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Right-wing media attack Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republicans over government funding deal

Written by Jacina Hollins-Borges

Published

Right-wing media figures are attacking newly-elected House Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republicans after the House passed a continuing resolution to fund the government through the beginning of 2024. The spending bill did not cut funding for any programs, which has angered many conservative media figures. 

The continuing resolution has drawn criticism from far-right House Republicans and right-wing media figures that demand massive cuts in federal spending. Figures such as former Trump adviser Steve Bannon and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk argue that the deal is a disappointment from Johnson, with Democrats’ support making it even more objectionable.

    • Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk tweeted it is “unacceptable” for Johnson to be “surrendering to Schumer and Jeffries." He wrote, “Conservatives are perplexed why Speaker Mike Johnson is surrendering to Schumer and Jeffries. This is unacceptable.” [Twitter/X, 11/14/23]
    • Steve Bannon claimed that Republicans who voted for the continuing resolution have now been exposed as “centrist Democrats.” He said, “Look at the ones who voted for it, and a lot of them in your districts. You have been helping these guys. And now it’s exposed, these guys are centrist Democrats.” [Real America’s Voice, War Room, 11/15/23] 
    • Bannon said on Kirk’s show that “the honorable thing” for Johnson “to do is just resign if he’s not up to the task.” Bannon said, “Speaker Johnson has to do some real reflection, because if he's not up to the task, I think the honorable thing for him to do is just resign. If he's not up to the task, to step into the breach, and be like, you know, be as close to Christ as possible and going into the temple and driving out the money changers in our nation's capital, then it's time to be a man of honor, say, look, you know, I was a great constitutional lawyer, I fought for all these social issues, this is just too much for me, step aside and let’s get the next man up.” [Salem Media Group, The Charlie Kirk Show, 11/15/23]
    • Former Trump economic adviser Peter Navarro said that he is “disappointed with Johnson,” and “it’s going to be up to Donald John Trump to set this right.” Navarro said, “What Mike Johnson did yesterday just put an exclamation point on the fact that it’s going to be up to Donald John Trump to set this right. It’s just – we all in the posse and War Room are disappointed with Johnson.” [Real America’s Voice, War Room, 11/15/23] 
    • Steve Deace called Johnson “Kevin McCarthy with Bible verses,” and “just a different scam.” Deace said, “It’s not that we were better off under Kevin McCarthy, it’s that it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. Nothing changed. Now you just have Kevin McCarthy with Bible verses. Nothing changed. Just a different – just a different scam now. You know, we'll just cover ourselves. Before we had a technocratic Kevin McCarthy, and now we've got a Bible sloganeering-spewing one.” [BlazeTV, Steve Deace Show, 11/14/23]
    • Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro said that “Mike Johnson cut the same spending deal Kevin McCarthy did.” Shapiro said, “Remember that time that we ousted the Speaker of the House for no apparent reason and the new Speaker of the House came in and cut the exact same deal? … So, Mike Johnson came in and he immediately did exactly what Kevin McCarthy did.” [Daily Wire, The Ben Shapiro Show, 11/15/23]
    • Kirk argued on his show that, “In some ways, what Speaker Johnson is doing is even worse than McCarthy. Was it worth it?” Kirk said, “Rarely in a deal… do the bad guys show what they want more than anything else and you can prevent it. So we could have just said you're not getting that, you’re working every day, now to New Year’s. Scared yet? And yeah, it would have been warfare. But guess what? The country’s collapsing. Instead, Mike Johnson said, here you go, Chuck Schumer, would you like me to polish it for you? How can I – how can I help you, Chuck Schumer? And that’s exactly what we get now with Speaker Johnson. … In some ways, what Speaker Johnson is doing is even worse than McCarthy.” [Salem Media Group, The Charlie Kirk Show, 11/15/23]
    • Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes said Johnson “made a secret deal with Democrats,” which further proves that Republicans have done “nothing” with a majority in the House.  [Rumble, America First with Nick Fuentes, 11/14/23]
    • Right-wing Twitter troll Catturd tweeted, “There's no need to get upset with the Republican party anymore. You already know they're going to stab you in the back on every issue, every time.” [Twitter/X, 11/15/23]
    • Real America's Voice contributor Kaelan Dorr tweeted that “A clean CR, endorsing Ukraine funding and now possibly bailing out Big Pharma” is “Not a great start for @SpeakerJohnson.” [Twitter/X, 11/14/23]
    • Right-wing Twitter account Gunther Eagleman tweeted, “Mike Johnson failed us by putting a clean CR on the floor today.” He wrote, “He should have leveraged it with a closed border or a government shut down. Now we have at least 3 more months of More Fentanyl More Terror*sts More Trafficking More Gang members More Crime More Taxpayer debt [Twitter/X, 11/14/23]