Well, howdy there, Internet people? It's Bell again. So today, we're going to talk about Johnson

keeping his speakership and the cost to Trump. So, the vote took place and a lot of reporting

is saying that Johnson got his speakership on the first round of voting, which is true in a technical sense. But that

also required keeping that round open to allow members to change their votes. In the first pass

through, three Republicans voted against Johnson, Massey of Kentucky, Norman of South Carolina, and Self of Texas,

voted in opposition and selected other Republicans as their preferred speaker.

Six others held their vote and didn't vote for anybody. But we'll come back to those and why they matter in a minute.

Once it became apparent, Johnson couldn't win. Trump interrupted his golf game to get on the

phone and start calling during the vote. He called one representative and asked them to hand

the phone to Representative Norman.

That apparently wasn't enough, and Johnson went into the cloakroom with Norman and South,

along with a couple of far-right figures. Trump had to get on the phone again.

After a bit of discussion, the members emerged from the cloak room, and Norman and self switched their votes to be in favor of Johnson.

What did Johnson promise?

Well, Johnson played the holdouts on one issue.

He promised an independent panel of experts to work with the Department of Government Efficiency and Congress to implement spending reforms.

Yeah.

So now there will be two independent advisory panels on spending that don't actually have any power.

That doesn't seem very efficient. Johnson is under no obligation

to follow the advice, but the Fiscal Hawk faction signaled something during the vote that many

might have missed. In an attempt to make sure he didn't end up McCarthyed, Johnson changed the rules and a motion to vacate,

which could oust him, now requires nine Republican representatives instead of just one.

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