House Speaker Mike Johnson has a very interesting news diet.
He loves to comment on news about President Donald Trump when he believes his Dear Leader has done something positive. But when Trump behaves badly … well, Johnson conveniently never seems to have seen those reports.
Take a look at this interaction from a news conference Johnson gave on Monday.
"Last week, you came here to these mics and you were very critical of [former President] Joe Biden's use of the autopen, his pardons—you said he didn’t even know who he was pardoning. But last night on ‘60 Minutes,’ … Trump admitted not knowing he pardoned a crypto billionaire who pleaded guilty to money laundering. Does that also concern you?" CNN's Manu Raju asked Johnson, referring to Trump's pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, whom Trump's sons do millions in business with.
"I don’t know anything about that. I didn't see the interview. You have to ask the president about that," Johnson replied before quickly calling on another reporter.
Johnson obviously didn't want to respond to Raju because there is no way to respond without looking like a blatant hypocrite.
But the media lets Johnson get away with these unbelievable attempts at plausible deniability, so Johnson keeps using the excuse.
Last week, for example, Johnson refused to comment on whether he thought it was okay for Trump's immigration agents to shoot members of the clergy in the face with pepper balls, which happened recently in Chicago at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility.
“I can't comment on any of those instances. I haven't seen or heard any of those videos," Johnson told reporters.
Then there was this doozy earlier in October, when reporters asked Johnson if he approved of Trump attempting to shakedown $230 million in taxpayer dollars from his Department of Justice as some sort of restitution for the justified investigations that Trump faced.
"I don’t know the details about that. I just read it. I didn't talk to him about that," Johnson said at a news conference on Capitol Hill, though you don't need many details to know whether it’s acceptable for the president to get his own Department of Justice to pay him $230 million in taxpayer funds.
Reporters pressed Johnson on the attempted shakedown a day later, giving Johnson another 24 hours to come up with his thoughts on the situation. But Johnson again played dumb.
“I'm not trying to dodge a question. I haven’t had time to get the details. It’s still on my things-to-do list,” Johnson replied.
On Oct. 13, reporters asked Johnson whether he was okay with the Trump administration firing federal employees who help students with special needs. But you guessed it—Johnson didn't reply, because he said he hadn't seen the report.
"I haven't seen the specifics of that, and I don't know," Johnson said.
Then, when the Wall Street Journal posted the image of Trump's apparent birthday message to accused pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, Johnson somehow claimed to have not seen that, either.
"I’ve heard about it. But no," Johnson told reporters of whether he saw the birthday note. "And the White House says it’s not true."
Wondering if Johnson supported Trump accepting a $400 million “gift” from Qatar in the form of a luxury jet? Johnson hadn’t seen enough details to comment.
“Look, I've been a little busy on reconciliation, so I'm not following all the twists and turns of the Qatar jet. I’ve certainly heard about it. My understanding is it's not a personal gift to the president, it’s a gift to the United States, and other nations give us gifts all the time,” Johnson said in May.
It’s impossible to believe the man third in line for the presidency—whose staffers brief him on the news of the day—hasn’t seen only the news that is not good for Trump.
But Republicans have been using this excuse for years now, after realizing that few reporters question their ridiculous lying and that they can get away with not answering for their Dear Leader’s corrupt and despicable actions if they say they simply haven’t seen the reports.
The silver lining, however, is that the public has seen Trump’s actions—and they don’t like them.
Trump’s approval rating is now at the lowest level it’s been since he retook office in January, according to election analyst Nate Silver’s polling average.
If voters punish Republicans accordingly at the ballot box next year, Johnson and his party might politically benefit from distancing themselves from Trump and his nakedly corrupt actions.
But Republicans like Johnson fear Trump’s wrath if they dare to criticize him.
So, rather than get answers, we get implausible excuses that they haven’t seen the news. Cowards.
