,\u201d Massie wrote on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/poll-young-working-class-trump-voting-women-side-with-will-smith\/\" title=\"Poll: Young, Working-class, Trump-voting Women Side with Will Smith\">social media afterward<\/a>. \u201cKeeping Mike Johnson is an even bigger mistake. An overwhelming majority of [D]emocrats voted to keep him because he\u2019s given them everything they want.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The<em> Blaze<\/em>\u2019s Christopher Bedford wrote that \u201cafter the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-aligned-group-comes-out-against-biden-106-billion-foreign-aid-bill\/\" title=\"Trump-aligned group opposes Biden's 6B foreign aid bill.\">foreign aid bill<\/a>, [Johnson] is now effectively the head of a center-left coalition \u2014 one that\u2019s promised to protect him from being ousted by his own colleagues.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the outcome also raised questions<strong> <\/strong>about the House conservatives\u2019 strategy<strong> <\/strong>of trying to govern not just as the majority of the majority but as a minority faction extracting concessions from the majority by derailing legislation and threatening to turn the speaker\u2019s chamber into a \u201crevolving door.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome of our members do want to use a government shutdown to force things,\u201d Cole said. \u201cI am not in that camp. I don\u2019t think that ever works.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnson, in his typically understated way, unloads a bit more.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome of my colleagues were adamant that we should just shut down the government, right?\u201d he said. \u201cThat was the alternative. We had a binary choice. I inherited a budget deal from my predecessor that had a certain number, and there were sidecars or side deals. \u2026 When it came to the proverbial four corners negotiation, they said that was binding on me, too. I fought [Biden] on that for five months, and I lost the battle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, at the end of the day, we came down to the deadline, and we either shut the government down or we fight for the most conservative policy provisions and wins that we could get and move forward,\u201d he continued. \u201cI chose that latter course because this is a very pragmatic calculation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnson argued that a shutdown \u201cnever works in favor of the party that brings it about.\u201d Biden, whose Washington tenure dates back to the shutdowns that former President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/bill-clinton\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Bill Clinton<\/a> exploited to return from the political dead and secure a second term in 1996, would likely view this scenario as an escape hatch for himself, too. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe president holds all the cards for how painful a shutdown can be,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cWith Joe Biden being underwater as he is, being under 38% approval, he would have made it extremely painful immediately for the American people.\u201d The Louisiana Republican floated unpaid TSA agents leading to canceled flights, stopped payments to military personnel or Border Patrol agents, and \u201cthen the blame for the open border is somehow shifted to House Republicans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome of my colleagues who gave me the most grief for not shutting the government down privately acknowledged to me that that scenario I just painted was true, but it simply wasn\u2019t their personal problem,\u201d he told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>. \u201cShutting down the government was a surefire way for us to lose the House majority and therefore not be in a position to save the republic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen, what you have to consider is that at some point, we would have to relent and reopen the government, but I have to get a vote to do that,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cNow, I had a subset of Republicans who conceded to me, \u2018I will never vote with you to reopen the government because there is nothing pure enough for me that will justify my vote.\u2019 So I know going in if I shut the government down, I\u2019m gonna have to get probably a large number of Democrats to agree to reopen. Now, what price do you think we would have to pay to get Democrats to come alone to reopen the government and take the pain off of us?\u201d  <\/p>\n<p>In some cases, it comes down to strategic disagreements about what is possible with a razor-thin House majority and Democrats in control of both the Senate and the White House. But Johnson indicates that this isn\u2019t the only problem.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the problems that we have in the modern Congress, as I call it, is that there is a perverse incentive for people to get attention, and there\u2019s an increasing ability to do so,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cBecause of the advent of social media. You know, not that long ago, most of the rank and file did not have their own communications shops. You were lucky if you got a mention in your local paper. Those days are long since gone. With social media, everyone can have their own media operation and can go online every minute of every day to say the things that they\u2019re disgruntled about.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you want 100% of what you demand every single day, and you can\u2019t get it, you have an automatic platform to go and complain about it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt creates a perverse incentive for people to cause problems \u2026 regardless of what it does for the team or the cause or the agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnson said most people run for Congress \u201cfor the right reasons,\u201d because they feel called to government service and want to solve the country\u2019s problems. \u201cThere is a small subset of people, however, who come to Congress to be famous,\u201d he added. \u201cThey see this as a means to that end in order to build a personal brand and monetize it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Whether these fights exhausted the reservoir of goodwill that made Johnson speaker remains to be seen. Cole said Johnson was \u201cthe only one\u201d who could have gotten the necessary votes at the time. The Oklahoman said he and the straitlaced speaker were different, noting his own penchant for bourbon and cigars while quipping Johnson \u201cprobably doesn\u2019t know which end of the cigar to light,\u201d but reiterating his strong support.