Just Who Exactly Does Mike Johnson Think Is in Charge of Government?

House Speaker Mike Johnson is taking playing dumb to a whole new level.

During a press conference Monday to highlight the so-called “Democrat Shutdown,” Johnson went so far as to claim that Republicans, who control the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives, weren’t the ones running the government.

“The Democrats are required to open the government. They keep saying the Republicans are in charge of government. We aren’t—not in the Senate!” Johnson said. “Sixty votes control the Senate. Not a bare majority.”

With the government shutdown entering its fourth week, Johnson has turned playing dumb into an art form as he abstains from actually leading his party. During his daily delivery of remarks to the press, Johnson has incessantly insisted he hasn’t heard about anything bad his government has done while running a deluded defense of President Donald Trump’s administration.

On Monday, Johnson also claimed that cutting trillions of funds to Medicaid had actually “strengthened” the program. Meanwhile, Republicans have repeatedly refused to guarantee the continuance of essential Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year.

Johnson also doubled down on the Trump administration’s latest excuse for not providing funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, starting in November—despite previous USDA guidance. “I got a summary of the whole legal analysis, and it certainly looks legitimate to me,” he said, claiming that contingency funds would require a trade-off for school lunches and infant formula.

The speaker has used the government shutdown to banish Republican lawmakers back to their districts for an extended vacation, where Johnson claimed Monday they were doing “some of the most meaningful work of their careers.” Crucially, the speaker has also used the government shutdown as an excuse not to swear in a duly elected Democrat from Arizona, who is poised to deliver the final signature on a petition to force a vote on releasing the government files on Jeffrey Epstein.