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House Speaker Mike Johnson’s best chance to keep the gavel is to allow House Democrats to vote for him, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) told reporters Friday.

If Democrats, along with some establishment Republicans, enable Johnson to retain the Speakership, he would be in a power sharing agreement with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who would demand something of Johnson in return for Democrat votes.

A power sharing agreement in the House would seem unpalatable for President-elect Donald Trump, who won a landslide election to implement his agenda, not the agenda of Jeffries or the establishment.

“There may be an effort to blow everything up but I don’t think — I think the Democrats are smarter than that,” Romney told reporters of Johnson’s ability to survive with Democrat support. “They’d give him support.”

Johnson’s Speakership, according to Romney’s forecast, appears to be in an untenable position: Johnson either accepts Democrat votes to remain Speaker, dismissing Trump’s mandate and infuriating the Republican base, or forgoes standing for re-election.

Johnson can only lose one House Republican without a single Democrat vote. Up to 25 House Republicans are possibly voting against Johnson for Speaker, a senior House GOP staffer told Breitbart News’s Matt Boyle.

Trump appears to have deteriorating confidence in Johnson. He began on Thursday to move against him by not committing to Johnson remaining Speaker.

Rumors are swirling in Washington about whether Trump set Johnson up to fail in order for House Republicans to unite behind a new leader.

The Speakership election is set for January 3.

Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former RNC War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.