Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson will not be attending the AmFest on Friday, Johnson’s office confirmed to the Daily Caller.
Johnson cancelled his appearance at the Turning Point USA event in Arizona, which President-elect Trump and Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson will be attending, Real Clear Politics’ Philip Wegmann first reported Thursday.
Johnson has been facing backlash since proposing and supporting the continuing resolution (CR) bill to fund the government.
Speaker Johnson has cancelled his Friday appearance at TPUSA’s AmFest in Arizona, per multiple sources, as Congress scrambles to pass a CR and avoid government shutdown.
— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) December 19, 2024
Johnson’s pull out may be because he has a looming government shutdown to try to avoid. It also occurs after potentially the highest level of recrimination he’s faced in his 14 months as House speaker.
At the center of the scrutiny is the 1,547-page CR bill meant to fund the government through a looming shutdown and into March 2025.
Johnson previously promised to end the “terrible tradition” of massive Christmas omnibus bills. A number of Republicans criticized his CR for pork barrel spending provisions and other specifications that go against much of the party’s wishes. (RELATED: ROOKE: House Speaker Gives Tone Deaf Speech Defending The Swamp’s Last Funding Stunt Before Trump Comes Home)
Some of those expenditures included funding for the Global Engagement Center (GEC), an agency which spurred mass censorship of conservative news outlets, according to reporting from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Other provisions in the bill included codifying a language change for referring to homeless people, mandating a change in the nomenclature to “Individuals experiencing homelessness.”
7/x Adults and children won’t be homeless anymore, because…..we’ll just call them something else. pic.twitter.com/YeZfZIpYH3
— Small Gov Lizard (@smallgovlizard) December 18, 2024
Strong opposition to the bill came from Trump allies, like Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, as well as a large host of conservative lawmakers.
“It’s full of excessive spending, special interest giveaways & pork barrel politics. If Congress wants to get serious about government efficiency, they should VOTE NO,” Ramaswamy tweeted Thursday.
Musk railed heavily against the bill Wednesday on X as well, writing, “THIS CRIMINAL BILL MUST NOT PASS,” while enthusiastically reposting tweets from officials who claimed they would not vote for it.
THIS CRIMINAL BILL MUST NOT PASS https://t.co/RlD3lNLoCL
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2024
The backlash culminated in a joint statement from Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance.
“Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025. The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling. Anything else is a betrayal of our country,” the pair wrote.
A statement from President Donald J. Trump and Vice President-Elect JD Vance:
The most foolish and inept thing ever done by Congressional Republicans was allowing our country to hit the debt ceiling in 2025. It was a mistake and is now something that must be addressed.…
— JD Vance (@JDVance) December 18, 2024
Musk and other’s pressure campaign seemed to work, as House Republicans later scrapped the bill.
In the wake of the bill’s failure, some Trump allies called for Johnson’s removal as speaker.
“He’s got to go, he’s got to go. People say President Trump supports him. President Trump supports him until he doesn’t support him,” former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon said Wednesday.
Steve Bannon: Mike Johnson Has Got To Go pic.twitter.com/NoDWIGzCBW
— Bannon’s WarRoom (@Bannons_WarRoom) December 18, 2024
Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie went so far as to say he won’t be supporting Johnson for speaker.
“I’ll vote for somebody else,” Massie said to Politico.
Some, like Republican Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Mike Lee of Utah, even floated Musk as a Johnson replacement.
The Speaker of the House need not be a member of Congress . . .
Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk . . . think about it . . . nothing’s impossible. (not to mention the joy at seeing the collective establishment, aka ‘uniparty,’ lose their ever-lovin’…
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 19, 2024
With the failure to pass a CR on Wednesday, the House has until Friday evening to fund the government or face a shutdown.