Free Republic

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) backs President Donald Trump on tariffs, he made clear during an appearance at an Axios News Shapers event this week. Trump has the backing of Johnson, who said according to Axios that the tariffs “are working.” “I think the executive has a broad array of authority that’s been recognized over the years,” Johnson said. “If it gets close to where the imbalance is there, then we would step in.” However, if it came to that, Johnson said the first line of defense would be calling Trump directly. “But I think the first protocol, to be...

House Speaker Mike Johnson on Saturday invited President Trump to share his “America First vision” while addressing a joint session of Congress on March 4 – the first State of the Union during the commander in chief’s second term in office. “America’s Golden Age has begun,” Johnson (R-La.) wrote in a letter to Trump. “Thanks to your strong leadership and bold action in the first days of your presidency, the United States is already experiencing a resurgence of patriotism, unity, and hope for the future.” “Your administration and the 119th Congress working together have the chance to make these next...

The FP is in our nation’s capital for the inauguration—and we’re talking to everyone with skin in the game. Today, hear Bari Weiss in conversation with Speaker Mike Johnson on the future of America under Donald Trump's second administration. Stay tuned for more conversations from "The Free Press in D.C." Presented by Uber and X.

A very uplifting video for us disappointed (due to the recent RINO/Dem victory in the State House) Texans. Worth the 19 minutes

Burrows’ effective governing coalition is 36 Republicans and 49 Democrats — and is the first time a speaker was elected in the official vote with a minority of his own party behind him in recent memory.

"Democrat Coalition Propels Dustin Burrows to Speaker of the Texas House." Burrows is very much in favor of the practice of awarding State House committee chairmanships to Democrats...as was his sleazy predecessor Dade Phelan. "Burrows won despite the fact that Republicans control 88 of the chamber’s 150 seats." Last month, Cook won the Republican nomination for speaker. However, Burrows and a minority faction of Republican members immediately sought to build a coalition with Democrats to secure his victory. “Today, the RINO (anti-MAGA) Establishment laughed in the faces of our Republican grassroots. They chose Democrat chairs and Lobbyist buddies over their...

On Sunday evening, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick unleashed a fiery critique on social media, accusing five key figures—Dade Phelan, Dennis Bonnen, Greg Bonnen (Dennis’ brother and a current House member), Dustin Burrows, and Cody Harris—of running the Texas House like a “personal business” through a revolving door of leadership positions and shared financial interests.

Nine House Republicans signaled to Speaker Mike Johnson that they have leverage to file a motion to vacate him from the position. The House rules package set to be voted upon after the Speaker is elected contains a provision that sets a nine member threshold for a motion to vacate the Speaker. In the previous Congress, the threshold was only one member, by which Kevin McCarthy lost his power. Three House Republican members voted for someone other than Johnson on the first ballot Friday. Two of the three then changed their vote to Johnson. Six additional members also initially withheld...

The battle over the Speaker vote was actually resolved perhaps more quickly than people anticipated, with Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) winning on the first vote, despite the reservations of some Republicans. But the remarks by the House Democratic Leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), also got some attention — of the "whoops, what did he just say" variety. "We will fart hard...fight hard...for the freedom to vote," Jeffries said. Um, okay. That was pretty funny. That's one that's likely going to get memed all over the place. But on the full statement, what the heck is he talking about? Who is...

President-elect Donald Trump reissued support for House Speaker Mike Johnson’s attempt on Friday to remain Speaker of the House. Trump appears steadfast that Johnson is the person to lead House Republicans in at least the first two years of his second administration. Not all House Republicans are impressed with Johnson, who tried in December to pass a huge spending bill filled with pork. A much smaller bill became law with Democrat support after Trump pressured Johnson to reduce its size. Previously, Johnson most notably rushed through a reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) with few revisions or measures...

With the nation's focus rightly on the terrorist attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas, and with what appears to be a gang shootout at a nightclub in Queens, the vote for the first domino to fall in a series of changes from the outgoing Biden administration to the incoming Trump administration takes place at Noon Eastern on Friday. Sure, Inauguration Day is on the 20th, and that promises to a Day One for the ages. But don't forget January 6th, which is when the House certifies the election results, putting President-Elect Donald Trump and Vice-President-Elect J.D. Vance on the...

