Trump endorses Mike Johnson to return as US House speaker, despite backlash | Donald Trump News

United States President-elect Donald Trump has backed Mike Johnson’s continued leadership in the House of Representatives, in an apparent attempt to limit Republican dissension in the new year.

In a post on his online platform Truth Social on Monday, Trump appealed to his Make America Great Again (MAGA) base to rally support for Johnson, who currently serves as speaker of the House of Representatives.

“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 full and complete support. MAGIC!!!” Trump wrote.

But the road ahead of Johnson is likely to be difficult. On January 3, a new Congress is convened, after the general elections in November. And Republicans are bracing for a tense showdown over who will be elected as the next speaker, the top official in the House of Representatives.

Johnson is the most likely candidate, as the current speaker. But his role in passing a last-minute budget bill earlier this month exposed cracks in the Republican caucus — and a possible backlash against his leadership.

A lawmaker from Louisiana known for his socially conservative policies, Johnson will need every Republican vote he can muster to hold the speaker’s gavel.

When the 119th Congress convenes, Republicans will have one of the smallest majorities in the House of Representatives in modern history. They will have 219 seats in the House of Representatives out of a total of 435, which gives them barely more than 50 percent of the votes in the house.

Democrats traditionally vote for the leader of the House of Representatives from their own party. As a result, even a handful of Republican candidates could cost Johnson the speaker’s gavel.

Several Republican members of the House of Representatives have already opposed Johnson’s leadership. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, for example, was vocal that he would not cast a vote for Louisiana’s representative.

“I’m going to vote for someone other than Mike Johnson,” Massie she wrote on social networks December 27. “A weak legislative branch, entrusted to the swamp, will not be able to achieve the mandate that voters gave Trump and Congress in November.”

Part of the reason for the disagreement lies in Johnson’s support for the ultimately bipartisan budget bill signed into law Dec. 21, preventing a government shutdown during the holiday season.

Several Republicans opposed the measure because it failed to rein in spending. Others, including Massie, expressed concerns that an early version of the bill contained provisions that went beyond the budget. Instead, they called for a “clean” budget law.

And then there was the omission of a key priority that Trump himself had highlighted. Trump called for the budget bill to include language that would extend or repeal the debt ceiling, which limits how much the federal government can borrow.

Traditionally, the federal budget is negotiated separately from the debt ceiling. But on social media, Trump called for debt ceiling negotiations under the leadership of outgoing President Joe Biden, a Democrat, rather than during his new administration.

Under the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, the debt ceiling was suspended until January 1, 2025.

But Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has already warned that the federal government could hit the borrowing limit by the middle of that month, limiting its ability to pay its bills and potentially damaging the country’s credit score.

Trump himself is scheduled to take office for a second term on January 20. He called the debt ceiling a “guillotine” hanging over his administration.

Ultimately, Budget draft led by Johnson passed without the debt ceiling legislation that Trump demanded.

Such disagreements cost at least one former speaker his seat. Johnson’s predecessor, former Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, also oversaw the passage of a bipartisan budget plan that was controversial on the right wing of his party.

This sparked a backlash against McCarthy’s leadership in October 2023. Members of the Freedom Caucus, a coalition of staunch conservatives, banded together to oust McCarthy from the presidency in a historic vote — marking the first time the speaker was removed by motion to leave his seat.

But the decision plunged the House Republican caucus into weeks of chaos as party members scrambled to find a new leader. Johnson was not the first choice: He was the fourth candidate proposed for the position.

Since then, Johnson has faced a similar attempt to dismiss it from the payphone.

However, on Monday, Trump tried to distance the Republican Party from that past upheaval. In his social media post, he instead tried to label the Democrats as the party of divisiveness.

“We are the party of COMMON SENSE, the main reason we WON,” Trump wrote.

He then repeated the false claims of voter fraud, this time focusing on House races in states like California. “EVERYTHING WAS WON WITH EASE, CALM AND PROFESSIONAL.”

For his part, Johnson thanked Trump for his support as he seeks another year as president.

“Thank you President Trump! I am honored and humbled by your support, as always,” Johnson wrote on social networks. He also offered support for Trump’s second term agenda.

“Together we will quickly fulfill your America First plan and usher in a new golden age for America. The American people demand and deserve that we don’t waste time. Let’s go to work!”

However, the question remains whether Trump’s support will prove decisive in the upcoming vote. Massie has already reiterated that Johnson will not get his vote, no matter what Trump says.

“I respect and support President Trump, but his endorsement of Mike Johnson will do just as well as his endorsement of Speaker Paul Ryan,” Massie wrote on social media, referring to the previous speaker of the House of Representatives, who was supported by Trump.

Massie warned that Johnson could pave the way for Democratic priorities and further unbridled government spending, which he accused Ryan of. “We’ve seen Johnson partner with Democrats to send money to Ukraine, authorize spying on Americans, and destroy the budget.”