Trump says House Speaker Mike Johnson needs to be ‘tough’ to remain in leadership post

President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday that House Speaker Mike Johnson needs to act “decisively and tough” if he wants to remain in his position.

Speaking with Fox News Digital, Mr. Trump said Mr. Johnson will “easily remain speaker” if he acts properly and gets rid of “all of the traps being set by Democrats” in the stopgap measure Congress is trying to get passed by midnight Friday to avoid a government shutdown.

The latest continuing resolution, as Congress calls it, was killed Wednesday night after it was heavily criticized by Mr. Trump, House Republicans and Trump allies outside of Congress.

“Anybody that supports a bill that doesn’t take care of the Democrat quicksand known as the debt ceiling should be primaried and disposed of as quickly as possible,” Mr. Trump told the news outlet.

Vice President-elect J.D. Vance and GOP House members met Wednesday night with Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, about the contents of the stopgap measure.

Mr. Trump came out against the bill Wednesday, which imploded the more than 1,500-page bill.

“Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025. The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling. Anything else is a betrayal of our country…”  Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance posted Wednesday evening on Truth Social.

In another post later Wednesday, the president-elect said that “if Republicans try to pass a clean Continuing Resolution without all of the Democrat ’bells and whistles’ that will be so destructive to our Country, all it will do, after January 20th, is bring the mess of the Debt Limit into the Trump Administration, rather than allowing it to take place in the Biden Administration.”

Mr. Trump threatened that any Republicans who support a measure like that would be “primaried.”

The bill included government funding, along with disaster aid for those affected by hurricanes Helene and Milton. Deals for Democrats were also seen throughout the bill, along with a pay raise for lawmakers, among other provisions.