Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) may not be speaker after Friday’s vote—though he did get the nod from President-elect Donald Trump Monday morning. But even then, Trump spent most of his endorsement bragging about winning the election.

Johnson faces an uphill battle to retain the speakership on January 3’s scheduled vote as the new session of Congress begins. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) was the first Republican to say he would be voting against Johnson. Several other Republicans from the rightmost wing of the party have played coy about who they’ll vote for. On Monday morning, Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) criticized Johnson in a Fox and Friends appearance. She also neglected to say how she would be voting.

“If we don’t have a speaker with the courage, vision and the plan, and if Speaker Johnson wants to be speaker, then he needs to lay out the plan and commit to that plan, not like what he did last year,” she said, according to Mediaite.

READ MORE: House Could Be Heading For Another Speaker Battle As Dems Refuse to Help Mike Johnson

Posting to Truth Social, Trump gave Johnson his endorsement in a rambling message that treated the embattled speaker more like an afterthought. The vast majority of his 241-word statement was spent bragging about how Trump won the 2024 election and criticizing Democrats. Only 29 words—30 if you count “MAGA!!”—was spent on Johnson.

“We are the Party of COMMON SENSE, a primary reason that we WON, in a landslide, the magnificent and historic Presidential Election of 2024. ALL SEVEN SWING STATES, 312 ELECTORAL COLLEGE VOTES, AND THE POPULAR VOTE BY MILLIONS OF VOTERS (Despite large scale voter fraud taking place in numerous states, including California, where votes are ridiculously still being counted, or under review!), ALL WON WITH EASE, CALM, & PROFESSIONALISM,” Trump wrote in part, before condemning Democrats for “having wasted 2.5 Billion Dollars,” and accusing them of “illegally [buying] endorsements.”

“$11,000,000 to Beyoncé, who never even sang a song, $2,000,000 to Oprah for doing next to nothing, and even $500,000 to Reverend AL, a professional con man and instigator, who agreed to “interview” their “star spangled” candidates, Kamala and Joe,” Trump wrote.

Continuing to brag about how his campaign won despite spending “FAR LESS,” Trump eventually gets to the matter at hand.

“Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hard working, religious man. He will do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN. Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement. MAGA!!!” Trump wrote, the entirety of his comments on Johnson.

Though the Republicans maintained their control of the House, their majority is again razor-thin. If Johnson wants to remain speaker, he needs almost all of his party to vote for him. Johnson can only afford to lose two votes; assuming Massie is not swayed by Trump’s endorsement, that means if only one other Republican defects, he can’t win.

Johnson even reportedly asked Elon Musk if he was interested in becoming speaker, despite Musk not being elected to any position. Without a speaker, the House cannot function—and that includes being unable to certify the presidential election if no speaker is chosen by January 6.

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A three-judge panel has upheld the ruling that awarded E. Jean Carroll $5 million from President-elect Donald Trump. Two days prior, Trump shared a meme saying she should go to jail.

The ruling came from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Manhattan-based court upheld all of the original ruling. Trump’s lawyers had “not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings. Further, he has not carried his burden to show that any claimed error or combination of claimed errors affected his substantial rights as required to warrant a new trial,” the judges wrote.

Carroll said that Trump raped her at a Bergdorf Goodman store dressing room. Trump denied the claim, and accused Carroll of perpetrating a hoax to promote her book. He repeatedly said that not only did he not know her, she wasn’t his “type.”

READ MORE: E. Jean Carroll Talks About ‘Zero’ Trump in Court and Reveals How She Will Use Jury Award

The original ruling found that though the standard of “rape” was not reached, Trump was liable for sexual assault. The court awarded Carroll $2.02 million for sexual assault, plus an additional $2.98 million for defamation, according to Reuters.

In the appeal, Trump’s lawyers objected to allowing testimony from other women who said Trump sexually assaulted them. His lawyers also objected to allowing jurors to hear the infamous Access Hollywood tape that went public in 2016 where Trump bragged about being able to grab women by their genitalia. On the tape, Trump says, “When you’re a star, they let you do it.”

The appellate court ruled that this evidence was indeed legal for the jury to hear.

“This Court has long taken an ‘inclusionary’ approach… under which other act evidence is admissible unless it is introduced for the sole purpose of showing a defendant’s bad character,” the court wrote.

