First consider the uneasy re-election of Mike Johnson as House Speaker. Mr Johnson won near-unanimous support from his party on the first ballot, an improvement over the 15 rounds of voting it took for his Republican predecessor two years ago.

The win came after a tense stand-off with House Republicans and a phone call from Donald Trump to two members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus.

The House voted Friday to reelect Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., after multiple Republicans initially did not cast a vote for him in what became a tight contest spurred by pushback from a small, but influential group of Republicans against the speaker, leading to President-elect Donald Trump getting involved in discussions.