But thanks to petulant Republican infighting that led to the ouster of then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and no fewer than four nominees who couldn’t remotely get enough votes from a largely divided party, the unknown Johnson got his shot at what is arguably the second-toughest job in Washington.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was always heralded as a great speaker by an adoring press for her ability to get party members to fall in line. But she averaged a 31-seat majority in 2006 and a 35-seat majority in 2018. It’s not hard to get to a majority result with margins like that.
Compare that with Johnson’s current spread, which only allows for two defectors among 218 GOP members of Congress, the smallest majority seen for either party since 1931.
Earlier this year, Johnson had to navigate the same kind of revolt that McCarthy did. It was led by professional attention-seeker and automatic “no” vote Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY).
“I asked him to resign,” Massie declared last year in a prediction that didn’t age well. “The motion is going to get called and then he’s going to lose more votes than Kevin McCarthy.”
“You can pull all my fingernails out. You can shove bamboo up in them. You can start cutting off my fingers,” Massie continued. “I am not voting for Mike Johnson.”
Of course, as is usually the case with Massie, he didn’t offer up a realistic replacement for Johnson who could get the votes.
The movie is always the same. Massie votes “no” on bills that aren’t even controversial, such as last year when he was the lone Republican to oppose a bipartisan resolution condemning Iran’s missile attack on Israel. Massie then runs to social media and explains that he’s truly a man of principle standing up to his own party, and then he proceeds to fundraise off the spectacle.
What Massie doesn’t do is actually govern or operate in a world of reality and basic math. Johnson’s microscopic majority means concessions must be made. Not everyone is going to get everything they want. Take the wins where you can get them and compromise in areas where you won’t.
It’s one thing to stand against something, but without some credible proposal that actually has the votes to pass, Massie is just an outspoken obstructionist and nothing more.
Johnson, to his credit, has taken the high road when dealing with Massie’s personal attacks while sounding like the adult in the room.
“It is, in my view, an absurd notion that someone would bring a vacate motion when we are simply here trying to do our jobs. It is not helpful to the cause,” Johnson said during Massie’s first or two attempts to oust him last year. “We have to have a united front and we have to have our members work together.”
Trump, Johnson, and the rest of the Republican Party seem to understand that concessions will need to be made in the short term. Greater things can be achieved only if a GOP majority grows.
The government funding bill passed the House by a 217-213 margin. The only Republican not to vote for it was Massie, prompting Trump to call on him to be primaried in 2026.
The legislation also passed in the Senate after a handful of Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), joined Republicans in voting for it, sparking widespread outrage from the Left and its allies in the media over the audacity of them voting to keep the government open.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), the social media darling who has never had any bill she sponsored or co-sponsored even reach the floor, called Schumer’s vote “a tremendous mistake” and “betrayal” while not ruling out a primary challenge to the 74-year-old Schumer.
As for Fetterman, he dismissed Ocasio-Cortez in a way very few could.
“I hope you can relay how little I care about her views on this,” he said in response to her criticism.
Add all of this up, and the shoe is clearly on the other foot. For years, Democrats were applauded for having an airtight united front, while Republicans were at each other’s throats on the House floor as recently as 2023 (remember when Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) and then-Rep. Matt Gaetz nearly came to blows over McCarthy?).
It’s been neck-and-neck over who Democrats hated more: Donald Trump or Elon Musk. But now the front-runner is clearly Schumer, who has been so damaged by his “yes” vote on the funding bill that he was forced to cancel his tour for his new book, Antisemitism in America: A Warning.
Scores of Democratic online activists have called on Schumer to be confronted and harassed during said tour, leading to the senator canceling all public events due to “security concerns.”
Thanks to Trump, Johnson, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) singing from the same sheet of music, outside of Massie, any disagreements between Republican lawmakers are being kept behind closed doors.
This was evidenced during the funding debate when at least a dozen hard-line fiscal conservatives, including Reps. Tony Gonzales (R-TX), Cory Mills (R-FL), Tim Burchett (R-TN), and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) all had originally signaled they were in opposition, which would have effectively killed it.
But unlike former House Speaker Paul Ryan, Trump and Johnson convinced these lawmakers that falling in line now meant clearing a path for true cuts in spending for fiscal 2026.
“No one wants to shut the government down, and we are governing, doing the responsible thing as Republicans,” Johnson told reporters last week. “It’s going to be up to Chuck Schumer and the Senate Democrats to do the right thing.”
And sure enough, that’s exactly what happened. Republicans held firm while enough Democrats blinked.
The Blue Team has been engaged in a circular firing squad ever since. Former Kamala Harris spokeswoman Symone Sanders-Townsend, now an MSNBC host, announced on the air she was leaving the party, while CNN’s Van Jones recently said of Democrats, “We’re screwed.”
Two recently released polls show the parties moving in different directions since Trump was inaugurated. NBC News and CNN polls show favorability ratings for Democrats at an all-time low, clocking in at 29% and 27%, respectively. Meanwhile, Trump’s approval hit an all-time high in the same NBC News poll.
“Oh my goodness gracious, you just can’t get worse than these numbers,” CNN pollster Harry Enten said of the Democrats’ plight.
Johnson still has his work cut out for him. How he handles the debt ceiling, for example. The next spending bill must include DOGE cuts and savings. Kicking the can will not be an option for the aforementioned fiscal hard-liners. Johnson appears to understand this after being asked if this will be his final continuing resolution.
“That is what I expect. This White House is going to actually do its job,” he responded. “What a concept. The White House will send us a budget. This hasn’t been done in a while. This White House will send us a budget that will request funding for a smaller, leaner, more efficient, accountable federal government. That is a new paradigm for us. We are excited about that.”
Per Gallup, Johnson’s disapproval rating is lower than his approval, with just 35% disapproving of his performance.
Context: Pelosi is currently 23 points underwater, with 56% disapproving.
A GOOD START ON SPENDING BY HOUSE REPUBLICANS
House speaker in a fractured environment like this can be a thankless job.
Thus far, the former unknown who is Mike Johnson has been making the most of it … all while defying the odds.
