Mike Johnson Goes Off Rails in Vile Gaslighting Display on Trump, ICE

THE DAILY BLAST with Greg Sargent

The New Republic

News, Politics

4.4 • 800 Ratings

🗓️ 15 January 2026

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s response to growing ICE violence is really something to behold. In one long, rambling answer, he blamed shooting victim Renee Good in every which way, absurdly claiming she’d been “taunting” ICE officers and “impeded” them, while insisting they’d been “very patient.” In another one, he played sleazy little games, claiming the violence represents the “tragic consequences” of ICE facing “too much resistance”—again blaming the victims for violence against them, without a hint of concern about ICE’s conduct. We talked to Sarah Posner, author of several good books on the religious right, who is launching a new podcast next week called “Reign of Error.” We discuss Johnson’s strain of Christianity, how Trump and MAGA fuse religious and secular authoritarianism, and why some leading Evangelicals are now calling on people to pray—not for the victims of Trump-MAGA violence, but rather for Kristi Noem and ICE. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:42.5	Workday, moving business forever forward.
1:00.9	This is the Daily Blast from the New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR Network.
1:03.2	I'm your host, Greg Sargent.
1:13.3	Folks, it's getting worse.
1:19.7	A young protester was left permanently blind after a homeland security agent fired at him at close range in Santa Ana, according to his family.
1:23.6	Meanwhile, Stephen Miller made it 100% clear that ICE agents are wholly unaccountable to the law.
1:30.4	House Speaker Mike Johnson just demonstrated that he feels no pressure to place any limits on ice in the least,
1:37.1	and blamed Renee Good for her death in Minneapolis in a shockingly callous way.
1:42.2	And on top of all that, some influential voices on the religious right are saying that it's
1:46.9	time to pray, not for the victims, but for Christy Knoem and Ice.
1:52.3	We think that last one is important.
1:54.7	There's simply no moral voice out there that is capable of reaching people like Trump,
2:00.1	Johnson, and Christy Noam.
	...

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