Speaker Johnson (R-LA) and ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos got into it a little bit this weekend.
Stephanopoulos was trying to get Johnson to bite on something after showing only a brief clip of the comments, but Johnson pushed back and then went after Stephanopoulos on social media.
Talking Points
- The clash
- Johnson follows up
- Analysis
The problem with many mainstream media personalities today is that they love the idea of cherry-picking a single quote or snippet and trying to push a certain narrative. In this case, Stephanopoulos hit back at the Trump family for blaming Democrat rhetoric for the attacks against Donald Trump. For some reason, the media has taken the stance that only Trump’s rhetoric gets people stirred up, and whatever Democrats say is just fine.
To that point, Stephanopoulos played a snippet from Eric Trump, where he stated:
“They tried to smear us. They came after us. They impeached him twice, and then, guys, they tried to kill him. They tried to kill him, and it’s because of the Democratic Party. They can’t do anything right.”
Stephanopoulos then put Speaker Johnson on the spot, asking if he supported those comments by Eric Trump that the Democrat Party was trying to kill Donald Trump. Now, “they” could have referenced the party, or it could have referenced the shooters. The right person to ask about this would be Eric Trump, not Speaker Johnson, and that is pretty much what Johnson told Stephanopoulos. Johnson responded to the peppered question, stating:
“I don’t know the context.
“I don’t think they’re saying that the Democratic Party tried an assassination attempt. I think what they’re alluding to is what we’ve all been saying. They have got to turn the rhetoric down.”
Stephanopoulos then tried to get Johnson on the results of the 2020 election. He asked Speaker Johnson if he would “unequivocally say that Joe Biden won the 2020 election and Donald Trump lost,” but again, Johnson was having none of it. He responded:
“This is the game that is always played by mainstream media with leading Republicans. It’s a gotcha game. You want us to litigate things that happened four years ago when we’re talking about the future.
“Joe Biden has been the president for almost four years. Everybody needs to get over this and move forward.”
Johnson is 100% right in saying that the media refuses to move forward because if Johnson says he is not sure, it gives them something to attack Johnson on. If Johnson says Trump lost the election, then they run back to Trump and say the Speaker said he lost to try to create a rift within the party. They are not reporting news, but instead trying to make news.
After the interview, Johnson posted something on social media that should get people asking some very serious questions about our media. This is what he posted on X…
REALLY?! THESE are the questions the media asked?!
The American people are struggling and NOT ONE QUESTION about: recovering from Helene’s destruction, Kamala’s radical policies driving up the skyrocketing cost of gas and groceries, illegals pouring across our borders, wars… pic.twitter.com/yhPdl6uC4i
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) October 6, 2024
That interview and Stephanopoulos's questions show everything wrong with today’s media. I highly doubt most people care about the 2020 election any longer, but I can guarantee you they want answers about funding for relief efforts and information about the price of gasoline and groceries. More and more people are growing concerned over illegal immigration because it is finally impacting virtually every state in the country… but Stephanopoulos wants to talk about the 2020 election and use clickbait about Eric Trump. State-run media… it’s what we have now.
