House Speaker Mike Johnson has a revolt on his right flank, and by extension, so does Donald Trump. The former president has certainly tightened his grasp on the Republican Party as he seeks to return to the White House. All the same, his authority is not complete.

The sky is cloudless and blue on a warm April afternoon as a cheerful Mike Johnson, seated on a beige couch next to an unlit fireplace in an office still new to him, contemplates his demise, taking solace in Providence and repeating the words of John Quincy Adams – an illustration of his circumstances almost as much as a reluctant acceptance of fate: