Mike Johnson may be the speaker, but Democrats will still have power
Share:
Yes, Republicans have a trifecta. Yes, Trump is president. But hardliners’ inability to take yes for an answer means Democrats can act as the ‘governing majority,’ in a coalition with Mike Johnson. After a whipsaw couple of hours, Mike Johnson remained speaker of the House of Representatives with the help of some pressure from President-elect Donald Trump. The move shows that the mild-mannered Louisianan is a far more deft politician than his predecessor Kevin McCarthy, who had to go fifteen rounds before he became speaker two years ago.
But Johnson’s speech afterward did not set the tone, nor did the speech of House Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain. Rather, it came when House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar nominated Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and called Democrats the “governing majority.”.
On the surface, it might sound daft to hear with Democrats failing to flip the House. Republicans also gained four Senate seats, securing them the majority, giving Trump his trifecta. Trump also won the popular vote, which he didn’t do in 2016, meaning he does have a mandate, though not as large as he may like to claim.
But just last month, Democrats bailed out Johnson and other Republicans when a handful of Republicans opposed a stopgap spending bill after Elon Musk and Trump tanked the bill. “It seems to be that that's the MO for this Congress, just like we saw with the speaker vote, a small group of extreme Republicans holding up Congress for the American people,” Aguilar told The Independent.
