“The president called me when I was on the road, maybe a week ago or whenever this made news in the morning,” the Louisiana Republican said during his press briefing. “He said, ‘Mike, I got a great idea … how about a midterm convention?’”
And that idea, Johnson said, is “genius.”

The speaker added that Trump told him that a midterm convention had “never been done before like that” and that it would be “‘such a great rallying point for us in the fall right before the election to lead up to that, to the momentum that we have so much to sell and talk about and, and, and celebrate.’”

“Trump loves the big show,” Johnson said, adding that the president planned to consult Senate Majority Leader John Thune and new Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters on the convention plans.

“I think everybody’s on board,” said Johnson, adding that the news broke about the midterm convention idea shortly after the Speaker got off the phone with the president.