Two days before the ruling, Trump shared a meme on his Truth Social account, which suggested Carroll should go for jail for making false accusations.

The meme reshared by Trump on Saturday. (Screenshot/Truth Social)

The meme reads “Should a woman go to jail for falsely accusing a man of rape? Retruth if you want justice for Trump.”

This meme could prove problematic for Trump. Trump’s been hit by additional lawsuits from Carroll for defamation, when he continued to say she made up her assault story. This January, a court ruled that Trump had to pay her an additional $83.3 million for defamation; the appeal in that case is still pending.

The case was at the center of another scandal. This December, ABC News was criticized for deciding to settle with Trump for $16 million when he sued for defamation. That case hinged on a March 2024 report from George Stephanopoulos that said Trump had been found liable for rape.

Some legal experts criticized ABC News for settling, saying that it could have won the case. However, some reporting suggests that ABC News was worried about what could be uncovered during the discovery phase of the trial.

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While other companies like Ford, Harley Davidson and Home Depot are turning their back on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies, Costco fought back, saying that their success is due to “respect and inclusion.”

A group of shareholders brought a proposal to the board of big-box retailer Costco Wholesale, requesting the company drop its DEI policies. The proposal cites “a number of DEI-related lawsuits” and pointed to other large companies like Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft dumping DEI policies.

“It’s clear that DEI holds litigation, reputational and financial risks to the Company, and therefore financial risks to shareholders,” the proposal read.

READ MORE: Costco Customer Refuses to Wear a Mask Because He’s ‘Not a Sheep’ and ‘Woke Up in a Free Country’ – Gets Kicked Out

The Costco board unanimously rejected this and urged all shareholders to vote against the proposal.

“Our Board has considered this proposal and believes that our commitment to an enterprise rooted in respect and inclusion is appropriate and necessary. The report requested by this proposal would not provide meaningful additional information to our shareholders, and the Board thus unanimously recommends a vote AGAINST this proposal,” the board wrote.

“For our employees, these efforts are built around inclusion – having all of our employees feel valued and respected. Our efforts at diversity, equity and inclusion remind and reinforce with everyone at our Company the importance of creating opportunities for all. We believe that these efforts enhance our capacity to attract and retain employees who will help our business succeed. This capacity is critical because we owe our success to our now over 300,000 employees around the globe,” it added.

And Costco did not pull its punches while dismissing the anti-DEI proposal.

“The proponent professes concern about legal and financial risks to the Company and its shareholders associated with the diversity initiatives. The supporting statement demonstrates that it is the proponent and others that are responsible for inflicting burdens on companies with their challenges to longstanding diversity programs. The proponent’s broader agenda is not reducing risk for the Company but abolition of diversity initiatives,” the board wrote.

The proposal was initially brought to the board by the National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank, according to CNN.

While corporate skittishness may be driving other companies to drop DEI policies, MK Chin, an associate professor and Jerome Bess Faculty Fellow at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, said that DEI policies can lead to better employee bases.

“Millennials tend to prefer companies to stand up, and they expect—even require—CEOs to speak up on these socio-political issues. Millennials are becoming more of a center of this economy. They’re becoming more important customers with greater disposable income. Boomers are retiring or retired. Generation Xers are getting into their 50s and 60s. Considering this trend in demographics, pulling back from this initiative could have a long-term impact,” Chin told LGBTQ Nation.

“Attracting and retaining human capital might have a bigger impact. They are customers, but they’re also employees. And a good amount of research shows millennial employees tend to prioritize the importance of purpose and values at the workplace. So if dumping these DEI initiatives is perceived as ‘we’re not treating everyone as whole,’ that could hurt in terms of attracting and retaining higher-quality human capital,” Chin added.

Though other companies have been skittish when anti-DEI activists like the NCPPR have brought concerns, Costco appears to be bearing Chin’s thesis out. Costco is seen as one of the most progressive companies, with its many sustainability policies, urging suppliers to use more efficient packaging and partnering with organizations to make sure their products are sustainably sourced. It’s also known for high wages for its employees and for taking steps to reduce emissions and embrace green energy.

And it turns out, progressivism is profitable for the company, which regularly reports increases in profits.

Photo by Tony Webster via Wikimedia Commons