*Becomes a butt of joke in Washington DC, treated as an outcast in lame duck period, lobbying for Chief of Staff role to President Donald Trump early next year
*Congressmen Jim Jordan, Steve Scalise eye Minority Leader position in new session
*“I have informed my staffers, colleagues, I will not run for minority leader in the new Congress. I am still in shock at the humiliation in the election. We did our best, but our best was not good enough”– House Speaker Mike Johnson
*BY DR GEORGE ELIJAH OTUMU, EXECUTIVE EDITOR & GROUP MANAGING DIRECTOR, NAIJA STANDARD NEWSPAPER INC USA MEDIA GROUP
TENSION is presently building in the right-wing Republican party, over the heavy bruise it sustained in the just concluded midterm election when Democratic wave thundered through the storm and shattered every known ceiling of expectations, as the left-wing party in a smackdown emerged victorious down-the-ballot and shown like stars. Not only was the Republican party defeated, but it also accumulated and spent the highest funds in the 250 years of American politics. House Speaker, Mike Johnson has now been compelled by the hawks in the GOP to renege his political ambition in assuming the role of a Minority Leader in the new Congress come early January 2027. He dumped his aspiration and complied immediately.
*PICTURE: SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON PLANS TO BOW OUT OF LEADERSHIP ROLE IN NEW CONGRESS:
The GOP caucus led by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and House Judiciary chairman Jim Jordan had in a closed meeting confronted Johnson late hours of electioneering day and made him see the extent to which his leadership failed at a critical moment when the Republican candidates looked to him in the just concluded midterm election. Johnson was shouted down and told in the following words: “You are so incompetent, unfit to be our Minority Leader in the new Congress. You failed all of us and blew our trust in you”.
An eyewitness, aide of Congressman Jordan confided in this newspaper that Johnson was obviously ashamed of himself, “Speaker Johnson was scolded like a little boy, he felt embarrassed and ashamed because Jordan and Scalise were his major backbones in the House of Representatives, if not, he would have been forced to resign long ago. As Johnson was walking out of the secured meeting, he bowed his head in humiliation, having explained to them that he was still in shock at the disgrace meted out to the Republicans by the voters in the election. He said he did his best, but realise his best was not good enough to have brought about victory for the party”.
*PICTURE: SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON SHOWS NO HOPE OF LEADERSHIP ROLE IN NEW CONGRESS:
Johnson is now seeing as a butt of joke in Washington DC, treated as an outcast in lame duck period, while lobbying for Chief of Staff role to President Donald Trump early next year.
Sources in The WHIITE HOUSE told this newspaper that Speaker Johnson have spoken to President Trump on multiple occasions to kindly help convince Susie Wiles, the Chief of Staff to kindly step down for him so she could enjoy a deserve rest at home with her family as she had just recovered from Cancer.
Observers say that there is no likelihood that Wiles would agree to this suggestion from Johnson under any circumstance.
Speaker Johnson told staffers that he will not run for minority leader in the new Congress, according to a source familiar with the matter, stepping aside after the GOP’s extensive losses in the midterm elections.
Johnson made the announcement on a call Wednesday morning, the source said. CBS News projected that Democrats would take control of the House in January with a wide majority.
In a letter Wednesday, House Majority Leader Scalise and House Judiciary chairman Jordan told colleagues that they want the job.
*PICTURE: SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON FUMES AT THE LOSS OF REPUBLICAN PARTY IN MIDTERM ELECTION:
“My number one goal as Republican Leader will be to win back the majority and I expect you to hold me accountable to that mission,” Scalise wrote in a five-page letter. “To succeed, we will need to be effective in both the oversight and legislative fights ahead, but we will also need to lay out a clear and optimistic vision for America.”
Scalise argued that “tested leadership is needed now more than ever” to counter Democrats’ agenda and the onslaught of investigations.
“This is a staggering day for our Conference,” Jordan wrote in his two-page letter, which was obtained by CBS News. “For too long, we have operated without a clear plan to survive the hour or the day in front of us. That will not cut it against an emboldened and energetic Democrat majority.”
Jordan argued he was “battle-tested on the oversight front” -a priority as Democrats prepare an investigative blitz into the Trump administration.
“I know the Democrats’ playbook,” Jordan wrote. “I know what it will take to lead our Conference in the minority, to stay unified, and to coordinate and calibrate our response to the Democrats’ tactics.”
Republicans in the chamber plan to hold their leadership elections on Tuesday, Nov. 10, one week after Election Day, according to a GOP aide familiar with the planning.
Johnson had earlier told CBS News in October that he intended to remain as the party’s leader if Republicans lost control of the House.
But he had fueled speculation about his future in an another interview, when he suggested that he could go back to his hometown and start a lawn business if Republicans lost the majority.
*PICTURE: SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON STILL FUMING AT THE LOSS OF REPUBLICAN PARTY IN MIDTERM ELECTION:
“If Heaven forbid, if we lose this majority or whatever, I don’t know what my next chapter of life is. I’m just open to it,” he told Fox News on Oct. 8. “If God moves on our hearts and says we should go back to my hometown of Shreveport and start a lawn business, I’ll do that with equal fervor.”
Republicans first elected Johnson as speaker in October 2023 after weeks of chaos in the wake of Kevin McCarthy’s historic ouster. Johnson, a little-known lawmaker at the time, was the party’s fourth nominee, after Reps. Tom Emmer, Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan failed to unite the party’s various factions.
Republicans reelected him to the speakership in 2025.
“It’s been the honor of my life to serve as the 56th speaker of the House — not a position we ever aspired to or expected to have,” Johnson said in remarks from Shreveport, Louisiana, on Tuesday night.
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