Dec. 30 (UPI) — President-elect Donald Trump on Monday endorsed House Speaker Mike Johnson to retain the role in the 119th Congress.
Trump wrote on on his Truth Social platform in the mid-morning hours that Johnson, R-La., has his “total and complete endorsement.”
The endorsement by Trump could save Johnson’s jeopardized speakership but by no means guarantees it. Johnson can only afford a small number of defections in his own party likely with little to no support by House Democrats or incoming Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., after unhappiness within the Republican conference over Johnson’s handling of the end-of-year debacle to keep the U.S. government from shutting down.
Trump said the Louisiana Republican “will do the right thing, and we will continue to win,” calling Johnson a “good, hard-working, religious man.”
Republicans will hold a 53-47 Senate majority and a narrow 220-215 House majority in a “trifecta” control over the two legislative chambers and the White House.
On Monday, Johnson vowed the Republican House majority “will quickly” deliver on Trump’s agenda and said the American people “demand and deserve that we waste no time.”
“Thank you, President Trump! I’m honored and humbled by your support, as always,” Johnson replied quickly on social media.
However, Trump called on Republicans to “not blow this great opportunity which we have been given” that includes a promise to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education in a newly-proposed bill.
It arrived after the House and Senate approved a stop-gap funding bill to avoid a government shutdown singed on Dec. 20 by President Joe Biden after it was accompanied by a swarm of political drama elevated by Trump adviser and billionaire Elon Musk on his social media platform X. It passed with more Democrat than Republican votes.
Meanwhile, the upper chamber ultimately passed the short-term spending bill 85-11 with all the no votes coming from Republicans except Vermont’s independent Sen. Bernie Sanders.
After Trump endorsed Johnson’s candidacy on Monday, the speaker said “let’s get to work!” in his social media post in reply to the president-elect.
But Johnson’s narrow majority in the House left next to no room for inter-party defections with some GOP members who already have signaled their willingness to support a candidate other than Johnson, such as Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky.
“I respect and support President Trump, but his endorsement of Mike Johnson is going to work out about as well as his endorsement of Speaker Paul Ryan,” Massie said Monday on social media.
Massie’s post came with an image of Trump in 2016 endorsing Ryan’s own bid to be speaker.
“We’ve seen Johnson partner with the democrats to send money to Ukraine, authorize spying on Americans, and blow the budget,” the Kentucky Republican stated in the early afternoon.