Mike Johnson Gets Grilled on Fox News as GOP Disaster Looms

Hey, it's Will Salatan from the Bullwork. I don't know if you're a sports fan, but just in case your baseball team is out of the playoffs or your football team isn't doing so well, I'm going to show you a team that's doing even worse. It's the Republican Party. They are in big, big trouble in the polls. In fact, it's so bad that even their own fans on Fox News are asking them some really, really hard questions about why it's so bad. So I'm going to show you the House Republican leaders on right-wing TV struggling to answer the questions. Let's start with Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House. So last week, he did an interview on Fox News with Dana Perino. Now, she was George W. Bush's press secretary. So she has a long record as a Republican. But she did not mince words. Here is how she started the interview. Great to have you, Mr. Speaker. I'm going to give you a shot here to respond to some political analysts who say the House is gone. That the Dems are definitely going to be in the majority. Ouch. Gone. The House is gone. But she's right. The polling is really, really bad for Republicans. So Johnson tells her, don't believe the polls. We are doing great. I'm going to show you what Johnson said, but check out her comeback at the end. I'm telling you, I'm on the ground in the swing districts. I am seeing huge energy and crowds. It feels like 2024 to me. That's not registering in the polls, and we're fired up. For me, if you were more on offense, do you think you would be in Texas? Damn, that is harsh, but it's a great question. Look, Texas is a red state. It's a place where Republicans ought to be able to count on winning. The Speaker of the House should not have to be campaigning in Texas, but there he is. So he says, he says everything's going great, but his travel schedule says, actually, we're in big trouble. 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Taking care of my health shouldn't feel like another full time job, and Zock-Dock makes finding the right doctor a whole lot easier. Ready to be seen? Head to Zock-Dock.com/BullwareTakes to get started and check that appointment offer to you lists. That's Z-O-C-D-O-C dot com/BullwareTakes. So Johnson tells Perino, "Well, the only reason I'm in Texas is our candidates in the house have to run in districts that have been totally redrawn." In the deep red states, we've got to make sure that we defend the seat. Some of these districts have been redrawn, as you know, over the last cycle. And so you have new territory. We have even incumbents who have moved into areas that have brand new voters. Oh, oh, it's not our fault. No, no. Somebody redrew all these districts. You know who redrew the districts? Republicans. Republicans control Texas. They jerrymandered a whole bunch of districts to guarantee, to guarantee that they would win those seats. But it turns out they're not winning because they were counting on Latinos. To vote for them, and the Latinos are pissed. So the jerrymander failed. In fact, it might even backfire. So Perino follows up. You mentioned redistricting. Do you think, in the long run, it was worth it? Well, look, I think they're redistricting aligns more with where the states are. I think it will advantage us in the end. We'll pick up a handful of seats at least in that aftermath. A handful, maybe. That is not what Johnson expected when they did the jerrymander. And here's another sign that Republicans are in trouble. They're cutting back their spending in districts where they thought they could win, but apparently they no longer think they can. So Perino brings up two places where that's happening. She mentions a pack called CLF. I read this morning that CLF is pulling funds from and resources from those races. Do you think that they're not able to win those? Well, that's a super PAC's decision. I don't coordinate with them, but I'll tell you, I've been in both of their districts. You can discount the polls. The people are going to speak, and they're going to speak with a loud voice. Oh, that's just some pack, says Johnson. Oh, I don't coordinate with them, right? Let me tell you about CLF. It is the Congressional Leadership Fund. It is literally the super PAC of the Republican Congressional Leadership. Here's an article about it from Politico. That guy right there, Chris Winkleman, he is the president of CLF. He went to CLF from the National Republican Congressional Committee, where he was the executive director. And the article says right there, CLF is the largest House GOP super PAC, and it's endorsed by Speaker Mike Mike Johnson. And below that, it says Winkleman, quote, "is known to be close with Johnson." So when Johnson pretends that, well, he knows nothing about this PAC, and it's no big deal that they're pulling out, he is just shoveling a bunch of gumbo. So that was on Fox. Meanwhile, Johnson also sat down with Robert Costa, a reporter for CBS News, and Costa pointed out that Johnson is not the only one who's going to red states. Trump is doing the same thing. President Trump is also going to red states. He's going to the South. He's in Tennessee this weekend. What do you say to voters, Republicans? We say they like you, your values, your policies, but Republicans are in control of everything in Washington, and they're not happy with this economy. And Johnson answered that question