What We're Watching

Trump bigfoots House Speaker Johnson

​Former President Donald Trump speaks during a rally ahead of the New Hampshire primary election, in Portsmouth, NH, on Jan.17, 2024.
Former President Donald Trump speaks during a rally ahead of the New Hampshire primary election, in Portsmouth, NH, on Jan.17, 2024.
REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz

On Sunday, the retirement of Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, will leave House Speaker Mike Johnson with the smallest House GOP majority in American history. For his part, Republican GOP front-runner Donald Trump knows weakness when he sees it, and the former president, fresh off a resounding victory in the Iowa caucuses, has made clear this week that he, not Johnson, will set the party’s 2024 congressional agenda.

“I do not think we should do a Border Deal, at all, unless we get EVERYTHING needed to shut down the INVASION of Millions & Millions of people, many from parts unknown, into our once great, but soon to be great again, Country!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account on Wednesday. That’s a clear message from Trump that Johnson must not cut a compromise deal with Senate Democrats that would provide money for both US southern border security and Ukraine’s continuing ability to repel Russia’s invasion.

Beginning with next Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary, Trump appears set to tighten his already strong election-year hold on the Republican Party, and Johnson’s negotiating leverage – with both Democrats and Trump – will only narrow. In the 10 months to Election Day, border security and Ukraine aid won’t be the only subjects on which Trump will call the legislative shots.

More For You

Trump, Putin, and Zelensky surrounded by tanks and negotiators.

America’s new National Security Strategy confirms what Europeans have feared for months: Washington now sees a strong, unified European Union as a problem to be solved, not an ally to be supported.

In this episode of Tools and Weapons, Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith sits down with Ed Policy, President and CEO of the Green Bay Packers, to discuss how purpose-driven leadership and innovation are shaping the future of one of the world’s most iconic sports franchises. Ed shares how technology and community-focused initiatives, from Titletown Tech to health and safety innovations on the field, are transforming not just the game of football, but the economy and culture of Green Bay itself. He explains how combining strategic vision with investment in local startups is keeping talent in the Midwest and creating opportunities that extend far beyond Lambeau Field.

Subscribe and find new episodes monthly, wherever you listen to podcasts.

Members of security forces stand guard outside a polliong station, a week late in a special election, after the local governing party kept voting closed on election day, amid accusations of sabotage and fraud, in a presidential race still too close to call as counting continues, in San Antonio de Flores, Honduras, December 7, 2025.
REUTERS/Leonel Estrada

More than a week after Hondurans cast their ballots in a presidential election, the country is still stuck in a potentially-dangerous post-election fog.