Congressional Cowards is a weekly series highlighting the worst Donald Trump defenders on Capitol Hill, who refuse to criticize him—no matter how disgraceful or lawless his actions.
Republican lawmakers threw hissy fit after hissy fit this week as their efforts to blame Democrats for their government shutdown continued to fail.
With the shutdown now entering its fifth week, House GOP leadership is upset that the media isn’t blaming Democrats—who do not control the government—and are asking Republicans legitimate questions about why they’ve been on recess for more than a month.
“You guys are writing more about the House calendar than the real pain that’s being inflicted on the American people, and that’s why we have to come in and relay the simple facts,” House Speaker Mike Johnson whined at a news conference Wednesday.
He added that it’s “painful” for him to give these news conferences because the media isn’t buying the GOP’s ridiculous spin.
“And so it’s painful for them—for us—to get up here every single day and relate again the simple truths. We have to do that. The repetition is what makes the truth saturated because most of the mainstream media has given us headwinds. They’re pushing back,” he said.
As if Johnson weren’t petulant enough, GOP Rep. Lisa McClain of Michigan complained that Democrats are being mean because they called Johnson “lazy” for not ending the recess.
A cartoon by Clay Bennett.
“I always find that funny. When you can’t beat us on the issues, what do children do? They personalize it. And that’s exactly what this member is doing,” she said, apparently referencing the very fair criticism from Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts.
She continued, “He can’t beat us on the issues. So he wants to attack our leader, who has done a remarkable job, and personalize it. We’re not in sixth grade anymore. But maybe for some people they are in sixth grade.”
First off, it’s rich that McClain is saying that Democrats are the ones who are name-calling, as Republicans have been calling Democrats literal terrorists for the past few weeks.
What’s more, she thinks that McGovern’s accurate criticism of Johnson for ceding all power to President Donald Trump is immature, but not her own Dear Leader’s behavior—like when he literally posted an AI video of himself dropping buckets of feces on Americans at “No Kings” protests.
But the fact remains that voters blame Trump and the GOP for the shutdown, not Democrats.
A Navigator Research survey released Wednesday found that the public is blaming Republicans more for the shutdown now than they did at its start. By a 14-point margin, Americans blame Trump and congressional Republicans more than they blame Democrats—that’s an increase of 10 points from last week.
The poll also found that 52% of voters believe that Trump and Republicans have the power to end the shutdown, while just 21% say that Democrats do.
At the end of the day, Republicans are just mad that their spin is failing.
