There was no shortage of ugly rhetoric at Donald Trump’s event at Madison Square Garden, but one of the comments that sparked conversation had nothing to do with racism or bigotry. Instead, it related to an unscripted moment about former President and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.

“We have to make sure that the members of Congress are elected and that the senators are elected because we can take the Senate pretty easily, and I think with our little secret we’ll do very well with the House, right? Our little secret has a big impact,” Trump said as he looked toward the Louisiana congressman.

The former president added, as he appeared to point to the Speaker of the House of Representatives: “He and I have a secret. We will tell you what it is when the race is over.”

To say the least, this caused some unrest, especially among Democratic officials. The anxiety didn’t go away when the Republican congressman confirmed that he and his party’s presidential candidate do indeed have a secret of sorts. “By definition, a secret should not be shared – and I have no intention of sharing this secret,” Johnson said in a statement.

Hours later, The Hill reported, the House speaker elaborated.

To be fair, it is possible that Trump and Johnson have some sort of “secret” related to the “tactic” of voting, although there is reason for some skepticism. After all, the Speaker of the House of Representatives doesn’t really play a major role in guiding his party’s GOTV efforts, so there’s no obvious reason why he and the former president would need to reach a confidential arrangement.

As for Johnson’s suggestion that there is no real need for research, perhaps he is unaware of the wider context. The New York Times reported on the worst-case scenario in Democrats’ minds: “It’s a scenario in which Mr. Johnson, who worked with Mr. Trump to undermine the 2020 election results, would once again be in cahoots with the former president to steal the election and stop the certification of the results on January 6, 2025, should Vice President Kamala Harris win.”

Look, this isn’t high school. It’s not like Trump told Johnson during homeroom which girl he has a crush on, and the congressman feels the need to keep his friend’s information hidden.

The stakes are much higher. A convicted felon is facing a federal indictment accusing him of, among other things, illegally trying to overturn an election. Johnson, meanwhile, helped lead an ill-fated effort to convince the Supreme Court to keep Trump in power despite the voters’ verdict, and voted with his party to block certification of the results of a free and fair election ways.

Johnson also repeated some of the wilder conspiracy theories about the race, and nearly four years later, the Louisiana Republican is still reluctant to acknowledge the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election.

It is against this backdrop that Trump and Johnson, by their own admission, have a “secret” regarding the election. What can go wrong? Actually, a little bit.