Playbook: “In-the-know sources tell us that Trump has privately pushed Johnson to quickly raise the debt ceiling since the election, hoping to clear the decks for his post-inauguration sprint. The speaker, we’re told, refused to take the request seriously — probably because he knows any debt ceiling increase would mean major concessions to Democrats, which could in turn mean kissing his speaker’s gavel goodbye.” “Johnson’s not wrong about that: Even before Trump made his debt ceiling demand, some conservatives were so peeved with the CR that they were threatening to oppose Johnson’s bid for speaker early next year.