Trump taps into running GOP joke that he’s the real House speaker

Reese Gorman's new report for NOTUS centers discusses Speaker Mike Johnson ceding his job to President Donald Trump.

According to the piece, posted Monday, Johnson relies so much on Trump that the president is the one who actually runs the House. Trump is in on the joke, too.

“I have two jobs: being president and being speaker,” Trump once teased Johnson in front of other members of Congress. Trump's mockery stems from Johnson's failure to control his caucus and his desperate search for help from the president.

The House is narrowly divided between the two parties, but Johnson has also faced members who are further to the right than the president and those with a more libertarian slant. Instead of working with Democrats for legislation, Johnson has called on Trump to twist arms. It usually involves Trump berating them. Typically, the House whip is responsible for that job. The job is currently held by Tom Emmer (R-Minn.).

Last year, Trump on one of his calls with Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.), who was in the cloakroom. Spartz was crying on the phone and as she walked away, two sources told NOTUS. Trump was on speakerphone, evidently still talking to other Republicans.

“I have no f—— idea what she just said," Trump said to the other members.

Puck News reported on the incident in February 2025, saying that Trump was screaming that Spartz was a "fake Republican." But Spartz said that Trump had promised to "save healthcare." Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) also got a call from the president after indicating he was a "no" vote.

In the end, legislation passed by the GOP in the past year hasn't garnered much public support, according to Pew Research.

The report cited two sources who said they were told to check with the White House before proposing legislation.

One House Republican blasted it when speaking to NOTUS as "a total shirking of responsibilities to the White House. Everything has to be preordained and pre-blessed, and there’s very little that we’re able to have our own will on. We should be empowered to pass our own priorities, not just follow what the mandate of the day is.”

One GOP aide thinks it's fine to rely on Trump.

“Given that the president has to sign the bills that Congress passes for them to become law, it stands to reason that the White House would have input into and help pass the legislative agenda that Republican House Members and the President ran on and that 77.3 million Americans voted for,” the aide said.

The 119th Congress is coming close to setting a record for the most "do-nothing Congress" in over 150 years. While previous congresses have been mocked as "do-nothing Congress," under a unified GOP government, legislation has come to a crawl. In the 118th Congress, which had Republicans in Congress and Democrats in the U.S. Senate and the White House, they only passed 158 bills in two years. Typically, there are 300 to 600. To find less, one would have to go back 150 years, according to reports.

The 119th Congress has enacted 95 public laws and two private laws.

The White House told NOTUS that its overly-involved influence has ensured things stay on the right track. This as a record number of incumbents announced their retirement.

“Speaker Johnson is proud to have a strong and productive working relationship with the President that has delivered countless positive legislative results for the American people, in spite of the razor-thin margin of the House majority — including lower taxes, secure borders, reduced crime, a return to American energy dominance, massive reductions in burdensome regulations, fraud, waste and abuse, and so much more,” Johnson's spokesperson said.

When Johnson or the White House tried to block bills from the floor that were unflattering to the president, GOP members joined with Democrats to force a vote.

“The speaker has felt like, since they’re from the same party, there’s not a need for checks and balances. I disagree,” complained Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon (R), who is leaving Congress at the end of the year. “I think we could have provided more feedback on tariffs, Ukraine and other things, like the ballroom.”

Other members told NOTUS don't know of anyone else who could do much better than Johnson.

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