It turns out that President-Elect Donald Trump managed to win more votes for House Speaker Mike Johnson while Trump was playing golf. 

U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), according to Fox News, revealed as much in a recent interview.

This all comes after the U.S. House of Representatives decided to vote in favor of Johnson continuing as the speaker. The vote, however, was not without incident, as some Republicans thought that the party ought to go in a different direction after some perceived failures by Johnson.

Norman was among the holdouts - at least at first.

Background

Last week, the House voted - 218 to 215 - in favor of Johnson continuing as its speaker. 218 is the minimum number of votes required for a congressman to be elected to that role.

Initially, there were several Republican holdouts, who wanted to see the party go in a different direction. This made things particularly interesting, for these holdouts continued to holdout despite the fact that Trump, the leader of the Republican Party, endorsed Johnson.

The Daily Wire reported:

At first, it looked as if Johnson just barely fell short of the threshold for victory in the first ballot. Massie backed Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN), who ran a short-lived campaign for the speakership after McCarthy was ousted. Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) picked Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who also tried to win the gavel during the 2023 vacuum and also faltered. And Rep. Keith Self (R-TX) voted for Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL). Several other Republicans initially declined to vote when their names were called, but ultimately backed Johnson at the end of roll call.

Several of the holdouts, however, came around to voting for Johnson, and, as we will see, it appears that Trump had something to do with this.

At the end of the day, Johnson won the speakership, and the only holdout to remain was U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY).

Trump makes it happen on the golf course

Among the holdouts that Trump got to was Norman, and Norman recently explained what caused him to change his mind.

Fox News reports, "While speaking to reporters Friday, Norman said Trump had called him more than once to try to influence his vote on the speaker."

The outlet then goes on to quote Norman.

He said:

He said, ‘Look, I’m in the middle of a golf game.' That was the first time I talked to him. He said, ‘Well, you did vote for Nikki Haley.’ I said, ‘Yes, sir, I did. We’re with you now.' And I said, 'We will be with Mike Johnson.'

Apparently, that was the end of Norman's holdout.