House Republicans gave Mike Johnson the speaker's gavel on Friday – along with a warning. Nine GOP lawmakers at first either abstained from voting for Johnson or voted for a different person for speaker.

But Johnson is also in trouble because many of the key votes ostensibly for him look more like votes for the Republican agenda in spite of him. After the vote, leaders of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of about three dozen right-wing,

Johnson, of Louisiana, has been working diligently to prevent defeat, spending New Year’s Day at Mar-a-Lago as he positions himself alongside Trump. The speaker often portrays himself as the “quarterback” who will be executing the political plays called by the “coach,” the president-elect.