President-elect Donald Trump put down his 9 iron and picked up his phone on Friday to convince Republican holdouts to vote for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
Trump, 78, was apparently on the golf course, mid-round, when he spoke to two GOP lawmakers who initially voted against having Johnson serve another term as House speaker, Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) — one of the holdouts — told CNN.
“He said, ‘Look, I’m in the middle of a golf game.’ That was the first time I talked to him,’” Norman said of his conversation with the incoming commander in chief.
“He said, ‘Well, you did vote for Nikki Haley.’ I said, ‘Yes, sir, I did. We’re with you now.’ And I said, ‘We will be with Mike Johnson,’” Norman added.
The South Carolina Republican further revealed that after Johnson was re-elected to the speakership post, Trump pledged to have conservative lawmakers, like Norman, “at the table in negotiations” on policy decisions.
Norman was one of three House Republicans — along with Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Keith Self (R-Texas) — who initially refused to vote for Johnson on the first ballot.
Norman opted to vote for Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio); Self voted for Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.); and Massie voted for Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.).
However, Norman and Self changed their votes at the last minute after conferencing with Trump.
Trump spoke to Norman and Self on speakerphone after being brought in by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), according to Fox News.
The incoming president said it would be “disrespectful” to voters to have the speaker vote go into a second or third ballot, adding that it would also be “disrespectful to me.”
“Fellas, we have a lot to do. Let’s get to it,” Trump told the members, per Fox News.
Massie, who had declared before the noon vote kicked off that he wouldn’t be casting his ballot for the incumbent speaker under any circumstances, did not flip his vote.
“Congratulations to Speaker Mike Johnson for receiving an unprecedented Vote of Confidence in Congress,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“Mike will be a Great Speaker, and our Country will be the beneficiary. The People of America have waited four years for Common Sense, Strength, and Leadership. They’ll get it now, and America will be greater than ever before!”
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