Summary
House Speaker Mike Johnson faces growing Republican dissent over his handling of government funding, potentially jeopardizing his reelection as speaker on January 3.
Allies are urging Donald Trump to reaffirm his support for Johnson to avoid a prolonged leadership fight, which could delay certification of Trump’s 2024 election victory on January 6.
Johnson’s bipartisan spending bill, criticized by Trump, narrowly averted a government shutdown but failed to include Trump’s core debt-limit demands.
Some Republicans warn that a speakerless House would disrupt critical legislative processes, including election certification.
This feels like such a microcosm of the Republican party: everyone gets elected on a wide array of misinformation, conspiracy, and empty populist rhetoric, but then fight over leadership because no one person can unify the diverse party they cobbled together to win the popular vote.
The Republicans have been so focused on grabbing power for themselves that they can’t even figure out who should have power when it has to be centralized.