House Speaker Mike Johnson effectively got his ass handed to him on a silver platter by his own voters when he made an appearance on C-SPAN’s morning call-in program today that I have absolutely no doubt he instantly and deeply regretted.
As we’re all painfully aware at this point, the United States government is now on day 9 of what is now Donald Trump’s fourth government shutdown under his watch — and people aren’t happy about it.
Federal government workers and military personnel aren’t getting paid, essential programs that American families desperately rely on are at serious risk, home sales can’t be finalized, federal courts are at risk, and national parks and museums are essentially at a standstill.
Suffice it to say, the effects of a government shutdown are all negative and wide-reaching and only stand to get worse the longer this thing drags on.
As such, Americans from both sides of the political aisle jumped at the opportunity to give the Republican Speaker of the House the humiliating public lashing that he so deeply deserves.
Samantha, a Republican caller from Virginia, called into C-SPAN this morning to tell Speaker Johnson that she, like sooooo many Americans, lives “paycheck-to-paycheck” with “two medically fragile children” and a husband who serves in the United States military.
Her voice shaking but powerful, Samantha told Johnson, “If we see a lapse in pay come the 15th, my children do not get to get the medication that’s needed for them to live their life. As a Republican, I am disappointed in my party and I’m very disappointed in you because you do have the power to call the House back…. I am begging you to pass this legislation. My kids could die.”
Despite the fact that a child’s life is LITERALLY on the line here, Johnson simply did what any good Trump sycophant is programmed to do — he blamed the Democrats.
“Republicans are the ones delivering for you,” Johnson told his own Republican voter in response to her desperate cries about her child’s life that truly hangs in the balance at this point. “Democrats are the ones preventing you from getting the check.”
Democratic voters called in spades, as well, with Pat, a Democrat from New York, slamming Johnson and the Trump Administration for the “war being caused here in America,” as President Trump deploys United States troops into American cities, calling them “war zones” and telling “the military to shoot Americans.”
Johnson played the ignorance card, claiming he had “no idea” where the notion comes from that Trump “wants to have a war on American citizens.”
The notion came from Trump… By the way, who literally just announced in his big, disturbing military speech last month that he has instructed “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth to begin using American cities as “training grounds for our military.”
Nevertheless, Johnson says, “Everybody is smiling here. The sun is shining again,” in Washington, D.C., after the federal takeover of America’s capital.
Following that batsh*t insane statement, Sam, a Democratic caller from Colorado, called in to say, “Hearing you say that everyone is smiling in the cities where troops, our National Guard, has been rolled into feels dystopian and insane.”
One Texas Republican caller, Collin, called in to ask the House Speaker what exactly he plans to do about health insurance (the big, blaring topic that’s at the epicenter of the government shutdown) as he, like many of his fellow Americans, is not able to affordably access health insurance and is instead forced to pay out of pocket when he gets sick enough to seek care.
“What is the plan to fix Obamacare?” Collin asked.
Johnson responded with the now decades-old “concept of a plan” that Trump and his people have been touting since his very first presidential run years and years ago, with no real plan ever actually put into place. The House Speaker merely stated that Republicans “have a lot of ideas to fix it.”
He, of course, failed to share any of those ideas with the class.
It seems even C-SPAN host Mimi Gergees was a bit incensed by Johnson’s response regarding healthcare for Americans and attempted to prod the House Speaker a little deeper, asking, “Is there a plan that we can read and find out more about?”
However, Johnson continued to respond with little more than conceptual thoughts about dreams about American healthcare, saying again that Republicans “have been producing plans over the last few years” and “are setting up the conditions right now to do that.”
Okay, buddy. Whatever helps you sleep at night, I guess.
You can watch a clip of Johnson’s brutal C-SPAN appearance here:
Republican C-SPAN caller to Mike Johnson: “As a Republican, I’m very disappointed in my party,and I’m very disappointed in you, because you have the power to call the House back. You refuse to do that just for a show.” pic.twitter.com/3gxdXxtsDj
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 9, 2025
Featured image via video screen capture
Andrea is a full-time political reporter with more than 10 years of experience in the field. She serves as a writer for Liberal Agenda as well as the onwner and operator of The Resistance Report.
When she's not covering Trump's BS, you can find her mom-ing her feminist-in-training, trolling MAGA in her comments section, and behaving as an overall Menace to Society.
Discover more from The Liberal Agenda
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.