House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) found himself in a contentious interview on Sunday while appearing on “Meet the Press.” Facing off against Kristen Welker, Johnson was peppered with questions about Donald Trump’s health. While he offered laudable push-back, the scene exposed the deep rot infecting mainstream journalism.
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In the first part of the exchange, Welker insists that Trump started a FEMA program redirecting aid to illegal immigrants. That would be the same program that recently came under fire after DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced they had no more money to deal with hurricanes this season.
Kristen Welker tried to humiliate Speaker Johnson and she ran into an absolute buzzsaw.
All politics aside, it’s glorious to see a smug journalist cut down to size like this 👏 pic.twitter.com/4eYG1rB5W0
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) October 14, 2024
WELKER: We should note that FEMA funds were actually redirected on Donald Trump’s watch to deal with the migrant issue. Let me ask you, you mentioned the medical records, should Trump…
I want to stop there because while Johnson fact-checks her, the bigger issue here is the framing. To these journalists, the illegal immigration issue is just a talking point. Context does not matter, which is why Welker thinks she has a gotcha moment. It’s not, though. As Johnson points out, the fund in question is created and appropriated every fiscal year.
That means that what has been spent under President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris is their responsibility. The amounts also matter. For example, under Trump, the EFSP-H was only given $30 million. In Biden’s first year, the number was $150 million.
Regardless, things then moved to Trump’s health, with Welker pressing Johnson about the former president’s cholesterol levels.
WELKER: Should Donald Trump release all of his medical records?
JOHNSON: He issued the records of his physicians as a diversion because she’s desperate and she’s sinking in the polls. Donald Trump’s health is on display. Everyone in America can see it. The man works non-stop. He never quits. He probably sleeps four hours a night. he doesn’t require as much sleep as the average person. He’s an unusual figure, and this is the strength that we need in a time like this. We’re in the most dangerous moment since WW2. You have to have strength. You have to have a steady hand. You have to have a Commander in Chief that our allies respect and our enemies fear. They do not fear Kamala Harris. They do fear Donald Trump. That’s what people are going to vote on.
WELKER: Mr. Speaker, just to be very clear, he hasn’t released all his medical records. He’s released two letters. Should he release the results of the cognitive test that he said…?
JOHNSON: It’s unnecessary. He’s on display every minute.
WELKER: So it’s unnecessary, you can see that he didn’t release his medical records. You don’t want to know things like his cholesterol level, whether he’s dealing with any issue that we may not know about if he’s going to be Commander in Chief. And he also said he’d release the cognitive test which he aced.
JOHNSON Kristen, listen to your question (crosstalk). Kristen, the American people don’t care about the cholesterol level of Donald Trump. They care about the cost of living and the fact that they can not pay for groceries because Kamala Harris and Joe Biden’s policies have put them in that situation.
There might be a valid argument over whether Trump should release his medical records or not. What I’m certain of, though, is that no one at NBC News or in the broader mainstream press has any right to make that argument. These are the same people who completely ignored Biden’s dramatic cognitive (and physical) issues. At one point, a Parkinson’s disease expert went on NBC News and pointed out the president clearly suffers from the condition. That network never raised a single further question about the issue.
It wasn’t until Biden all but collapsed on stage during the first presidential debate that the press finally made some rumblings, and that was only to ensure he was replaced by Harris. Welker had a chance to press Democrats on whether Biden should release cognitive test results or his broader records and she never did so. Instead, she did what she and her colleagues always do, which is to help enact the cover-up.
As to Johnson’s specific answer about Trump’s cholesterol, he is correct that no one cares. This is just like the tax returns hysteria. In the end, once they were stolen and released, there was nothing there. MSNBC was left trying to spin basic business depreciation as a scandal. American voters are worried about the issues that affect them. Right now, that means choosing between keeping the last four years going or changing course.
I give Johnson credit for fighting Welker’s biased framing, but there’s a real conversation that needs to be had about whether Republicans should be giving these networks anything. All these appearances are doing is offering legitimacy and credibility to left-wing hacks who do not deserve it. The press is rotten to the its core, and it’s not going to get any better.