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) said Sunday that Democrats will not save Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) if he fails to get enough support from his own party to retain his gavel. Jeffries pointed to the collapse of the bipartisan government funding agreement as a key reason Johnson would not get support from Democrats when his Speakership comes up for a vote again at the start of January. Asked in an interview on “Inside with Jen Psaki” whether Jeffries thinks Johnson is at risk of losing his position, Jeffries said, “I think that’s a real risk.” “And there will be...

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), 84, intends to be in Washington, DC, on Friday for the Speakership vote. Pelosi’s return is significant because Axios reported in December that Pelosi either lost or relinquished her “iron fist” grip on House Democrats after several Democrats Pelosi reportedly preferred as ranking members on committees did not succeed. Pelosi underwent hip surgery in Germany and missed the House committee assignment votes, but she is scheduled to be back at her post where she will have the opportunity to try to influence the Democrat caucus ahead of the Speakership vote in the House. “I’m on my...

Here are my thoughts on the speaker's fight: 1) Yes, we certainly want to hit the ground running, but running towards what? Nothing more than tax cuts and nothing else like every other GOP admin? Let's first nail down some commitments. 2) There is a two week lag time between Congress convening and Trump being inaugurated so there is some time to sort this out. Again, at a minimum, Johnson should be forced to make some commitments. Remember, this is already someone who has not only betrayed us on every must-pass bill, but gratuitously gave the left what they wanted...

Representative Chip Roy (R-TX) said Tuesday on Fox Business Network’s “Varney & Co.” that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) did not have the votes to keep the position. Roy said, “I remain undecided, as do a number of my colleagues because we saw so many of the failures last year that we are concerned about that might limit or inhibit our ability to advance the president’s agenda.” He continued, “We violated the 72-hour rule twice, which means we didn’t have time to read a bill. We had to have Elon and Vivek and the president and JD come in to kill...

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump: We are the Party of COMMON SENSE, a primary reason that we WON, in a landslide, the magnificent and historic Presidential Election of 2024. ALL SEVEN SWING STATES, 312 ELECTORAL COLLEGE VOTES, AND THE POPULAR VOTE BY MILLIONS OF VOTERS (Despite large scale voter fraud taking place in numerous states, including California, where votes are ridiculously still being counted, or under review!), ALL WON WITH EASE, CALM, & PROFESSIONALISM. Republicans are being praised for having run a “legendary” campaign! Democrats are being excoriated for their effort, having wasted 2.5 Billion Dollars, much of it unaccounted for,...

Former firebrand Rep. Matt Gaetz, who instigated the House GOP toppling of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy last year, declared that resistance to House Speaker Mike Johnson “is now futile” in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump’s endorsement. But that and Trump’s endorsement did nothing to pacify Johnson’s most outspoken House critic, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who had come out in opposition to his speakership bid. “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 replied on X, posting an image of...

U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has confirmed that he will not be supporting House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) for another term when the new Congress is sworn in next month. “I will vote for someone other than Mike Johnson. I’m not persuaded by the ‘hurry up and elect him so we can certify the election on J6’ argument,” Massie wrote in an X post on Saturday. “A weak legislative branch, beholden to the swamp, will not be able to achieve the mandate voters gave Trump and Congress in November.” Johnson can not afford to lose support from virtually any House...

The House subcommittee investigating former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) partisan January 6 Special Committee “interviewed hundreds of witnesses,” but testimony from the most notorious star of Pelosi’s hearings is conspicuously absent from its report. The subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA), issued an interim report December 17, 2024, calling former White House employee Cassidy Hutchison the Pelosi “Select Committee’s star witness.” But despite the subcommittee “interview[ing] hundreds of witnesses,” the committee’s report makes no reference to bringing in Hutchinson for questioning – despite mentioning her by name 268 times. According to a source, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) personally intervened...

President-elect Donald Trump has reportedly been hearing from several House Republicans about their concerns regarding House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). Sources on Capitol Hill and people around Trump told the Hill the group was voicing their worries prior to the recent government funding debacle, the outlet reported on Tuesday. The Republicans apparently talked with Trump weeks before the “shutdown showdown” and shared their worries about how Johnson has handled different issues, per the Hill. The outlet noted that most of the sources spoke on the condition of anonymity and did not share any of the Republicans’ names.