Donald Trump finally endorsed Mike Johnson (R-LA) in the face of some Republican opposition, but a conservative commentator said the embattled House Speaker still has a lot more work to do.
A handful of GOP lawmakers, including Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), have indicated they have lost faith in Johnson after last week's spending deal debacle, but Trump and his so-called co-president Elon Musk have both backed the speaker, who has been trying to drum up support on conservative media.
"I don't think it's it's a surprise that you have Trump, [Rep.] Jim Jordan and Elon Musk all coming on the same day, really reaffirming their support after the holiday, but with enough time to then whip the votes in advance of Friday afternoon's vote," GOP strategist Matt Gorman told CNN, referring to the January 3 vote at the opening of Congress to select the speaker.
"So I think, look, the the team in the speaker's office is working this very, very hard."
"It's not a shock that you see Johnson on a holiday week where maybe a speaker of the House wouldn't be normally appearing on Fox News, coming out there and, I think, kind of taking a victory lap over Trump," Gorman added. "I would expect to see him on a few more shows between now and then.
"I think it will be close. Don't get me wrong, [but] he'll be okay."
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If no speaker is elected before the Jan. 6 certification, that could hold up the start of Trump's presidency, which he hopes to begin with flurry of executive orders and other moves to activate his agenda.
"But they also have to get this done before Monday, before [Jan. 6] to certify the election," said Democratic strategist Meghan Hays. "They don't really have a lot of space there, so I think that some of Trump endorsing Johnson, yes, it's for his agenda, but it's also a little bit selfish on his part because they need to certify the election on the sixth."
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