“The speaker's got work to do. He's got work to do,” a member of the far-right Freedom Caucus, who asked to remain anonymous so they could speak candidly, told Raw Story. “There are members who are thinking about whether they want to support him or not. He’s not there yet.”
With razor-thin margins in the House, a protest from even a handful of Republicans could cause a repeat of the start of the 118th Congress in which it took 15 votes for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy to secure the gavel.
While Johnson’s been spending more time with President-elect Donald Trump of late — including trips to Mar-a-Lago and attending a UFC fight with the former president — conservatives still aren’t convinced he’s the right GOP general to pass the party’s agenda.
“I wouldn't honestly put too much into that. I think that's just, you know, the president coming through on building goodwill with everybody, and I think that's a smart approach for him,” the Freedom Caucus member continued. “Honestly, I think it's more that members don't see somebody who's going to be strategic, make the right call, make timely calls.”
Former Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good (R-VA) lost his primary this year, but as he heads for the exits, he’s encouraging his colleagues to replace Johnson.
“He’s been an abysmal failure,” Good told Raw Story. “Speaker Johnson has failed by every measuring stick, if you're a Republican, and so I think it would be a mistake to be voted in as speaker.”
Like many Freedom Caucus members, Good doesn’t have much respect for Johnson.
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“Speaker Johnson will be a pawn and just do whatever he's told and whatever is in his best interest to be speaker. So he will do his best to be unified with President Trump's agenda, because he wants to be speaker,” Good said. “Unfortunately, what President Trump needs is a strong speaker, an effective speaker who can help drive his agenda through the House.”
This spring, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) joined Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) in her failed effort to oust Johnson by triggering a formal motion to vacate — the procedural measure used to oust McCarthy — but Johnson was saved by Democrats.
In the wake of Trump winning the popular vote and House Republicans just barely maintaining their majority, Massie says Johnson failed the GOP.
“He failed to increase our majority in an overwhelming red wave. He just made it tougher on himself, and the way he failed was not because he didn't campaign enough, but because we didn't get anything done,” Massie told Raw Story.
“So you're not happy with him and his record?” Raw Story pressed.
“Well, that would be an understatement,” Massie said.
“So will you oppose him on the floor?” Raw Story asked.
“I don't know. There’s a lot of time between now and then,” Massie said. “He's gonna have to do a 180 on a bunch of crap he shoved down our throats. Ukraine spending, for instance.”
Still, many of Trump’s biggest supporters in Congress say they’re following Trump’s lead.
“I think Mike Johnson has the support from President Trump,” Rep. Trey Nehls (R-TX) — while wearing a Trump tie — told Raw Story. “Everything that Trump pretty much says right now, we probably need to follow word for word.”
With Republicans readying to run the White House, Senate and the House in the new year, Nehls speaks for many in the GOP when he says challenging Johnson on the floor in January would be a strategic mistake.
“I just don't know how that's going to benefit us,” Nehls said. “This is what we have to do. Donald Trump's going to need four years to fix the screw-ups that we have in our country. Doing it in two years is going to be hard, and if we don't behave and follow some guidance and advice in the Trump first agenda, the America first agenda, we could lose the House in two years, and then what do we have then? Have to be careful about that.”
The other problem, yet again, facing the far-right wing of the GOP is that as united they are in their frustrations with Johnson, they still don’t have a potential replacement in mind — at least not one they’re rallying behind publicly.
“I’m not going to curse anybody by saying their name,” Massie said. “Anybody who I would want would not want me to say their name.”
