In what felt like a political rendition of Survivor, House Republicans crowned Mike Johnson as Speaker of the House, but not without playing games first.

The spectacle included Democrat members unified and voting for New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries – while Republican members refused to vote when called, dragged out the process longer than necessary, and three rogue lawmakers cast their votes for someone other than Johnson. That resulted in Johnson not getting enough votes for Speaker.

The drama hit its peak during a huddle with Johnson himself while the House Clerk counted the votes in an effort to finalize the results. During the brief recess, it appears that a well-timed call from former President Trump (hopefully filled with colorful language) seemed to work its magic and Johnson became the 56th Speaker of the House.

The two obscure Republicans – Ralph Norman of South Carolina and Keith Self of Texas – in the end flipped their votes to Johnson. This shift gave Johnson just enough support (218 to 215) to technically clinch the gavel on the “first” round of voting. Meanwhile, Republican Thomas Massie of Kentucky held firm and refused to back Johnson.

The whole fiasco was a little unsettling and (IMO) a preview of what is to come when the Democrats stick together and the Republicans don’t. Good luck to Trump on herding the Congressional cats to get his agenda passed. We’re probably going to have to do a LOT of primary-threatening to get the idiots to do what Trump needs to get done.