Mike Johnson slams voters for making ‘wrong choice,’ predicts ‘circus’ after GOP’s midterm drubbing
Lame-duck House Speaker Mike Johnson blasted voters for making the “wrong choice” in this month’s midterms — while also predicting a circus will run wild on Capitol Hill during President Trum…...
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House Speaker Mike Johnson told CNN he was sorry voters made the "wrong choice" in the midterms, in which Democrats flipped more than 40 House seats, and predicted a chaotic next two years. He opposes impeaching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during the Iran conflict, while Hakeem Jeffries, set to become speaker, says he is a "hard yes" on impeachment. Vance and Trump have tied the losses to the Iran war and gas prices, and DeSantis blamed "corporatist Republicans."
The article mostly relays Johnson's CNN quotes and other named figures' positions, with attributed claims from both parties. Loaded terms like "shellacking," "bloodbath," and "blowout" lean dramatic but the sourcing is proportionate.
- Repeated charged descriptors for the GOP loss: "shellacking," "bloodbath," "drubbing" in the headline.
- Johnson's "wrong choice" quote is framed as lashing out, though he also said he regrets the outcome.
- Democratic and Republican figures (Jeffries, DeSantis, Vance, Massie) are each quoted or paraphrased with attribution.
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7 Comments
"Wrong choice" is a remarkable thing for a sitting Speaker to say about an election he just lost by more than forty seats. There is a whole literature on this, including the classic work on governing parties and midterm losses, and it is nearly unanimous that the out-party gains when the economy sours and the war drags. Blaming the electorate is the opposite of taking responsibility; it is a way of saying the voters failed the test rather than the party failing the voters.
On the Hegseth impeachment question, though, Jeffries' "hard yes" deserves some skepticism. Impeaching a Defense Secretary in the middle of an active Iran conflict is a serious step, and the standard should be actual high crimes and misdemeanors, not just a chance to bloody the administration. The Democrats won a mandate; that is not the same as a license to treat impeachment as a messaging tool. If there is a case, build it in hearings and make it stick. If it is theater, it will look like theater.
Calling the voters' choice "wrong" is no statesman's answer to defeat; it is a rebuke of the people whose trust he sought. Johnson foresees a circus, yet the GOP's own quarrels over war and costly fuel helped bring it to town. And should Hegseth face impeachment, let the evidence and law judge him, not factional cries from either bench. Fare thee well
Johnson calls the voters wrong and then predicts a circus, as if the chaos isn't already his own caucus tearing itself apart over gas prices and a war nobody voted for. Hegseth should face impeachment on the evidence, and Jeffries saying HARD YES is the one honest sentence to come out of this whole week. Trump will whine and flip flop on Truth Social and lose again, because he's a loser.
I teach high school history, and voters do not owe Mike Johnson an apology for choosing a different Congress. He can call the next two years a circus, but the party in charge might try governing before blaming the audience. On Hegseth, impeachment should turn on the evidence and the Constitution, not on who can deliver the punchiest "HARD YES" for the cameras.
Johnson says voters were wrong, DeSantis blames corporatist Republicans, and the Vice President points at the war, so nobody in the party is pointing at the same thing. That scatter is the story, not the circus he's predicting. The New York Post at least lets all three quotes sit on the same page so readers can see the contradiction themselves.
Johnson says voters made the wrong choice, then blames the coming circus on the people who chose differently. The circus is the two years he's about to spend being outvoted by the people he just called wrong. Hegseth impeachment was going to happen either way once Jeffries has the gavel, so the Iran conflict line is convenient cover. DeSantis calling out corporatist Republicans is the interesting part, because that's the fight inside the tent, not the one across the aisle.
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Me no like Johnson say wrong choice. Voter is boss, Me know that. But Trump say gas price go down when Iran done, Me believe Trump. Democrat win House, now want impeach Hegseth in middle of war. Me think that is dumb. Hegseth fight for America. Me MAGA Me Big Brain.