He won’t be better or worse than any other speaker---it is the HFC setting the agenda.

Maybe that’s the entire point. Washington has faced divided government before, but the extent to which the House Speaker is now beholden to a far-right flank is new. Perhaps it doesn’t even matter who actually holds the gavel. The real power in the House rests with the handful of lawmakers who now feel plenty aggrieved over broken rules that, frankly, have never been made public. They have now shown they will tank even low-stakes PR stunts to get their leadership’s attention, even if it dooms a bill they actually like. For them, roughing up a Speaker to remind him that he needs them on even the most routine moves is a much more appealing prize, and it’s one they can get almost any time on a lark.