House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) went on ABC’s This Week with Jonathan Karl on Sunday and demolished the Democrats’ “No Kings” spectacle with a dose of reality. Johnson pointed out the obvious irony — if President Donald Trump were actually a king, as Democrats like to claim, they never would’ve been allowed to stage their absurd little protest in the first place.
? BREAKING: Speaker Johnson just dropped a TRUTH NUKE on No Kings
“If President Trump was a king, the government would be OPEN right now. If President Trump was a king, they would not have been able to engage in that free speech exercise.” ?
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) October 19, 2025
The fact that Democrats were able to hold their protests without interference completely undermines their own argument. Their freedom to rally and shout in the streets proves the very opposite of what they claim.
And, as Johnson noted, if Trump truly were a “king,” the federal government wouldn’t be shut down in the first place — it would be running at full speed under his command. Johnson explained that the House did its job. Now it’s time for the Senate to do theirs, but it’s the Democrats voting no.
“The House did its job, exactly a month ago today on September 19. We passed the clean resolution,” he said. “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.
But there was another element to the interview that will rankle Democrats – when Karl said this:
“The Democrats did not vote for the clean funding bill,” Karl observed. “They have chosen to shut the government down to fight for healthcare and the other items you mentioned.” Oops.
? HOLY CRAP! It has gotten so bad for Democrats that EVEN ABC admitted the truth
ABC: "The Democrats did not vote for the CLEAN funding bill. They have chosen to shut the government DOWN!"
Speaker Johnson is reveling in it ?
Chuck Schumer is about to have another week of… pic.twitter.com/FLUEKdkTRP
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) October 19, 2025
Johnson reminded viewers that it’s Republicans—not Democrats—who are actually fighting to protect and strengthen healthcare programs like Medicaid. He said the GOP’s goal is to ensure the system works efficiently for Americans in need, rather than being siphoned off to cover illegal immigrants. Democrats, by contrast, are trying to undo those reforms through their current shutdown brinkmanship.
According to Johnson, Democrats are holding the government hostage to push through policies they couldn’t pass through normal legislative means — a move he described as both cynical and hypocritical, given their past support for clean continuing resolutions.
At the heart of it all, Johnson suggested, is Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s political theater. He argued that Schumer’s grandstanding has less to do with policy and more to do with shoring up his credibility with the far-left base — particularly to fend off a potential primary challenge from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
The reality is clear: Democrats are the ones keeping the government shut down. It takes 60 votes to pass a clean continuing resolution and reopen the government — and Democrats have repeatedly voted against it. The math speaks for itself.
Still, that hasn’t stopped them from trying to shift the blame onto Republicans, a tactic that’s starting to crumble under its own weight. Even ABC News, hardly a bastion of conservative thought, has been forced to acknowledge that Democrats are the ones blocking the vote.
When the mainstream media can’t keep the narrative straight anymore, you know the Democratic talking points are collapsing fast. I expect some movement on getting the government reopened this week, now that the pointless left-wing thought exercise “No Kings” protesters have left DC.
