Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) pushed back Sunday on ABC News anchor Jonathan Karl's comments about "No Kings" protests and the new Pentagon press rules, saying that "this is the modern Democrat party" at work spreading lies and hate.
Karl attempted to take Johnson to task for calling the "No Kings" protests "hate America rallies," saying, "Just on this notion that these are 'hate America' rallies — and you not only talked about anarchists, Antifa advocates, pro-Hamas wing — you said this is the modern Democratic Party. But I remember not that long ago what you said after the murder of Charlie Kirk when you said that we should view fellow Americans, not as our enemies, but as our fellow countrymen."
Johnson said he was trying to warn the public about the "modern Democrat party," which definitely has its "hate America" contingents.
"Look at what's happening in New York," Johnson said, referring to the mayoral candidacy of Zohran Mamdani. "They're about to elect an open socialist Marxist as the mayor of America's largest city."
The exchange followed questions about the Pentagon's new press policy, starting out with Karl characterizing Secretary of War Pete Hegseth as being "afraid to interact with journalists who cover him."
"Fear is not part of the secretary of War’s make-up, OK?" Johnson shot back.
Karl criticized Hegseth's requirement that journalists agree to certain conditions to get access, as well as the fact that he has had only two press briefings during his tenure.
Dozens of journalists turned in their badges last week rather than comply with the new requirements.
"I can’t remember, and I don’t think you can either, a secretary of Defense who has been so transparent, out in the open, talking about priorities, principles and things," Johnson said in response.
Karl then swerved to the current government shutdown, demanding to know why Congress isn't in session trying to resolve it.
"The House did its job, exactly a month ago today on September 19. We passed the clean resolution," Johnson anwswered. "The Democrats have voted 11 times, except for three Democrats in the Senate, they voted 11 times to shut down the government and cease and halt those programs," Johnson said.
At one point he circled back to the "No Kings" protests, saying, "If President Trump was a king, the government would be open right now."
While in some ways, the press seems to be getting a little fairer in regards to how they're covering Republicans including Trump, the "No Kings" protests seem to have emboldened them to show their true feelings once again.
As my mom used to say, "This too shall pass." Trump is not a king, and everyone knows it whether they want to admit it or not.
