As the House is set to elect its Speaker on Friday, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has reiterated his criticism of current Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), referring to him as “the next Paul Ryan.”
Johnson has been under scrutiny after his handling of the debate over the most recent spending bill. Conservative Republicans have criticized him for giving in to Democrats to avoid a government shutdown.
Massie, in a post on X, recalled that Ryan “[W]ent on to offer a fake repeal of ObamaCare, increased spending, backed the deep state, and didn’t fund a wall” and noted that “Two years later, we lost the majority and democrats made a living hell for Trump.”
On January 3rd, 2017 Paul Ryan was elected Speaker by every Republican except me. Ryan went on to offer a fake repeal of ObamaCare, increased spending, backed the deep state, and didn’t fund a wall. Two years later we lost the majority and democrats made a living hell for Trump. pic.twitter.com/IMHiPGv8Tr
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) December 30, 2024
Massie then said Johnson is another version of Paul Ryan and indicated that he will not vote for the current speaker.
Mike Johnson is the next Paul Ryan.
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) December 30, 2024
On January 3rd, 2025, I won’t be voting for Mike Johnson.
I hope my colleague will join me because history will not give America another “do-over.”
Earlier in December, Massie declared that he would not support Johnson because of “all the grievances I had this summer, when we tried to vacate. And then this bill,” referring to the initial 1,574-page bill Johnson proposed, which had more pork than all the Texas BBQ joints combined.
Many questions have been raised about whether Johnson will still hold the gavel after Friday. If he doesn’t win enough votes, it could potentially jeopardize President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, as Townhall’s Katie Pavlich pointed out:
The House cannot operate without a Speaker. That vote occurs Friday, January 3. The vote to certify the 2024 presidential election is just three days later on January 6. When Republicans ousted former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, it took three weeks to get to a consensus around then Congressman Mike Johnson, who ultimately became the Speaker. Past elections have lasted for months.
But there are only two weeks between January 6 and January 20. If the House can't find a Speaker in time to get the election certified, President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance cannot take office even though President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will leave their posts.
With a non-functioning House, Trump, Vance and the House Speaker are out of the chain-of-command, which puts the Senate pro tempore in as acting president. On January 20, 2025, that will be Republican Senator Chuck Grassley.
President-elect Donald Trump, despite not being happy with Johnson’s performance during the spending fiasco, has continued to endorse Johnson for Speaker. In a Monday post on Truth Social, he said Johnson “has my Complete & Total Endorsement.”
No other GOP lawmakers have definitively stated whether they will reject Johnson. But there are indications that some might go in that direction. Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN) said she thinks “a lot of other people are interested” in the position and that she is not committed to supporting the Speaker.
If Johnson fails to win enough votes, it could end up dragging the nation through yet another drawn-out battle to determine who holds the gavel next. If it postpones Trump taking office, it would certainly not be a good look, which is probably why he endorsed Johnson again. It wouldn’t exactly be the best way for the president-elect to start his second term, would it?
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