Poor Little Mikey Johnson. Donald Trump’s favorite lackey and current Speaker of the House of Representatives has rocky seas ahead of him. Not only is he having trouble keeping his troops in line, but he is facing serious mutiny. And this time, it’s not the Freedom Caucus radicals causing the commotion. It is the female members of his caucus who have been ignored and passed over for committee assignments.
And with the imminent release of the Epstein files, the burner under Johnson’s seat will get immensely hot. And that’s not even taking into consideration the cessation of the Affordable Care Act subsidies, yesterday’s vote on federal employees’ collective bargaining rights, and the craziness of the midterm elections, which threatens to turn Trump into an early “lame duck” president.
Speaker Johnson Has a Problem with Women
Little Mikey is running afoul of the female Republican members of the House. And it’s not just the soon-to-be-departed Marjorie Taylor Greene who is relinquishing her seat next month due to threats she and her family have received from members of the president’s goon squad. Loose cannon Laura Boebert also bucked the president and Johnson when she signed the discharge petition to force the Justice Department to release the Epstein files.
But there are more powerful members who clearly have the speaker in their crosshairs. Trump favorite, Elise Stefanik, who is a candidate for Governor of New York, is fed up with Johnson’s dismissive lack of initiative in promoting women of the caucus into committee chair positions.
In fact, Stefanik told the Wall Street Journal. “Johnson certainly wouldn’t have the votes to be speaker if there was a roll-call vote tomorrow.” And now there are rumors that Greene is plotting to have Little Mikey removed from his post as speaker. Greene has so far denied these allegations.
ACA, Collective Bargaining, Stocks, and Other Landmines
Besides the chaos over the release of the Epstein files, Johnson is witnessing a revolt on several other hot-button issues. On Thursday, 20 Republicans joined Democrats in passing a bill that would overturn President Trump’s first-term executive order that stripped some federal employees of their collective bargaining rights. And pressure grows each day from moderate purple- and blue-state House members to hold a vote on extending the Affordable Care Act’s premium credits.
And Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida is bulldozing over the speaker, attempting to force a vote on a bipartisan bill that would prevent members of Congress from trading individual stocks. In all cases, the weapon of choice to move these bills forward is the rarely used discharge petition. Also used by members to force a vote on the Epstein files, the procedure allows a member to bring a bill to the floor for a vote with the support of 218 members of the House. For expediency, representatives are initiating these actions like a kid stuffing down candy.
The Pressure on Johnson is Self-Inflicted
Johnson has brought much of this trouble on himself due to his undying loyalty to the president. One reason Republicans are so sour about their prospects for success in next year’s midterm elections is voters’ anger over Congress’s inaction this year. The only meaningful pieces of legislation that Little Mikey could marshal through the House are Trump’s extension of tax cuts for the rich and the so-called Big Beautiful Bill that is already coming back to haunt vulnerable congressmembers who are up for election in 2026.
And to make matters worse, Johnson kept the House out of session for two months this fall to avoid having to act on the discharge petition on the Epstein files. His caucus was livid about this delay; scores of important legislation were put on hold, including time-critical action on next year’s budget.
Democrats are especially incensed over this because the recess prevented Rep. Adelita Grijalva of Arizona from being sworn in as a member of the House. This highly partisan act is one of the many reasons that Johnson’s hold on the Speaker position will collapse in the new year.
