Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from Benjamin Johansen and producer Raymond Rapada. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Eli | Email Lauren Three weeks ago, there was a sense of schadenfreude inside the White House as House Republicans tossed KEVIN MCCARTHY from the speaker’s chair. On Wednesday, the election of Rep. MIKE JOHNSON to replace McCarthy produced an entirely different reaction: surprise and then resignation. Few, if any, individuals inside the White House have extensive experience working with Johnson, a relatively obscure congressman in his fourth term, known mainly for his conservative views, strong support for overturning Biden’s 2020 election, alliance with former President DONALD TRUMP and a friendly, modest demeanor. Johnson visited the White House in May to celebrate the Louisiana State University women’s basketball championship. But beyond that, he and the president haven’t really interacted. Until Wednesday, when JOE BIDEN called him shortly after his election. The relationship between a speaker and president from opposing parties hasn’t been close in decades. NANCY PELOSI disdained Trump and communication between them was nonexistent. The Biden White House had little trust in McCarthy. Neither PAUL RYAN nor JOHN BOEHNER were close with BARACK OBAMA. But, even by those standards, the Johnson-Biden dynamic will still represent a truly unique type of contrast. The men don’t just hail from different parts of the country, they’re polar opposites ideologically, 30 years apart in age, and worlds apart in political experience. Biden allies — like some senators — have spent the last 24 hours furiously Googling the Louisiana lawmaker and vetting his record. There had been concerns within the administration about the chaos that could ensue after McCarthy got the boot, according to a White House official, with the belief that the ensuing chaos would be bad for the nation. But the White House largely stayed out of the process, believing it didn’t have a role to play and that any interference from the president might only make the situation worse. Aides instead watched the drama closely, and made preparations for individual candidates as they emerged. Among them, House Majority Leader STEVE SCALISE was seen as the one with whom they were most likely to have constructive relations. The White House generally viewed Scalise as an established House leader and it was expected that there would be a continuation of the professional relationship they had with McCarthy, according to administration officials and aides on Capitol Hill granted anonymity to discuss internal conversations. There were also some preexisting back-channel relationships between Scalise’s office and Democrats in the administration, including OMB director SHALANDA YOUNG and campaign co-chair CEDRIC RICHMOND, both of whom hailed from Scalise’s home state of Louisiana. By contrast, Judiciary Chair JIM JORDAN’s candidacy was viewed with deep suspicion inside the administration, given his support for overturning the 2020 election and his role leading the nascent effort on Capitol Hill to impeach Biden. When his candidacy for speaker fizzled, there wasn’t just relief among Biden aides but a tinge of vindication, too. After a second referendum on Jordan's speakership candidacy failed, one Biden adviser gleefully texted: "Don't call for a comment right now. I am laughing so hard I can't speak." The third man selected as GOP speaker nominee — Majority Whip TOM EMMER — was seen as someone with leadership experience and a willingness to acknowledge the 2020 election results. But his stint as speaker-designee was so brief (a mere four hours) that honest assessments of it weren’t firmly formed. Instead, by week three of the process, Biden advisers had come to the belief that anyone who could win the speakership outright would likely be too weak to buck conservatives on issues like Ukraine funding and government funding unless the entire dynamics of the House GOP changed. They took note that Emmer, prior to his immolation, had sought to shore up his bid by aggressively combating allegations he disliked Trump. Still, not everyone is of the mindset that the Johnson-Biden dynamic will be akin to oil and water. Those relationships that Biden confidantes had with Scalise may still come in handy with Johnson, who is also from Louisiana and is expected to rely heavily on the majority leader, who will continue to serve at the No. 2 House Republican. And Rep. TROY CARTER, the only Democrat in the Louisiana delegation and someone who served with Johnson in the state legislature, said he expects Biden and Johnson to get along personally and professionally. Johnson, he said, won’t resort to “flame throwing and hand grenade launching.” “He is someone that ideologically, we couldn’t be further apart, but he’s a decent individual,” Carter said. “He’s a decent human being and one that is civil, respectful and one that I believe we can work with.” MESSAGE US — Are you ELISE GOUT, policy adviser for the Office of Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com. Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe here!
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