U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA), the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, just pulled out of a Turning Point USA event. 

This comes, according to Breitbart News, as Johnson continues to face significant criticism - from members of his own Republican Party - for his handling of bloated spending bill that Congress just passed.

The question, of course, is whether the two events are connected - that is, did Johnson pull out of the event because of the backlash?

You can probably guess the answer to that one.

The details:

On Friday, Turning Point USA, a conservative group, held an event in Phoenix, Arizona. The event featured most of the big stars in the Republican Party, including President-Elect Donald Trump, Tucker Carlson, Steve Bannon, and many others.

Johnson was indeed scheduled to also be part of the event. Johnson, as you, the reader, may know, has recently joined Trump in a number of public appearances.

Johnson, however, decided to pull out of the event.

"BREAKING: Mike Johnson has cancelled his AmFest appearance this weekend," Jack Posobiec reported.

BREAKING: Mike Johnson has cancelled his AmFest appearance this weekend

— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) December 19, 2024

What happened, Mike?

Speaker Johnson has been trying to lay low as the backlash against him has intensified. He has not explained why it is that he has pulled out of the Turning Point event, but it probably does not take a rocket scientist to figure this one out.

Johnson is currently facing a huge amount of criticism, including from many Republican members of Congress.

Here is how U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) put it:

I had hoped to see @SpeakerJohnson grow a spine, but this bill full of pork shows he is a weak, weak man.   The debt will continue to grow.  Ultimately the dollar will fail.  Democrats are clueless and Big Gov Republicans are complicit. A sad day for America.

The big question now is whether Johnson is going to survive as speaker of the House, and, if so, for how long. There have already been small attempts to remove Johnson, but thus far Trump has shut those attempts down by publicly backing Johnson.

Now, however, reports are suggesting that Trump is also not happy with Johnson. Trump himself has not indicated as much publicly, yet. But, if these reports are true, then one would think that it is only a matter of time before Johnson is removed and replaced.