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President Trump is reportedly peeved at House Speaker Mike Johnson and is reconsidering his support for him following last week’s government funding debacle.
Politico’s Rachael Bade claimed on Monday that she spoke to several Trump “friends” and “confidants” who told her Trump is particularly angry he didn’t get the debt ceiling hike he sought in the agreement. Without this, the road to pass his agenda next year becomes more complex because Senate Democrats will use this as an obstruction tool.
Bade also claims Trump feels betrayed by the initial deal Johnson struck with Democrats behind closed doors and upset over the entire process. Due to this, he is skeptical of Johnson’s ability to manage an even tinier House majority next year.
The Trump insiders who spoke to Bade were absolutely scathing in their assessment of Johnson and his relationship with Trump. One even said he had a hard time seeing the Speaker survive.
“The president is upset — he wanted the debt ceiling dealt with,” one Trump insider told Bade.
“In the past couple weeks, we’ve questioned whether [Johnson has] been an honest broker,” said another.
“I don’t see how Johnson survives,” said a third.
Trump repeatedly told Johnson to deal with the debt ceiling before his return to the Oval Office. Johnson finally acceded to Trump’s demand after his initial deal with the Democrats was exposed.
But Bade alleges things went downhill quickly with Johnson breaking another promise to Trump and compounded this by not going along with a government shutdown:
After the initial deal collapsed and Johnson agreed to add the debt ceiling to a Plan B proposal, Trump officials claim that Johnson assured them the votes would be there to get it over the finish line. Trump decided at that point to endorse the bill and pressure Republicans to fall in line.
When that deal failed spectacularly, with 38 Republicans voting against it, Trump’s team was floored — and felt Johnson had made Trump look foolish for weighing in. “You can’t bring the president a deal that you say you have the votes for if you don’t have the votes,” one said.
Johnson could have recovered some favor with the president had he taken one final step, they say: Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance both made clear they’d be fine allowing a holiday-season shutdown to try to force Democrats into swallowing a debt ceiling deal.
Johnson considered it, people close to the speaker said, but he never committed.
Bade also claimed Trump “allies” said that, while they don’t expect Trump to call for Johnson’s ouster as Speaker explicitly, he will likely sit silently while Johnson struggles to land 218 votes assuming he wants another person leading the House of Representatives.
As The Gateway Pundit’s Jordan Conradson previously reported, the House of Representatives has passed a stopgap spending bill Friday night to avert a government shutdown. The final vote was 366-34 in favor of the bill, with 196 Democrats voting yes and 34 Republicans voting no.
The Senate then passed the government funding bill Saturday morning and Joe Biden followed by signing it into law.
However, the road to passage was highlighted by Johnson’s attempt to sell out to Congressional Democrats secretly. He negotiated a 1,547-page continuing resolution in secret, which not only was loaded with pork projects for Democrats but also contained massive pay raises for members of Congress as well as upgrades in lawmakers’ health insurance plans.
Most disturbingly, the TGP’s Brian Lupo revealed the bill contained a section essentially mandating a court to “quash or modify any legal process directed to the provider for a House office if compliance…would require the disclosure of House data of the House office.” This would essentially give the House office exclusive jurisdiction over their records.
Thankfully, Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) heads Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy came out in opposition to this garbage, and Trump followed. But the House still initially voted against a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government funded, with 38 Republicans in opposition, citing spending levels and Trump’s requested increased debt limit.
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