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI personally like the speaker. He is a true conservative in an impossible position,\u201d Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), no relation, told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>. \u201cI don\u2019t agree with anyone 100% of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have a broad spectrum of opinion in our party,\u201d the senator said. \u201cAnyone in that position would find it difficult to govern.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Wisconsin Republican praised the speaker\u2019s efforts to work and communicate with Senate Republicans. \u201cWe need to have far more collaboration,\u201d he said, adding that GOP senators should be mindful of the small House majority. \u201cWe need to understand the challenges they face.\u201d He additionally said Senate Minority Leader <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/mitch-mcconnell\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Mitch McConnell<\/a> (R-KY) bore more blame for Republicans\u2019 suboptimal choices on the border and Ukraine than did the House speaker, contending McConnell undercut Johnson.<\/p>\n<p>It is now likely up to the voters to decide whether Republicans get to keep wielding the gavel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe approval rating of Congress overall is abysmally low because people see dysfunction,\u201d the speaker said. \u201cThey see the partisan bickering, and they see division.\u201d Johnson added there were things more philosophical than leadership fights that ought to be a priority.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the solution to that is to be able to articulate, with the right tone, not just what we\u2019re against, but what we\u2019re for,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have to present a vision. You know, there\u2019s a passage of Scripture that says, \u2018Where there is no vision, the people perish.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Johnson outlines what he calls \u201cthe seven core principles of American conservatism.\u201d The list is a familiar one. \u201cIt\u2019s individual freedom, limited government, the rule of law, peace through strength, fiscal responsibility, free markets, and human dignity,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s subcategories under each of those. But I think those are sort of the fixed points on the horizon, so to speak.\u201d He said that would be helpful in a time when people \u201cfeel as though we\u2019re adrift at sea, and the rudders are broken and the seas are high and choppy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou have to know where the moorings are,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cAnd so, I often think about what Reagan reminded us in his farewell address. He said, \u2018They call me the Great Communicator, but I really wasn\u2019t.\u2019 He said, I paraphrase him, I was communicating the same great things that have guided our nation since the founding.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe challenge we have right now, really at its essence, it\u2019s not policy skirmishes,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re in an actual competition between two competing visions for America. Those of us who reverse those founding principles and want to preserve them and another group, a rising number of people who have disdain for America\u2019s founding principles.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnson said any future speaker will likely confront the same challenges he has.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t foresee anytime soon here where you have a 30- or 35-seat majority,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cBecause of gerrymandering and redistricting, the number of actual swing seats in the country has dwindled to a small number. It is anticipated for the days ahead that whomever is in the majority, it will be a small majority.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI optimistically think that we could grow our majority maybe to 10 to 15 seats this next cycle in a good scenario,\u201d he said. \u201cBut that may be about as large as it will be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that Donald Trump will have significant coattails in most of the states,\u201d Johnson predicted. \u201cCurrently, as you know, he is leading in five of the key swing states. If that trajectory continues, and I hope it will, we will have a great election.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur fate really comes down to the presidential election,\u201d Cole said of the House majority.<\/p>\n<p>If Republicans win the trifecta, Johnson can pitch himself as a Republican leader with a much better relationship with Trump than either Ryan or McConnell. He has visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago and attended his New York hush money trial. Johnson stresses what Reagan and Trump have in common, including the \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d catchphrase.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI told President Trump recently, \u2018Sir, your next term, which I\u2019m convinced you will have, you could be the most consequential president in the modern era because we have so many things to fix,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n<p>For now, the House is a fixer-upper, too.<\/p>\n<p><em>W. James Antle III is executive editor of the <\/em>Washington Examiner <em>magazine.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Revolution devours its own children,\u201d noted Jacques Mallet du Pan. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was on the brink, with the House Republican majority teetering. His hold on the speaker&#8217;s gavel seemed fragile, reminiscent of Saturn&#8217;s appetite for his offspring<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2659,"featured_media":2251900,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/FEA.Johnson1-1024x591.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2251899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/FEA.Johnson1-1024x591.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2251899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2659"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2251899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2251899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2251900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2251899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2251899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2251899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}