A key to understanding the second Trump presidency is recognizing that Donald Trump isn’t working alone.

The self-created mythology that the president pushes is that he is a strong man. Trump has sold his supporters for years that he alone can fix everything, but the source of his power isn’t anything he has seized or done.

The key to Trump’s power is that Speaker Mike Johnson has gifted the power of a coequal branch of government to the president.

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The House has essentially been shut down by Speaker Johnson and converted into a body that is in session sparingly and does even less. In 2025, the House was in session for 87 days and passed 46 bills. Not 46 pieces of major legislation, but 46 pieces of legislation total.

During the first year of Joe Biden’s presidency, the House passed 85 bills and 1,234 laws.

Mike Johnson claims that the House is doing oversight work and members are working back in their districts, but House Republicans are increasingly using discharge petitions to get around Johnson’s unwillingness to have the House majority serve as anything other than a rubber stamp for Trump.

By next year at this time, the House could be restored to acting as a check on the presidency if Democrats win back the majority.

On ABC’s This Week, former Speaker Pelosi discussed the state of the House and what should be the top goal of a potential Democratic majority.

Pelosi was asked by ABC’s Jon Karl about blocking Trump and she answered,
Of course, they have the power of the purse. We have the power of the purse. He cannot — but right now, right now the Republicans and the Congress have abolished the Congress. They just do what the president insists that they do. That will be over.”

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