its leader, the other party votes for its leader, and you win outright and then you become the

speaker.

It usually works that way, Chris, but I would never expect anything to go quite so smoothly in

this House Republican conference, especially with the margins this narrow.

Even smaller margins in the last two years, and Republicans really struggled to govern.

And remember, getting elected speaker is going to be the easy part for Mike Johnson.

What comes next is going to be much tougher.

They've got another March 14th deadline to fund the government.

They're going to need to cut a deal with Democrats there.

They have a mid-year, sometime in the middle of the year, a deadline to extend the debt limit,

which is something that Republicans hate to do. And at the same time, they have to juggle, you know, confirming Trump's nominees through the Senate

and pass major party line bills on immigration, on energy, on tax cuts, extending the Trump tax cuts,

all with this tiny majority that, Chris, it's going to grow even smaller.

Matt Gates is not going to take his seat tomorrow. That's 219.

Michael Waltz and Elise Stefonic are leaving to join the Trump administration.

That means a 217 to 215 margin in the crucial early months of Trump's presidency.

That is a zero vote margin.

A single defection means a bill cannot pass with Democratic vote.

Look, they're making demands.

And past as prologue shows their right to do that,

especially in a world of these razor-thin margins.

They should ask because they know that the speaker is hemmed in anyway.

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