Mike Johnson: The Man Who Knew Too Little
When all non-essential government services were suspended in early October, that also seemed to include House Speaker Mike Johnson’s brain-processing power. But unlike the rest of the government, the Louisiana Republican has no intention of rekindling it.
Take for example Johnson’s recent non-response to growing calls for the Pentagon to provide footage of the US military launching a second strike against a suspected drug-trafficking ship. When asked directly on December 2 whether he thought the Department of Defense should release the never-before-seen video, Johnson replied that it would not “prejudge” whether the strikes had violated any laws. He then pointed out that he was “pretty busy yesterday” and “didn’t follow the news much.”
This particular tic first became noticeable when Johnson began giving daily press conferences about the so-called “Stop the Democrats” in October. The problem was not only that the speaker claimed to know nothing about his own government, but that he insisted on answering questions anyway. After shamelessly claiming his own ignorance, Johnson would then distance political discourse from reality.
There were several times when Johnson seemed to think he could just pretend not to read the news — particularly when it came to turning a blind eye to the abuses of Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown.
At the end of October, Johnson claimed he could not comment on a Presbyterian minister who was shot in the face with a pepper ball by federal immigration agents during an anti-ICE protest near Chicago. “I haven’t seen or heard any of those videos,” Johnson said, even though he had been interviewed two weeks earlier. asked directly about the incident. At the time, Johnson responded, “I haven’t seen them cross the line yet,” quickly accusing the protesters of violence.