by saying high gas prices have nothing to do with Republicans controlling the government. Everybody's frustrated about fuel prices, obviously, but that's not related to policies. It's not related to the Republicans in office. It's related to-- Hard to make that case, though, to a voter who knows Republicans are running the House and the Senate and the White House. Yes, but if I give them a couple of pure facts and they understand it, easily, this is related to the straight-up promotes. It is not yet resolved. Wait a minute. The high prices are due to the straight-up hormones. They're due to Iran closing off the flow of oil, and that has nothing to do with Republicans in Congress. Look, the Iran war is their war. It's their policy. And Johnson sits there and he pretends he's got nothing to do with it, and he's not alone. The other guys in the Republican leadership are also having a really, really tough time. Here is one of them. It's Tom Emmer. He is the Republican Whip. He's third in line behind Johnson, and he was on another Fox show last week. And the host, Brian Brenberg, asked him about the same thing, Republicans pulling money out of races for the House. I'm looking at the polls on the House overall, Control the House, Whip Emmer. It is looking like Republicans lose control of the House. Pulling money out of races that you think might be goners, trying to put them into races where they're still hope. Is that the real state of play? Is the House the Democrats right now? But Emmer says, oh no, don't believe those polls, and don't worry about us pulling money out. He says, hey, hey, we might be pulling out the money, because we're doing so well, we don't need it. Well, you got to look at polls because that's all you got, Brian. I discount those. What's happening right now is money's being moved around where it is most efficient. People say, oh, they're cutting the string on this candidate. No, no, that's not true. Perhaps that candidate is stable. Perhaps that candidate is doing what he or she needs to do to win, and that money is better use somewhere else. This is still well in Republicans' hands. Right, right. It's because Republicans are doing so well in those races. For example, the districts that they redrew in Texas, right? So again, Emmer has to answer about Republicans pulling money out of a race in South Texas. And this time, this time the question is coming from John Fredericks, a right-wing radio host. You were in Texas. We got five seats there that were redistricated. We were supposed to win all five. How did those look? I think they look great. There's reporting today that they're moving money out of Texas 28, and of course the narrative that people want to create, because that's the tonneau Tiorina versus Henry Cuellar is square is unbeatable, that is not accurate. Tano Tirina is a, I mean, he's got charisma. He is a very special candidate. - Oh, right, right. Our guy is, he's a very, very special candidate. He has, he has incredible charisma. And that's why we're pulling money out of his race. It's too bad that's a radio interview 'cause when you like to see the look on Emma's face, when he's peddling that BS. Okay, I wanna show you one more Republican leader. This is Steve Scalise. He is the number two house Republican. And he was on Fox Business Channel a week and a half ago. And the host, Cheryl Cassoni, brought up a whole bunch, a whole bunch of bad news. Here she is. - Royters is reporting that 41 of 62 Republican candidates and competitive congressional races are distancing themselves from President Trump ahead of the midterms. - Solita Scalise, I wanna get your thoughts on this because Karl Rove wrote this morning in the Wall Street Journal op-ed section that Republicans are praying for a polling failure. And I think this is interesting because he says, with the midterms almost here, campaigns are nearing that quote, "lock-in" points. - And then, then Cassoni brought up another bad sign, infighting. House Republicans are mad at Senate Republicans 'cause the Senate Republicans aren't passing bills they got from the House, right? But it's the House Republicans who are taking the biggest hit in the pre-election polls. So, Cassoni asked about the infighting. - Axis is reporting that House Majority Whip, Tom Emmer, your colleague, quote unloaded on the upper chamber during a fundraising event this week, delivering one simple message, quote, "You suck." That is the quote here, sir. I wanna get your thoughts on where Republicans have accomplished in the House compared to the Senate. - Yeah, I share Tom's frustration. I've talked about this too. I mean, there's over 700 really important bills that are over in the Senate right now. - This is what happens when you're losing. You get into a blame game about why you're losing. You start arguing with your own teammates. You have to make up stories about why you're pulling money out of this race or that race. You have to explain why you're campaigning in a state where you used to win easily and why you're struggling in districts that you, that you, Jerry, mattered. You have to tell people that the polls are fake, even though all of your behavior says your own private polls are telling you the same thing. It's embarrassing. And honestly, it's kinda hard to watch. Unless, unless you think these guys have been screwing our country, and they deserve exactly what's coming. See you next time.