Has Mike Johnson Dumped Trump?

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) skipped a White House meeting Thursday — and sources say it wasn't an accident.

Two aides familiar with the cancellation told reporter Pablo Manríquez that Johnson flatly refused to attend, marking what may be the first time the Speaker has said no to Donald Trump.

That's no small thing. Since taking the gavel in 2023, Johnson has been one of Trump's most reliable allies on Capitol Hill — shepherding the president's agenda through a razor-thin majority with near-total loyalty. A CQ Roll Call vote study found House Republicans backed Trump's position on 95 percent of votes in 2025, the highest presidential support rate ever recorded. Johnson, who sets the floor schedule, was the engine behind that number.

A former White House official once summed up the dynamic bluntly: "Loyalty is always going to be chief among the things that Trump cares about, and Johnson has never wavered on that."

Until now, apparently.

Observers inside Washington took notice. The Independent's DC Bureau Chief Eric Michael Garcia framed the significance quickly: "John Thune being fed up with Trump is one thing. Mike Johnson is a whole other kettle of fish."

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Florida Biologist Wins $485,000 Settlement Over Charlie Kirk Post

Florida officials tried to destroy the life of one of their biologists and might well have succeeded had it not been for the ACLU. Brittney Brown won't be getting her job back, but will receive some compensation from the state.

Source: Associated Press

Florida officials will pay nearly half a million dollars to a biologist who was fired by a state agency for criticizing conservative activist Charlie Kirk on social media after his death.

The state’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission fired biologist Brittney Brown in September after she reposted a meme on her personal Instagram account that claimed Kirk wouldn’t care about children being shot in their classrooms. She filed a lawsuit seeking reinstatement, saying she struggled to find other work because the state agency is the regulatory body for her research specialization in bird conservation.

Brown on Thursday signed a $485,000 settlement agreement with agency directors that covers backpay, damages and attorney costs. She agreed as part of the deal to not seek future employment at the agency.

And this foolishness started as one might expect.

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Polis Pays The Price: Democrats Censure Governor For Letting Election Saboteur Walk

As it happens, Tina Peters didn't need Trump's fake pardon to get out of her nine-year sentence for felonies related to providing unauthorized access to voting equipment when she was the elected clerk and recorder of Mesa County. Democratic Gov. Jared Polis stepped in, and now she's due to be released on June 1st, even though she has shown little remorse for her lawless actions.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said his state will not release Peters after Trump announced he is pardoning her state-level convictions, then Polis changed all that, saying, "Clearly, her free speech -- however much we disagree with it -- was used as a factor in that sentencing."

However, Peters was convicted in August 2024 on seven of ten charges of engaging in a security breach to advance a false conspiracy theory of election fraud. That doesn't sound like a violation of her free speech rights, Jared. Still, he commuted her sentence.

And now he's facing consequences. Imagine that.

Nearly 90% of the Colorado Democratic Party's central committee voted to censure Polis, a formal rebuke that temporarily prohibits him from appearing or speaking at party events. Polis has dismissed the effort — driven by hundreds of fellow Democrats — as politically motivated, CBS reports.

Yeah, no.

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