The only time you will see "Trump" and "big Johnson" in a headline. Trump’s big Mike Johnson decision A messy Capitol Hill endgame has the president-elect pondering a change in House leadership. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/12/23/mike-johnson-speaker-trump-limbo-00195854
It appears that Mike Johnson met the minimum requirements for kissing up. Trump gives complete and total endorsement of Johnson as Speaker https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5059838-trump-endorses-johnson-speaker/
Mike Johnson (R) celebrates speakership by reading a "Thomas Jefferson prayer" on the House floor. Quite remarkable...especially since Jefferson never wrote or delivered any prayers. Jesus Johnson Reads Fake Thomas Jefferson Prayer Shortly After Being Reelected Speaker These Christian Nationalists like Mike Johnson are so desperate to rewrite history and how our founding fathers felt about the separation of church and state. https://crooksandliars.com/2025/01/jesus-johnson-reads-fake-thomas-jefferson
Things will not go for Mike Johnson now; in a House where the GOP holds a slim majority Johnson has just created a small block of long-term GOP House members will will not vote for anything that Johnson puts forward -- thereby dooming the Republican majority in the House from being effective. Mike Johnson’s Caving to Trump May Have Just Cost Him in the House Johnson removed Mike Turner as head of the House Intelligence Committee. https://newrepublic.com/post/190328/mike-johnson-screwed-intelligence-chair-turner Representative Rick Crawford will be the next House Intelligence Committee chair, following his colleague Mike Turner’s unceremonious removal by Speaker Mike Johnson Wednesday. Politico reported Thursday that Johnson will name Crawford to the position following Turner’s removal on Donald Trump’s orders. The move was a surprise even to the Republicans on the panel, and some in the GOP are angry at Johnson for how he handled the move. “He dragged Mike along,” one senior House Republican said, speaking anonymously. Another Republican warned that Johnson had just “cost himself political capital,” while a third warned that Turner was ready to go scorched earth. “Mike’s never going to vote for another fucking thing around here again,” the third Republican said. “He’s mad.” One Democrat, Representative Jim Himes, said Turner’s ouster “sends a shiver down my spine,” adding that Turner wasn’t a Republican who was quick to “bend the knee” to Trump and kept his “eyes on the prize” of oversight. Trump sought Turner’s removal because he “believes that Turner is basically an intel community sycophant,” one source told The Daily Beast Wednesday. Johnson has said Trump was not involved in the decision. Turner has warned of Russian propaganda “being uttered” on the House floor, and voted to certify Joe Biden’s win in 2020, putting himself in Trump’s and many conservatives’ crosshairs. Turner’s decision last year to back the reauthorization of Section 702 also has drawn the ire of the right, as well as the ACLU, for its potential to spy on Americans without a warrant. Meanwhile, Crawford voted against Ukraine aid last year, in contrast to Turner’s staunch support of the country following its invasion by Russia. Turner’s departure will be seen as good news to the MAGA right who oppose any further aid to Ukraine, and Crawford’s appointment gives Trump a firm loyalist at the top of a powerful House committee, getting rid of another possible critic of his national security decisions.
The Wall Street Journal has some harsh words for Mike Johnson. 'A sign of weakness': Mike Johnson battered by the WSJ for 'troubling' bow to Trump https://www.rawstory.com/trump-mike-turner-weakness/ House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is facing a fresh wave of criticism for not only booting Ohio Rep. Mike Turner (R) as the chair of the powerful House Intelligence Committee but also excluding him from the committee entirely. In a scathing editorial late Thursday, the highly conservative editorial board of the Wall Street Journal took Johnson to task by adding that it has been reported that the move was made due to directions coming from Mar-a-Lago. That, the editors asserted, portends a "troubling" future with Donald Trump pulling Johnson's strings making him no more than a puppet with no real authority over his caucus. As the editors wrote, "Mr. Turner has been one of Mr. Johnson’s main supporters in the GOP conference, so the Speaker is sending the wrong message about the rewards of loyalty. It’s one thing for the Speaker to let Mr. Trump dictate to him on policy. But control over House leadership should be the Speaker’s prerogative," they then added, "His ouster of Mr. Turner is a sign of weakness." Worse still, they pointed out, the loss of Turner's expertise comes at a time when Trump wants to make inexperienced and controversial former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii his Director of National Intelligence. "The House and Senate Intel Chairmen are checks on the CIA and the 17 other U.S. intelligence agencies. The committees can dig into intelligence findings by the director of national intelligence and ask pointed questions," the editors wrote before pointing out, "Mr. Turner’s sacking is all the more troubling given Mr. Trump’s nomination of Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence. Ms. Gabbard cast doubt on whether Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons and has supported a pardon for Edward Snowden, the traitor who leaked highly classified documents and fled to Moscow for asylum." Pointing out that a returning Turner would have been a check on Gabbard, the editors concluded that Speaker Johnson is endangering the country. "Mr. Johnson is expected to replace Mr. Turner with Arkansas Rep. Rick Crawford, who voted against arming Ukraine last year. Perhaps he’ll rise to the role. But it’s alarming that Mr. Johnson is letting the GOP’s isolationist wing cashier one of his best committee chairs," they wrote. You can read more here.