Trump Cements Grasp Over Congress

In a tense vote, House Republicans returned the gavel to Mike Johnson, proving deference to Trump's agenda

Yesterday, the newly sworn-in House Republican Conference displayed its obedience and yielded its intended role as a coequal branch of the US government in a show of surrendering agency to president-elect Donald Trump. That is the clear conclusion we can draw from Mike Johnson’s election, by the razor-thin margin of one vote, to be our next House Speaker.

This extremely basic Congressional duty of electing a Speaker used to be straightforward. But, like most things in the Trump-era, it has become a performative exercise for the GOP. In 2023, House Republicans subjected Kevin McCarthy and the rest of our lawmakers to a fifteen-ballot, four-day session. To finally grasp the gavel he had long-coveted, McCarthy had to negotiate away his power to extremists in his own party. As a result, they removed him from the post in less than a year.

This time, I was never really in doubt that Mike Johnson would become Speaker. It was just a question of what would have to be surrendered to get him there and how much humiliation he would have to endure. Johnson did have to sit through a small measure of discomfort and embarrassment by virtue of initially not having enough votes to secure the speakership —underscoring fissures and tensions to come—but it was short-lived this time, for one reason: President-elect Trump had skin in the game.

After all, prolonging this vote might have delayed certification of Trump’s electoral victory on January 6^th. A House of Representatives without a speaker prevents any legislation, from swearing in members to considering bills. Trump and his co-president, Elon Musk, have talked a big game about their robust legislative agenda, including a major border bill and tax cuts for Trump’s circle of enablers. He needed it to be swift.

Trump issued his marching orders at dawn on Friday morning:

“…A win for Mike today will be a big win for the Republican Party, and yet another acknowledgment of our 129 year most consequential Presidential Election!!—A BIG AFFIRMATION, INDEED. MAGA!”

Despite being as lucid as he can manage about his wishes, Trump’s “fall in line” edict was executed with a few hiccups. 216 Republicans voted for Johnson while three (Thomas Massie, Ralph Norman, and Keith Self) voted for other members of the party, leaving Johnson two votes short. The first ballot was held open, though, enabling Johnson to huddle with those who had opposed him and—more importantly—to reach Trump and incoming chief of staff, Susie Wiles, so they could personally encourage Representatives Norman and Self to change their votes. Whatever they were promised or pressured with was persuasive enough that they approached the well to change their votes and flipped for Johnson, giving him the bare minimum of 218 votes he needed to become Speaker of the 119th Congress.

So, yes. They fell in line, but not before delivering a strong message: Johnson could not get the votes he needed from within his own party on his own--his master needed to get involved. “President Trump is probably the most powerful president.…his voice and his influence is of singular importance,” Johnson gushed after winning. “I think that was a big factor.” A big factor? Or the only factor?

Trump governing from the Situation Hole

Let’s be clear—Trump needed Johnson to win. He endorsed him and cajoled dissenters into switching their votes for him. But, as we know, Trump is nothing if not transactional. Favors come with a price. His efforts, as lazy as they were (lawmakers have said that Nancy Mace reached him on the golf course, then passed her phone to Norman and Self) secured Johnson’s win. Which means he will promote Trump’s agenda without presenting any obstacle to the president-elect’s worst impulses. He’s always been a malleable, submissive little footsoldier—Trump’s favorite kind of human. And now he’s even more indebted. When those three Republicans dared step out of line (who maybe wanted their moment in the CSPAN spotlight), all it took was a pointed phone call from Trump to get them back in lockstep.

So Johnson has been reelected Speaker, and it only took them one round. But support for him is already being exposed as tepid and conditional. This theatrical mob hustled to make sure the public understood the source of their uniform vote. Rep. Chip Roy, who initially refused to support Johnson, revealed how flimsy his promises are by in fact voting for him, then swiftly writing on social media:

“Everything we do needs to set the Congress up for success and to deliver the Trump agenda for the American people. Speaker Johnson has not made that clear yet, so there are many members beyond the three who voted for someone else who have reservations.”

Well, that’s comforting. Nothing inspires confidence quite so well as publicly revealing that not only can Americans not trust our Speaker—we also can’t trust the “many members” who voted for him despite reservations.

Shortly thereafter, eleven members of the so-called Freedom Caucus sent a letter to their GOP colleagues outlining their expectations from Johnson. This charming bunch launched the new Congress by stating their shared uncertainty about the Speaker they had just elected, acknowledging that they had done so “despite our sincere reservation” and closing with a demand that “Speaker Johnson must prove he will not fail to enact President Trump’s bold agenda.” Impressive solidarity.

So…you wouldn’t be faulted for doubting the ease with which anything will pass with this Republican Congress. As it stands, House Republicans have an absurdly thin majority. They will initially hold 218 seats (Matt Gaetz’s will be empty since he decided not to return in the wake of a damning report from the House Ethics Committee. Among the highlights of the procedure was when the clerk announced that Gaetz would not be taking a seat, the chamber offered a round of applause). They will likely lose two more to Cabinet picks. And blind, dumb fealty to Trump is the sole ideology holding them together.

Again, a mere two years ago it took this GOP fifteen rounds to elect a Speaker, and they very nearly erupted in a fist-fight to get there. For this party of amoral chaos agents to offer relatively scant dissent this time around exposes how completely their autonomy has been surrendered.

Which is particularly dismaying because this is our Congress. The legislative branch is in place to serve as a check to the executive branch, not as an extension of it. But fear and subservience to Trump, as revealed by these kowtowing cowards, will quash their sense of Constitutional duty. Which will confer more power to him, making them more susceptible to his threats and more obedient to his every whim. As far as the co-equal branches of government are concerned, there will be no check on Trump’s moronic whims.

Ironically, he (and the party) would actually benefit by having a check on his excesses. No such guardrails will be put in place. And with Republicans holding majorities across all branches of government, there will only be one party to blame when Trump goes too far (and he will) and can’t be reined in. Republican House, Republican Senate, Republican White House (not to mention a Trump-stacked Supreme Court). It is entirely on them to manage the megalomaniac who leads their party, to tamper the excesses of his human wallet, Elon Musk, and be held to the fire on their promises to fix the economy, bring down costs, make housing and grocery prices less expensive, keep the stock market high, lower rent—among a whole laundry list of responsibilities they have claimed they could handle with ease as soon as the Democrats were out of power.

No one is standing in their way. They’ve promised Americans the world—we’ll see what they can deliver.