Donald Trump and Elon Musk endorsements of Speaker Mike Johnson jumpstart momentum

The world’s most powerful man and the world’s richest man both endorsed Speaker Mike Johnson, getting a lot of House Republicans off the sidelines

Speaker Mike Johnson’s grip on the Speaker’s gavel got a lot firmer today; the world’s most powerful man and the world’s richest man both endorsed him, along with a series of top House Republicans — Reps. Steve Scalise (R., La.), Tom Emmer (R., Minn.), Lisa McClain (R., Mich.), and Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) chief among them.

Ahead of the vote for Speaker of the House, Democrats and Capitol Hill journalists were salivating at the thought of a protracted GOP battle for the gavel. However, President Donald Trump and Elon Musk helped get a lot of House Republicans off the sidelines. While Trump endorsed Johnson for Speaker last month, Rep. Troy Nehls (R., Texas) said shortly before Trump’s latest endorsement that “if DJT supports Johnson we need to rally around Johnson.”

Following Trump’s endorsement, the momentum for Johnson became palpable. Scalise, Emmer, and Jordan were all plausible GOP alternatives to Johnson, but each one expressing support for the current speaker closes off alternatives for Johnson critics. House Republicans from across the ideological spectrum have told the Washington Reporter that they are eager to support Johnson and put this fight to bed quickly.

Johnson, for his part, is eager to work with Trump: “Together, we will quickly deliver on your America First agenda and usher in the new golden age of America,” he said after Trump’s latest endorsement.

Since Trump’s endorsements, House Republicans like Rep. Josh Brecheen (R., Okla.) — and even former Rep. Matt Gaetz — have indicated that the speaker’s fight is over.

“The resistance to @SpeakerJohnson is now futile,” Gaetz posted on X.

Even before Trump’s endorsement, influential groups within the Republican Party made it clear that they were behind Johnson. The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) said that “Speaker Johnson has more than earned our full-throated and enthusiastic support to lead the Republican Majority in the 119th Congress.”

But Trump’s endorsement, many believe, is all that was needed. Matt Boyle, Washington Bureau Chief, for the Breitbart News Network, had been a fierce critic of Johnson’s tenure as speaker. But Trump’s entitled to his man, Boyle wrote.

“I’m all for fighting it out but President Trump should be the final say on these things,” Boyle wrote. “He hadn't weighed in after the spending fight until now. Now that he has, it’s over — or at least it should be. Trump won. That’s it. It’s his agenda that everyone should be fighting for.”