Donald Trump is hard to please. Has Mike Johnson cracked the code?

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump can be difficult to please. Even the most seasoned Republican politicians struggle to keep up with his constantly changing demands.

He's been known to blow up legislation, make surprise nominations, rage-post about sitting Republican lawmakers and retaliate by endorsing their primary opponents.

Only one GOP leader seems to have figured out how to handle him: House Speaker Mike Johnson, whose partnership with Trump has made for a consequential pairing, even as the GOP leader seems to be losing his grip on his own chamber of Congress.

A Washington outsider like Trump who was elected in 2016, Johnson, 54, of Louisiana, says the secret to their relationship is that it took time to develop – and still requires work to maintain.

"He trusts what I tell him," Johnson told USA TODAY in an exclusive sit-down interview. "He knows the challenge I have here with a small margin and we talk about that often."

The dynamic has been central to Republicans' ability to pass signature legislation in Trump's second term such as a tax cut and spending bill and a massive increase in funding for immigration enforcement. Trump has been effusive in his praise, calling Johnson an "incredible speaker" who will go down as one of the greatest House leaders. "He gets everything done," Trump said May 22.

But even Johnson is far from immune to the bruising consequences of dealing with a president who critics say treats Congress as an obstacle, instead of an equal - frequently flexing his power through executive orders.

Two weeks ago, Trump scrapped a signing ceremony for a landmark affordable housing bill at the last minute over an unrelated dispute with the Senate. As aides at the Capitol were actively building a stage for the celebratory event, meant to communicate a big cost-of-living win to voters, the president abruptly canceled it. He's refused to sign the bipartisan legislation until Congress passes a voting restrictions bill called the SAVE America Act.

The housing debacle was one of several times recently that Trump suddenly threw a wrench in Republican leaders' plans. That unpredictability, coupled with Johnson's razor-thin voting margin, is testing the seemingly cozy relationship between the speaker and the president ahead of the midterms.

With just four months to go until Election Day, the House is having trouble with the basics of legislating – let alone moving the typical election-year messaging bills meant to drive up voter turnout. Amid a rebellion over the SAVE Act, Johnson lost control of the House floor for a second time this week, sending lawmakers home early for the July Fourth recess.

The speaker found himself caught once again between the challenges of managing his own members – some of whom have their own special relationships with the president – and a dominant party leader, who some Republicans acknowledge doesn't always put the GOP's needs before his own wants.

Rep. Mike Haridopolos, R-Florida, called Johnson a "patient" man and said he's working hard to get Republicans in Washington on the same page. Part of that process, Haridopolos told USA TODAY, includes Johnson doing "everything in his power to maximize his relationship with the president." That includes visiting the White House multiple times a week, if that's what it takes.

"When he disagrees with the president, like he did on the housing bill, he'll go over and have that longer conversation," Haridopolos said.

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The Trump 'liaison'

Oval Office meetings have taken up a lot of Johnson's time lately.

Johnson revealed in the June 29 interview that he spent close to two hours with Trump at the White House earlier in the day, in addition to the hour he spent on the phone receiving a briefing on the Iran war from the president's staff.

"I take the responsibility very seriously, as sort of the, in a way, the liaison between the legislative branch and the White House," Johnson told USA TODAY. "I put a lot of time into that because that's what's required."

Part of the goal has been mediation: A group of hardliners in the House has taken Trump's SAVE ultimatums as permission to effectively freeze the legislative agenda. On the same day as one of Johnson's recent White House huddles, Trump urged House Republicans to "unify." Giving up control of the legislative agenda would "make our outcomes worse," he said.

"No more grandstanding, please!" Trump wrote in a post to Truth Social.

The message wasn't exactly received. Led in part by Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who also has a relatively close relationship with Trump, GOP lawmakers spent the next week still refusing to accept Johnson's compromises to pass the SAVE America Act. (Others have also been mad about an unrelated border security bill.)

Among other election reforms, the bill would require documentary proof of citizenship and photo ID to vote. With little chance of surviving the Senate's 60-vote threshold known as the filibuster, Johnson has pledged to try and pass a version of it as a budget bill, which requires just a simple majority in the other chamber.

But that gambit is still a likely longshot. A separate pledge to merge SAVE with a must-pass defense policy bill hasn't satiated people like Luna, either.

"God bless him," Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told USA TODAY, referring to Johnson. Roy is among the Republicans that frequently withhold their votes to extract demands from GOP leadership.

"He's navigating a tough environment with a thin majority," Roy acknowledged. "It is a brutal job."

The Thune factor

As Trump's frustrations with Capitol Hill have ramped up over the last few months, his relationship with Johnson has stood in contrast compared to that of Congress' other top Republican: Senate Majority Leader John Thune.

The president has repeatedly pushed Thune to abolish the Senate filibuster, which the South Dakota Republican has said isn't possible. Trump has also urged him to fire the parliamentarian, a nonpartisan appointee who determines whether key parts of bills follow Senate rules. Thune can't do that, either.

And Trump wants the SAVE America Act passed in the Senate – even though Thune, who supports the legislation himself, has told the president he just doesn't have the votes.

Through it all, Trump has continued to publicly back Thune, who has widespread support among the Senate Republican conference. An aide to Thune said they regularly talk over phone or text. The two "respect one another immensely," according to Johnson, who has a weekly lunch with Thune. After a recent Capitol Hill lunch, the president referred to Thune as a good man and a "terrific guy."

That praise hasn't prevented the speaker from offering the occasional piece of advice to his Senate counterpart.

"I encourage both of those gentlemen to spend more time together," Johnson told USA TODAY. "I tell Leader Thune all the time that the relationship part of that's very important."

They'll have an opportunity to do just that when they watch the fireworks together at Mount Rushmore on July 3.

Zachary Schermele is the congressional correspondent for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.

Francesca Chambers is a White House correspondent for USA TODAY covering foreign policy, the State Department and U.S. presidential elections.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump is hard to please. Has Mike Johnson cracked the code?

Reporting by Francesca Chambers and Zachary Schermele, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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This story was originally published July 2, 2026 at 10:23 AM.