Fox & Friends Question Mike Johnson’s Future As House Speaker Amid Freedom Caucus No Votes
Fox & Friends hosts wondered aloud about House Speaker Mike Johnson’s future as the House Freedom Caucus weighed the “risk-benefit” to replacing him, not with regards to his value as leader but how it might delay President-elect Donald Trump’s election win certification and agenda.
The analysis came after House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-MD) delivered a pointed warning on Thursday about Johnson’s future, saying House Republicans “need to consider whether — if we’re going to advance Mr. Trump’s agenda — whether the current leadership is what we need.”
Harris had previously backed Johnson but now says he’s “undecided,” citing frustration over how the speaker handled short-term government funding. Although Johnson managed to limit GOP opposition to 34 no votes on that final proposal, with the help of Democrats, the process sparked broader discontent within his conference.
Because Republicans are slated to hold a slim 219-215 majority on Jan. 3—after Rep. Matt Gaetz’s early resignation—Johnson can only afford one Republican defection during the speaker vote. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has already vowed to cast a vote for someone else, and Harris, along with several others, has refused to commit to supporting Johnson. Some members are floating Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH), whom Harris has publicly touted as someone who should “have a shot at being speaker.”
Meanwhile, Johnson’s allies are urging Trump to back the speaker to avoid a deadlock on the House floor and shore up enough GOP votes for a smooth start to the new Congress.
As the lay of the political environment unfolds, Fox & Friends hosts ventured aloud as to Johnson’s viability and whether he could survive. Other than certifying the election, host Todd Piro called implementing Trump’s agenda the “number one priority” and noted that replacing Johnson could get in the way of that.
Look, when I look at this entire situation, I don’t think anybody here on this couch was excited when Mike Johnson put forward a 1500 page bill there, you know, a couple of minutes before Christmas and basically told everybody to vote on it. That said, I think Republicans have to be very, very wary here. They cannot let perfect be the enemy of the good here. And look, it’s certainly concerning that 1500 page bill. They ultimately did not settle on that. But your number one priority, in addition to certifying the election of Donald Trump, is making sure that you do not lose a minute while you have this power to put forward Donald Trump’s transformative agenda. All you’re guaranteed at the most at this point is two years. You need to take advantage of each minute of those two years because who knows what 2026 will bring?
Co-host Katie Pavlich agreed:
So there are a number of different factors here. Of course, when it comes to the new speaker, the fact is that House Speaker Mike Johnson only has a five seat majority, four seat majority. And so if you look at the balance of power here, it’s very, very slim.
And so the questions that Republicans and President Donald Trump must be asking is, what is the risk benefit analysis? Is it worth risking not certifying the election of 2024 on January 6th because House Republicans are infighting about who should be the next speaker if they’re going to do this?
They should have someone lined up and ready to go to replace him immediately because these House speaker fights can last days, weeks, months… And so they’re going to have to decide, is it worth pushing off certifying the election, potentially pushing through the inauguration date to get a new speaker and whether President Trump, you know, there’s reporting that he’s upset with the way that the spending bill went down. However, it may be more complicated given that the certification day is in a week and a half.
Watch above on Fox & Friends.
