Speaker Mike Johnson is moving closer to Trump to save the Republican majority in the House of Representatives

HOLLAND, Ohio (AP) — Wherever the House speaker is Mike Johnson goes, Donald Trumpapparently, is not far away.

At a campaign stop for a Republicans in the House of Representatives As he campaigned outside Toledo, Johnson held up his cellphone, as he had done a dozen times before, and began filming: “Hey, Mr. President!” The crowd at the county's GOP headquarters, numbering several hundred people, knew what to do next.

“Will President Trump win Ohio?” They roared.

As Johnson travels the country trying to save his country Republicans in the House of Representatives With his majority and his own job as speaker, he has forged an ever closer bond with Trump, a once uneasy relationship that has become increasingly beneficial to both.

The speaker relies on the former president for his own political survival in the chaotic housebut he also presented himself as a partner of Trump and was willing to potentially do so question the election resultsand, if Trump retakes the White House, push a MAGA agenda in Congress. Trump said over the weekend that they had a “little secret” to victory, and Johnson, the supported a legal challenge When Trump lost the 2020 election, he didn't contradict him.

With the presidency and control of Congress at stake, Johnson, who is in many ways an accidental speaker of the House after taking office afterward Kevin McCarthy was driven out in a historic far-right revolt and is in a unique position to play a central role in both outcomes.

“We've been working on the assumption all along that we have to make it 'too big to manipulate' – and that's not just a slogan,” Johnson told the Associated Press between campaign stops in Ohio over the weekend.

If Trump wins, as Johnson expects, “this will all be an afterthought.”

And if not?

“We'll sort it out. We will follow it to the end.”

It's a remarkable journey for Johnson, 52, a religious rights attorney from Louisiana who was first elected alongside Trump in 2016 and is now second in line to the president's line of succession. He celebrated his first year in office last week before arriving in the Buckeye State, one of 230 cities in 40 states he has visited since taking the gavel.

To hear Johnson say, Trump is “the head coach” and “I'll be the quarterback,” and together they prepare to make the game “ambitious.” 100 day agenda with Republican senators — cutting taxes, securing the U.S. border and taking a “blowtorch” to federal regulations — as they sweep the White House and Congress.

While Johnson Heritage didn't call Project 2025He described a detailed proposal to push federal agencies out of Washington and reshuffle the federal workforce, pointing to the America First Policy Institute and other think tanks with their databases of potential hires.

“We will be able to bring the federal government under control,” Johnson said near Akron.

Johnson said he and Trump talked constantly about the plans.

“He thinks big about his legacy,” Johnson said. “He thinks big about what we can do.”

Days later, when health care came up in Pennsylvania, the speaker said, “No Obamacare” — although he later clarified that he was not promising to repeal the Affordable Care Act because it was “deeply rooted” in the health care system.

Trump played a large role at Johnson's campaign stops, even in his absence.

At the Saturday evening event for Republican Derek Merrin, who is challenging the longtime Democratic lawmaker. Marcy KapturJohnson said the district Trump held in the last election presents an opportunity as they work to preserve – or expand – the GOP's narrow majority power in the House.

Standing under the fluorescent lights in the Lucas County Republican Party office, Johnson told a story about telling Trump what a great candidate Merrin would be — “right out of the central cast,” he quipped, beginning to describe himself as a former candidate President – to the delight of the audience.

Describing himself as a “war speaker” because of the challenges at home and abroad, Johnson presents himself as cheerful and reserved even as he presents the election in the harshest terms.

“At the moment we are no longer in a battle, just between Rs and Ds, it goes deeper than that. “We are in a battle right now between two completely different visions,” he said.

“What we are preserving is, first and foremost, the Judeo-Christian foundation of our country,” he said to applause.

“Amen!” someone shouted from the crowd.

Later asked what role his faith plays in governing at a time Emerging Christian NationalismHe shrugged off the criticism as something sad and said he was no different than the Founding Fathers envisioned for the country's leaders.

“I think it’s reassuring to know,” he said, that leaders “believe that they answer to a higher power than just our civil institutions, right?”

The next morning, Sunday, Johnson found himself at, of all places, a brewery — the afternoon door had to be moved so he could get to New York City on time to speak at Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden.

Coffee instead of beer flowed as he campaigned for Republican candidate Kevin Coughlin, who is trying to unseat Democratic Rep. Emilia Sykes in the Akron area. A strengthening of the GOP ranks would provide Johnson with some relief in a turbulent House of Representatives with its narrow, hard-to-govern majority.

Johnson, who is not a tall man, joked that he used to be four inches taller, but “the job blew me away.”

It is likely, but far from certain, that Johnson will have enough support from within his own ranks to keep his job if Republicans retain the majority in the House. There are those who think differently, particularly from the far-right flanks.

But in the end, Trump could have the last word.