Trump Makes 'Strong Suggestion' After Republicans Nominate Mike Johnson for Speaker: 'GET IT DONE'
Former President Donald Trump said on social media Wednesday that he would not endorse anyone in the race for the speaker of the House, but that his “strong SUGGESTION is to go with the leading candidate, Mike Johnson, & GET IT DONE, FAST!” (emphasis his)
Trump made the comments on Truth Social, the same platform on which he said that voting for former GOP speaker nominee Tom Emmer would be “a tragic mistake.”
“Congratulations to Congressional Republicans!” Trump wrote in a Wednesday morning post. “Yesterday was a big and very important day. It gave us a quick and easy way forward with 5 candidates who are beyond reproach, and represent the absolute best there is in the Republican Party.”
“Even the Fake News Media is impressed with what took place yesterday and, more importantly, with the Candidates themselves,” he continued. “Congratulations to Reps. Byron Donalds (Florida), Charles J. “Chuck” Fleischmann (Tennessee), Mark Green (Tennessee), & Roger Williams (Texas), & the ultimate winner of yesterday’s vote, by a significant margin, Mike Johnson (Louisiana).”
At that point, Trump moved into his non-endorsement endorsement of Johnson.
“I am not going to make an Endorsement in this race, because I COULD NEVER GO AGAINST ANY OF THESE FINE AND VERY TALENTED MEN, all of whom have supported me, in both mind and spirit, from the very beginning of our GREAT 2016 Victory,” Trump wrote. “In 2024, we will have an even bigger, & more important, WIN!”
“My strong SUGGESTION is to go with the leading candidate, Mike Johnson, & GET IT DONE, FAST!” Trump concluded, signing off with, “LOVE, DJT.”
Johnson was nominated Tuesday night with no apparent opposition.
Tuesday began with Emmer winning the nomination. He soon dropped out after it was clear he lacked enough GOP support to win a House floor vote.
“Democracy is messy sometimes, but it is our system,” Johnson said after the vote, according to a video clip posted to X.
Indicating the members behind him, he added, “This House Republican majority is united.”
“This is servant leadership,” Johnson said. “We’re going to serve the people of this country. We’re going to restore their faith in this Congress, this institution of government. America is the last best hope of man on the earth. We’re going to restore your trust in what we do here.”
“This group here is ready to govern, and we are going to govern well,” he said.
“The world is on fire. We stand with our ally Israel,” Johnson said, drawing applause and cheers from the Republican House members gathered behind him. “We have a very busy agenda. We have appropriations bills to get through the process. But you are going to see this group working like a well-oiled machine. We owe that to the American people.”
Reflecting on the tumult of the day, Johnson said as he finished his comments, “We’re all pretty weary.”
Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, who helped bring down former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, also appeared to be on board, according to The Hill.
“We adore him, and I think he’s gonna do a great job for the country and for the right reasons. Mike Johnson has not [been] bought and paid for. Mike Johnson does what is right,” Gaetz said.
Johnson is currently the House majority’s vice chairman and is a past chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee.
The next House speaker vote was scheduled for noon, Wednesday. Roll call prior to the vote was occurring as this was being written, CNN reported.
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