Johnson finally squeaks it out
By 
Two prodigal sons from the Nihilist Caucus ultimately came home:
Speaker Mike Johnson on Friday salvaged his bid to win another term in a dramatic turn on the House floor after he won over a pair of conservative holdouts who initially opposed him, denying him the majority needed to prevail.
As the vote was held open well past the point when every member had voted, Mr. Johnson huddled off the House floor with the hard-liners who had refused to back him.
Minutes after Mr. Johnson and the holdouts returned to the floor, two of them — Representatives Keith Self of Texas and Ralph Norman of South Carolina — strode to the center of the chamber and changed their votes, handing the Louisiana Republican the support necessary to win another term as Republicans stood and applauded.
Ultimately only one Republican, Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, opposed Mr. Johnson’s bid for re-election.
The vote was tense and confusing on the House floor, after a clutch of conservatives initially withheld their votes for Mr. Johnson, only to later reverse course and vote for him.
Though Mr. Johnson ultimately clinched the gavel, the scene that played out during the voting reflected the deep divisions within Republican ranks. In addition to the defectors who initially voted for others, several more far-right G.O.P. members at first withheld their votes for Mr. Johnson, staring straight ahead silently as their names were called, in a clear rebuke to the Louisiana Republican that for a time made it appear as if Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the Democratic leader, was on track to prevail.
The one bit of good news here is that it’s going to be difficult for this Republican trifecta to pass major legislation that doesn’t involve upper-class tax cuts, The bad news is that this is going to encourage more unilateralism from Trump, and the Supreme Court is about to give more more generous readings to statutes that delegate power.