A major fight is coming up in Congress. It threatens to ruin Donald Trump and the GOP.
And now the U.S. House has erupted into civil war and all chaos has let loose.
In Donald Trump’s first term in office, the U.S. Senate chamber was a thorn in his side when the Republicans held total control of Congress between 2017 and 2019. They simply did not get their act together to help Donald Trump in his agenda while the Republicans had the opportunity to do so with legislative branch control. In fact, one of Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominations was confirmed with Democrat Party control of the U.S. Senate in 2020. To put it simply, the Republicans really did not do Trump any favors in Congress.
This time around, it seems it’s the U.S. House that is proving to be more difficult than the U.S. Senate, a surprise twist for modern American politics. Usually the U.S. Senate is reluctant to make big waves and in turn stall the branch. Now, the U.S. House Republicans are signaling that it’s their turn to be a thorn in the side of Donald Trump and his incoming administration. It’s all stemming from the U.S. House Speaker fight, which the current House Speaker Mike Johnson has complicated beyond belief.
Mike Johnson’s New Rules Package: A Step Toward Authoritarianism in the House?
The 119th Congress is shaping up to be a period of significant consolidation of power for Speaker Mike Johnson, as the Republican Party moves to make it more difficult to oust the Speaker from office. A new rules package released on Wednesday aims to limit the ability of members to challenge Johnson’s leadership, increasing the threshold for removing the Speaker and preventing Democrats from even proposing a motion to vacate the position.
The proposed rules would prevent any member of the House, including Democrats, from introducing a motion to vacate the Speaker’s office, something that had been allowed under the 118th Congress. More importantly, it raises the bar for initiating a vote to remove the Speaker, now requiring at least nine Republican members to trigger such a motion.
This is a notable shift from the previous rules, which allowed any single member of the House to force a vote. Ironically, the proposed number of nine GOP members needed to prompt a vote to oust the Speaker is just one more than the eight Republicans who voted to remove former Speaker Kevin McCarthy in October 2023.
The timing of these changes is significant, as the House will vote on its new Speaker this Friday. Mike Johnson, already facing a highly fragile majority in the House, must secure the votes of nearly every Republican to retain his position. With the GOP holding an extremely slim majority, Johnson can afford to lose only a single Republican vote, assuming full attendance from GOP members and universal support from Democrats for Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Yet, several key Republicans, including Reps. Thomas Massie, Chip Roy, Andy Biggs, and Victoria Spartz, have expressed reluctance or uncertainty about backing Johnson, making this vote far from a done deal.
The new rules are not just about Speaker removal. The package also sets out an agenda for 12 pieces of legislation, ranging from a bill banning fracking bans to one requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration. But perhaps the most contentious item is the bill targeting the International Criminal Court (ICC) in retaliation for its efforts to investigate Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This provision has sparked anger within the Republican Party, with Rep. Thomas Massie questioning the priority given to international concerns when domestic issues remain unresolved.
Johnson’s rules package has already drawn criticism from within his own party. Conservative Republicans are irate that such bills —particularly the sanctioning of the ICC — are being prioritized over more pressing issues facing the country. Rep. Massie voiced his displeasure directly, writing on social media, “But how did a bill to protect Netanyahu make it into the House rules package to be voted on immediately after the Speaker vote? Where are our priorities?!”
I will not support giving any credibility or power to the International Criminal Court in our House rules package. This clause needs to be removed. https://t.co/ggJHdFXcMw
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) January 1, 2025
Democrats, too, have expressed grave concerns over the new rules. The change to the motion-to-vacate process, which now exclusively requires Republican support to challenge the Speaker, has been blasted by Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts. He argued that the rule would “shield the Speaker from accountability to the entire chamber” and warned that it is indicative of the GOP’s increasingly partisan, and possibly authoritarian, direction. “Most alarmingly,” McGovern continued, “Republicans are totally destroying the role of Speaker of the House by injecting partisan extremism into the rules.” The shift, McGovern added, makes it “clear that they have no intention of working together to find common ground.”
At a time when American politics is deeply divided and the country’s trust in its institutions is at an all-time low, these new changes further erode the norms of governance in the House. By making it harder to remove a Speaker — even one as controversial as Mike Johnson — Republicans are essentially locking themselves into an undemocratic system where power can be held without meaningful accountability. The new rules not only shield Johnson from opposition within his own party, but also from the will of the American people, whose representatives are now being forced into a situation where they have no means to hold leadership accountable.
In essence, Speaker Mike Johnson’s proposed rules package may well be a harbinger of a shift in the Republican Party — a party that, under Johnson’s leadership, seems more interested in consolidating power and pushing an extremist agenda than in respecting democratic principles and the will of the American people. As the 119th Congress begins, it’s clear that Johnson’s leadership will not just test the limits of Republican unity — it will test the very integrity of the House of Representatives itself.
Donald Trump Throws Weight Behind Mike Johnson: A Mistake?
The conservative base is currently warring over whether Donald Trump making his support for Mike Johnson very clear is a mistake considering Mike Johnson may suffer a terrible political defeat when it comes time for the U.S. House to decide on a new U.S. House Speaker. If Donald Trump sticks beside Mike Johnson and Johnson fails to earn another term as the House Speaker, the GOP will be left without an endorsement from Donald Trump until he speaks up and picks another suitable candidate.
Conservatives in the U.S. House like Chip Roy, Thomas Massie, and Victoria Spartz are saying it is time to flip the page on the do-nothing RINOs like Mike Johnson. They certainly have a good point to be made, considering Mike Johnson has really not lived up to expectations much like every other Republican House Speaker over the past decade.
On the flip side, Donald Trump likely wants Mike Johnson to be picked so he doesn’t have to deal with this political headache. There’s certainly wisdom in not letting the perfect get in the way of the good, which is what some Trump allies are trying to get Chip Roy and other more principled conservatives in Congress to understand. The question is how far is too far? Has Mike Johnson even proven himself to be a good House Speaker, even if he’s not perfect? Surveys of Republican voters seem to indicate most Americans don’t think so, let alone what Democrat voters think.
Stay tuned to the DC Daily Journal.
