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Appearing on MSNBC's "Way Too Early" with host Ali Vitali on Friday Morning, conservative columnist Matt Lewis suggested it would be "game over" for Donald Trump if he can't convince recalcitrant GOP House members to re-elect House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).

Speaking with the host, Lewis –– now a contributing columnist for "The Hill" –– was asked about Johnson's chances in the crucial vote to be held later Friday.

"I think it is going to happen because Donald Trump needs this to happen, ultimately he needs to be certified, as you were noting earlier," Lewis told Vitali. "I'm not sure we can certify the president without this election, without Mike Johnson or somebody becoming the speaker."

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"That doesn't mean that Johnson survives 2025," he cautioned. "I think that he's going to have an interesting year. It's almost like, you know, putting together a Rubik's cube –– some people can do it, I could never do it."

Asked about reports that the president-elect would be making calls in support of the current House speaker, Lewis replied, "Well, look, on one hand, I think it is very clear that Donald Trump is incredibly powerful within the Republican caucus. I have never seen such slavish devotion to anybody."

"On the other hand, you've got a couple of factors," he continued. "Number one, Trump's power and influence has never really been that transferable. Look at when he endorses candidates for Senate, they don't always win! Quite often, they lose."

"His track record for a while there wasn't that good, I think he got better later in the game," he added. "The other problem, too, is that you need unanimous -- like, it's such a narrow margin in the House, that Trump could win over 99 percent of House members, he could intimidate them, cajole them. But if you have one or two people, one or two [Rep.] Tom Massies (R-KY) who are stubborn, who are not intimidated, it's game over."

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A Kentucky Republican made an extreme vow Thursday night during an appearance with disgraced former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) on Gaetz's debut show on a far-right news network.

Gaetz interviewed outspoken Rep. Thomas Massie, who has clashed with his MAGA colleagues in the past.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) suggested a new baseless theory about what he believes led up to a man ramming a pickup truck through a crowd in New Orleans in an attack that killed at least 14 people and injured dozens more.

The moment came Thursday during Johnson’s interview with Fox Business when the Louisiana congressman – who received a classified briefing from intelligence agencies and the FBI – was asked to weigh in on the New Year’s Day attack.

Far-right Oklahoma state superintendent Ryan Walters appeared to suggest in a video posted to X on Thursday that the "radical left" is using schools to create more terrorists like the perpetrators of the horrific attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas this week.

"What a terrible day when we see terrorist attacks on American soil," said Walters, in a video shot from the interior of his car. "It's absolutely tragic and we've got to look as a country on how these things happen. We absolutely have to shut down the border, we can't allow terrorists to come across the border."

Fox News host Sandra Smith pushed incoming border czar Tom Homan into admitting he had no proof after he claimed that recent attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas were connected.

During a Thursday interview on Fox News, Smith told Homan that authorities had "no evidence" to connect a truck explosion in Las Vegas to a truck driver who killed at least 15 people in New Orleans.

Vice President-elect J.D. Vance defended a far-right, anti-immigrant German political party after billionaire Elon Musk revealed plans to use his social media platform to promote the group.

A spokesperson for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party confirmed this week that Musk planned to host a discussion with AfD's chancellor candidate Alice Weidel.

Appearing on MSNBC after a Tesla Cybertruck exploded and went up in flames just outside the doors of the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas on New Year's Day, a senior member of the House Intelligence Committee said he still has many questions after being briefed on what is being investigated as a possible terrorist attack.

Himes noted that driver of the Las Vegas vehicle, as well as one that killed at least 15 people in New Orleans during an attack on the same day, were members of the U.S. Army.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) pointed to the "wide open border" after a U.S. citizen allegedly carried out a truck attack, killing over a dozen people in New Orleans.

During a Thursday interview on Fox News, host Lawrence Jones asked Johnson if the FBI was previously aware of the identity of the man suspected of attacking people on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

David Brody, a Christian pro-MAGA TV host on Real America's Voice, called for a "blanket crackdown on mosques" by the government after two potential attacks on New Year's Day.

Following a truck attack in New Orleans and a vehicle explosion in Las Vegas, Brody spoke to Jonathan Gilliam, a right-wing former FBI agent.

MSNBC host Jonathan Lemire and Bulwark editor Sam Stein pounced on Donald Trump on Thursday morning for jumping the gun on Wednesday and trying to pin the blame on the New Orleans attack on immigrants.

In a segment on "Morning Joe" a plainly disgusted Lemire noted that the perpetrator of the attack on New Year revelers that claimed 15 lives is a native of Texas, which didn't stop Trump from ranting on Truth Social, "When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true. The crime rate in our country is at a level that nobody has ever seen before."

Noting that the president-elect never corrected his claim –– and has doubled down with more lashing out at immigrants –– Lemire prompted Stein with, "Let's talk about president-elect Trump, who trolled with outright misinformation and lies yesterday on social media yesterday, seizing upon an erroneous Fox News report the truck came across the border, suggesting it was some sort of migrant behind the wheel."

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"So talk to us about how frankly irresponsible that is, and fearmongering, but also the idea this incident, with a new focus on national security, may ease the path for his cabinet nominations to go through," he continued.

"The first reaction from president-elect Trump was to blame this on a border crossing that Turned out to be based on an erroneous report that had to do with the rental of this truck," he began. "It ended up being corrected but Trump's post did not end up being corrected and late last night he continued to hammer away at this idea things are out of control at the border and now is the time for tough policies to be implemented."

"This is what we expect from him," Stein conceded. "This is the reaction we have come to anticipate in these moments and it is what it is."

"He is not president yet but we know from the past this is how he reacts," he added.

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A decision by Donald Trump and his inner circle to hold what they are calling a "Make America Great Again Victory Rally" in Washington, D.C., the night before his inauguration is being called into question by a former director of Department of Homeland Security.

On the same day that New Orleans suffered a mass casualty attack on New Year's Eve revelers, followed by an explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck in front of a Trump hotel in Las Vegas that is being investigated as a possible terrorist attack, Trump's people announced plans for the rally on January 19th at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.

Appearing on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," ex-DHS head Jeh Johnson told host Jonathan Lemire that the short notice, in light of the attacks, will present a problem for security.

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"Let's go back to the idea of this rally that Trump is holding in Washington," Lemire prompted his guest before pressing, "In light of our conversation all morning long, let's talk about security for these events."

After pointing out the inauguration is "designated a national special security event," Johnson continued, "To put in the middle of those two events a very gigantic presidential level rally presents a significant security challenge in terms of resources, manpower, so it's not as simple as just throwing a big party on short notice."

"You've got to put a lot of security in place when you have the person about to become president in this current threat environment, which we just talked about a few minutes ago," he continued. "So I hope the president-elect and his team carefully considered that before they decided to have this large rally."

"I would have thought that some of the very same people that are coming to the inauguration would go to the rally, so kind of, what's the point?" he asked.

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