When House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was reelected, some conservatives said they only voted for him because President-elect Donald Trump asked them to.
Johnson has been a pragmatic House speaker who has often worked with Democrats, but Trump in a second term may show his pragmatic side too, if the Art of the Deal author can find suitable negotiating partners over the next four years.
When Trump weighed in on last month’s government funding deal, avoiding a partial federal shutdown before the holidays and his own inauguration, he complained about some of the concessions that were made to the Democrats. But unlike Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, Trump had harsh words for perfectionist House conservatives he regards as obstructionists too.
Trump suggested that perhaps Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) should be subject to a primary challenge in 2026, after largely letting his surrogates…
