The world according to Mike Johnson

LANCASTER, Pa. — Two weeks from today, Mike Johnson will have been speaker of the House for one full year. That’s longer than Kevin McCarthy lasted in the role.

And with 25 days until Election Day, we wanted to catch up with Johnson to discuss his views on the speakership, the upcoming lame-duck session and what 2025 will look like if Republicans keep control of the House.

We had access to Johnson’s closed fundraisers, campaign events and interviewed the speaker on a host of topics crucial for you, our core readership.

Overall takeaways. Johnson has definitely grown into the job over his year as speaker. Has he reinvented the role? Certainly not. Johnson isn’t a backslapper like McCarthy — and many colleagues appreciate that. He’s raising a lot of money and big donors have warmed to him, but Republicans are still getting crushed overall in the money chase. Johnson tells donors that Democrats are outraising him “almost three or four to one.”

But Johnson is more confident than he was when he first won the gavel. The Louisiana Republican seems to have more well-formed views on exercising his office’s power. He’s even a bit self-deprecating. During closed-door fundraisers, he says “I was four inches taller when I took this job. They beat me down mercilessly.” He even jokingly asks crowds if they have questions, comments or advice for him.

Johnson conceded his naivety when he ascended to the speakership last year — something that many of his colleagues understood at the time.

“I did not fully appreciate the scope of it — no one can,” Johnson said. The Louisiana Republican said that the Founding Fathers “didn’t intend for the speaker of the House to be the primary fundraiser for the party.” Of course, they also couldn’t have foreseen that the House would be a billion-dollar battleground every two years.

One further observation: Johnson is clearly growing tired of some of the more attention-hungry members of the conference — and he isn’t afraid to say so. On several occasions, at a private fundraiser and in an interview, Johnson indicated he was sick of the “show ponies” in the House.

“Nobody in this freshman class of Republicans that we’ve recruited that are on the ballot in November — not one of them — is coming to Congress to be famous or get attention for themselves,” Johnson said during a VIP reception here. “What a concept, right?”

The future of the House GOP Conference. This leads us to wonder how Johnson would try to restructure the House if Republicans keep the majority. Sure, Democrats could take power and then Johnson would be out of a job.

But the Louisiana Republican seems intent on raising the threshold for the motion to vacate, the parliamentary process by which the rank and file can oust a speaker.

“I don’t think there’s anybody who thinks the current sword of Damocles is sustainable,” Johnson said.

The speaker also said he wants to reestablish some “parameters” by which members of the House Republican Conference will serve, especially rank-and-file members voting against rules.

“The idea of there being ramifications for voting against the rules of your own party, for example, right?” Johnson said. “That was unheard of. Would have been unthinkable in previous congresses, right?”

News on storm aid. Johnson has visited several pockets of the storm-damaged Southeast and said he believes that Congress will have to pass an aid package that could reach as high as $100 billion.

Johnson said that in an ideal world, he’d like to offset the spending with budget cuts elsewhere, but he didn’t anticipate that would be possible.

Johnson and the world. Johnson is fond of saying that he has spent the last several months on the road, chugging through 220 cities in 40 states. He’ll be in 65 more cities in 24 states before Election Day.

But he has quietly kept abreast on intelligence about the various U.S. conflicts across the globe — including in Israel. Johnson told us he has visited FBI offices around the country to hold secure calls with the Biden administration about the war in Israel.

Johnson is very supportive of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Johnson declined to say whether Israel should hit Iranian nuclear sites, but did say that President Joe Biden “is not in any position to dictate military strategy to Netanyahu.”

The most critical moment of Johnson’s speakership came in April, when he put a bill on the floor to send $61 billion in aid to Ukraine. Conservative hardliners immediately triggered a motion to vacate, which the Louisiana Republican beat back with the help of Democrats.

The war in Ukraine shows no sign of ending. And Johnson told us his support for sending additional money to Kyiv is waning:

We will have much more from our trip with Johnson in the Midday and PM editions for Premium subscribers — including Johnson’s view on de minimis, outbound investment reform, the particulars of the 2025 tax debate, including SALT, and the speaker’s hopes for the first 100 days of the next Congress.

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