gavel

And that day could unfold in very different ways depending on who has the gavel.

If Johnson passes spending legislation with Democratic support, however, he will enrage the same hard-line conservatives who already wrenched the gavel away from Kevin McCarthy, the last speaker who disappointed them.

He, or she, who wields the gavel calls the tune.

In so many ways this convention has been a split-screen experience, depending whether you tuned in gavel to gavel or watched just the hour or so the major TV networks aired in prime time.

Johnson, who counts on the support of Trump and the Freedom Caucus to keep his gavel in a closely-divided House, apparently gave in to their demands.