Someone wake me up when Speaker Mike Johnson gives this advice to his savior Orange Jesus. Johnson made an appearance on CNN's The Source with Kaitlan Collins this Wednesday, and was asked about how his fellow members of Congress were reacting to the Charlie Kirk shooting. MAGA Mike had lots of advice on how people who are using social media platforms to spread hatred and vitriol should be behaving now, but somehow never managed to allow the words Donald Trump to come out of his mouth.
Johnson also lied about the hateful rhetoric and flame-throwing that Kirk spewed on a daily basis, while playing his "can't we all just get along" game now that Kirk has been killed.
COLLINS: When you say it changed the mood on Capitol Hill today, I mean, we just saw reaction coming in from Republicans and Democrats alike condemning this. What do you mean that you think it changed the mood?
JOHNSON: Well, in that sense, it unifies everybody on both sides of the aisle. We have to call out political violence. I think there is a recognition.
Some are saying it openly, some are quietly, that the vitriol, the level that is there now, the hatred that has been fomented, you know, there's a time that we've got to turn the volume down and I think there's, there's a lot of... there's a lot of the people I think that find pleasure in stoking that fire and it's dangerous.
There are deranged people in society and if they are encouraged along this way they will do dangerous things, increasingly so. We see that. So I think that members of Congress, have come to that recognition.
I think many of them are are are nervous of course. They're public figures. They're exposed all the time everywhere. We have great security measures for members of Congress, but there's a desire on many people's parts to have more. These are, these are the new realities.
I think social media has been a toxin in politics. I think it has, added to this vitriol. But at the end of the day I think the call is that we've got to recognize once more that we are all fellow Americans. We are, we should see one another as colleagues and fellow citizens and fellow countrymen and not as enemies
That's not what Charlie Kirk represented. He, he genuinely loved the debate because he genuinely loved the people, and I think that's a really important thing for us to remember.
COLLINS: On lawmakers, I mean, have you heard from from members who want heightened security because of what happened to Charlie Kirk?
JOHNSON: Yeah, of course there's been a deluge of that, I mean from the moment all this took place, and we're looking at that. We have to take serious measures for serious times, but you know, the encouragement again is to resort to our better angels as Abraham Lincoln reminded the people in another time a great, great, division, and, you know, to get back to the fundamental principles.
This is not who we are in America. You know, we're founded on these, these founding principles that we're gonna celebrate in earnest next year and our, our super centennial. You know, it's built on the idea that we're all created equal, we're all made in the image of God and everybody has inestimable dignity and value. We need to treat one another with civility and I think this is an important reminder.
COLLINS: Well, and it's notable to hear you say that there are lawmakers who who want more security as a result of this.
I don't think that's surprising to anyone to to see what happened because he did have security that was there with him, obviously the campus, obviously could have used more, but, but on what you were saying there about what people say in this political environment, especially where it's turbocharged a lot of times on Capitol Hill.
And do you think today provides a greater recognition of how sometimes those messages come across to other people who who take them more seriously maybe than some members of Congress do when they're saying it or tweeting it or anything?
JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean, I think that... I think that's clear you've had people who have resorted to political violence because they were encouraged along by the dialogue and out in the public square and some of that is put forward by by elected officials and people with large platforms, large social media platforms and, and they're saying and doing things that make it personal, and people direct their anger to individuals.
I mean this is not who we are we're better than this. We need to be setting an example as Americans. We are the free marketplace of ideas we, we celebrate and defend vigorously free speech.
Charlie Kirk did that as well as anybody that I know, you know, and he never shied away from debate, but he did it in the right spirit and I think that's what we've got to get back to. You know, it wasn't personal.
This is exactly who we are, or exactly who Republicans are, and have been for a long time now. It's just accelerated under Trump.
Johnson also might want to have a word with the right wing influencers on Xitter spewing this violent bile:
These are calls for mass political violence, against all Democrats. They openly call for the bombing of "Democrat" cities and for the jailing or killing of Democratic politicians. They are from some of the most influential voices in right-wing politics. Will anyone say anything?
For over 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but social media is limiting our ability to attract new readers. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.
We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
