We may have a Speaker but we don’t have a podcast. Blame House Republicans. Much like last week, our incomparable Josh Marshall Podcast cohost Kate Riga has been on the Hill all day reporting. We’re a small team with many hats to wear but we’ll be back to our normal podcasting schedule next week.

If you’ve been following Kate’s liveblogging today and love her work, as well as her insights on the podcast, you should consider becoming a TPM member to help our team continue to grow!

Moments from now Mike Johnson of Louisiana will become Speaker of the House and I just found out that Johnson and his wife have a podcast about ‘religious conservatism’, basically a heavy focus on abortion bans, opposing gay marriage and the like. Before entering Congress Johnson was a ‘religious liberty’ activist. It’s on Apple Podcasts and Spotify and the rest. You have to figure that opposition researchers are going to be listening to it pretty closely. The first episode I’m listening to is Episode 12 “The Truth about January 6th that You’ve Never Been Told”. After that there’s Episode 14 “Post-Roe America: What Happens Now?” Johnson supports an absolute national ban on abortions.

It certainly *seems* – and I stress *seems* – like Republicans have finally managed to thread the Speaker needle and will elect Mike Johnson of Louisiana in a couple hours. When the caucus did a roll call late yesterday evening a few voted present but none voted against him. But 20 or so weren’t there. Those who were put on a big show of unity in a late evening press conference and the consensus seems to be that it’s happening. There’s a bit of uncertainty created by that non-trivial number not showing up for that final key vote. But no members have made any announcements or moves overnight or this morning that suggest they’re going to oppose Johnson on the floor or take any steps to halt his momentum.

My best guess is it probably happens. But given the events of the last three weeks we can’t be certain until we see the actual vote.

How did they finally pull this off?

Eight years ago Will Saletan said, “The GOP is a failed state. Donald Trump is its warlord.” There’s probably no short summary, phrase or aphorism I’ve repeated more times on TPM. Because it’s that good. Today we’re seeing another permutation and illustration of that enduring reality.

Yesterday and today the GOP went back to the well to find a completely new set of Speaker candidates and, they hoped, a new Speaker designee. After multiple rounds, Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota was elected as the caucus’s choice. He then asked for a roll call of who would actually vote for him on the House floor. He came up more than twenty votes short.

Was there a writers’ strike on this new episode of the Caucus series? Because this sounds like a crib from an episode that ran the weekend before last when just the same thing happened to Steve Scalise. Sure enough within an hour or so we’re now hearing chatter that only Rep. Mike Johnson (LA), the guy who lost in the final vote, could get to 217. So only the guy who just lost can hope to win. Got it? Again, it’s a script cribbed from ten days ago.

TPM Reader EK steps back and surveys the damage done by the trio of Trump lawyers pleading guilty:

My gosh. These are three big names. All three have now admitted to fraudulent claims of election theft. 

These are obviously major developments in the legal case against Trump. And that’s how this is largely being reported, as it should be. What I’m seeing less of, although maybe that will change now that we’ve got three, is just how damning this is to Trump’s continued claims of a stolen election.