As Donald Trump walked into Madison Square Garden on a big fight night, you could almost miss the tortoise-shell glasses peeking over the president-elect’s shoulder, two fingers pointing amid the thunderous applause.
Others in Trump’s entourage might have been more recognizable to the Big Apple crowd at the Ultimate Fighting Championship brawl — the world’s richest man Elon Musk, musician Kid Rock, or UFC CEO Dana White. But House Speaker Mike Johnson was right there too, having the time of his life.
At the end of that “epic” mid-November weekend, he’d fly on Trump Force One, leaning over the seat backs with a close-lipped grin as Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr., Musk and Robert F Kennedy Jr. posed with their in-flight McDonald’s meals.
Johnson had reason to smile. Trump had bested Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris less than two weeks earlier. Johnson was headed toward another GOP majority of his own. And the Louisiana Republican, a self-described “nerd constitutional-law guy,” had become a fixture of Trump’s inner circle.
Now, as they head into two years of total Republican control over the federal government’s levers of power, the alliance between Johnson and Trump may prove to be one of the most important relationships in Washington.
As the leader of a chamber with a historically tiny margin of control, Johnson will be instrumental to accomplishing Trump’s agenda in the narrow window of opportunity provided by unified government. As the party boss with unshakable influence over the GOP grassroots – and, by extension, the congressional rank-and-file – Trump will be key in helping Johnson keep his job as speaker. Trump’s quixotic brand of politicking has already demonstrated what the next two years will be like, according to multiple lawmakers and congressional experts who spoke with USA TODAY: Trump can derail Johnson’s best laid plans, but Johnson may lose control without him.
Johnson “has correctly understood that he is only effective as a partner with Trump,” said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Georgia Republican who has been close with the president-elect throughout his political career. “Without Trump, you could never hold the Republicans together. That means there’s a good bit of give and take in that relationship.”