Mike Johnson is never the one to know anything that’s going on around him. But this time, he somehow knew and still chose the wrong side. Amid Trump’s call for an arrest and trial of six democrats, Johnson backed him with the worst arguments ever.
Donald Trump detests hearing a “no,” and he proved it Thursday. After six Democrats posted a video advising military and intelligence officers to disobey unlawful orders, Trump went into a fit. In a series of posts and re-posts on his favorite ranting ground, Truth Social, he called it “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR.” But the phrase was followed by a horrific call, “punishable by DEATH!”
Instead of calling out the president for his violent remarks, his goons joined in to defend him. First in the line was, of course, House Speaker Mike Johnson. He refused to speak about Trump’s posts and only attacked the democratic men who made the video. Calling it “wildly inappropriate” and “dangerous,” he completely missed the point of the video and framed it otherwise.
“You have leading members of Congress telling troops to disobey orders,” he said, calling it “unprecedented in American history.” Johnson even gave a personal touch to his nonsensical answer and continued,
As the father of a young man who is at the Naval Academy, going to be joining the service, I know young soldiers, airmen, sailors, they don’t need that kind of nonsense from people in Congress.
But if you’ve actually seen the video, the men clearly noted, “Our laws are clear, you can refuse illegal orders” (via Politico). Emphasis on “illegal.” Yet, Trump’s men are dead set on making it look like a call for rebellion and treason.
On the contrary, Trump’s re-posts included a call for hanging those democrats. “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD,” it read. Yet, Johnson failed to note the unconstitutionality in that.
His excuse for Trump? “What I read was that he was defining the crime of sedition… that is a factual statement.” Sorry, but anyone with eyes and two brain cells can deduce what that was, Johnson. And it was not a random lesson on what sedition means.
Doubling down, Johnson turned the question around to attack the Democrats again. This time, he positioned their video as a “threat to national security.”
“We have got to raise the bar in Congress. This is out of control and is wildly inappropriate. And for a senator like Mark Kelly or any member of Congress in the House or Senate to be engaged in that kind of talk is to me just so beyond the pale.”
At this point, it’s plainly funny. The House Speaker is suggesting that encouraging troops not to follow orders that break the law is “beyond the pale.” Should the military and intelligence officers act like the President’s personal army instead?
And after dropping such bombs on Democrats for the video, he still did not criticize Trump. Later in the day, Johnson clarified that he doesn’t think “these are crimes punishable by death.” He admitted that “the words that the president chose are not the ones that I would use.” Yet, there were no words of condemnation for Trump’s violent calls from him.
What’s sad is that despite being the House Speaker, he refused to stand up for his congressmen. He chose to get fed in Trump’s crib instead.
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