As sure as the sun rises in the east, we know that ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos will make every effort to play “Gotcha” with his Republican “This Week” guests, and this Sunday was no exception.
Stephanopoulos attacked House Speaker Mike Johnson with the time-honored line: “Are you going to condemn this terrible, terrible, no good, very bad thing that Donald Trump (or Eric Trump) said?” Or are you a terrible, terrible, no good thing? very bad person like him?!” However, Johnson refused to play Stephanopoulos’ game. I’m not sure, but I think I saw Stephanopoulos grow a few extra gray hairs as his frustration grew during this exchange.
Pressed by @GStephanopoulos Of Trump’s rhetoric, spokesman Mike Johnson said: “The leading Democrats in this country, the highest elected officials and the current presidential candidate have gone out and said that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy.” https://t.co/vBQ739TMpJ pic.twitter.com/p7eCGn0N6J
– This Week (@ThisWeekABC) October 6, 2024
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In case you can’t (or don’t want to) watch the clip, here’s how it went:
STEPHANOPOULOS: After the assassination attempts on Donald Trump, you called on all sides to tone down the rhetoric. So is it right for the president and his family to claim that Democrats were behind the assassination attempt on him?
JOHNSON: I just saw the clip. I was at an event in Texas last night, so I didn’t follow all the comments coming out of Pennsylvania. I can tell you that I spoke to President Trump immediately afterward and he was pleased. They had a huge audience and a lot of enthusiasm and energy. But I didn’t hear all the comments; I don’t know the context… The clip that I just heard that you just played there, George, I don’t think they’re saying… the Democratic Party attempted an assassination. I think they’re alluding to what we’ve all been saying: you have to reject the rhetoric. For years, this country’s leading Democrats, its top elected officials and the current presidential candidate have said that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy and that the republic will collapse if he is reelected. It’s absolute nonsense. And they incited unsafe people to do unsafe things – the rhetoric did. I think this is an objective fact that everyone can agree on – we need to turn the volume down. We need to have hearty debates about policy, but not take it to this level. No one involved poses a threat to the Republic.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But, Mr. Speaker, you just said that the Democrats… You said their rhetoric was inciting, but we all just saw what both President Trump – former President Trump – and his son Eric said. Eric actually specifically referred to the Democrats. He said, “They tried to kill him… and that’s because the Democratic Party can’t do anything right.” Do you support these comments or not?
JOHNSON: I don’t know what Eric said because I only heard a snippet there – I don’t know the context. I do –
STEPHANOPOULOS: You just saw it, sir.
JOHNSON: – you know that Eric is very level-headed and a very knowledgeable person. I saw your clip of it, George. I haven’t seen the full speech. We all need to look at these things in the full context. But you’re referring to the outright attacks that Democrats have made against President Trump since the day he came down the golden escalator in 2016, okay? The legal situation is unprecedented. They attacked him in every way possible. They try to slander his character every day. And people have had enough of it. That’s why there are such vast turnouts at the rallies. People have had enough of it. We need all sides to reject the rhetoric and let’s have a debate about it records of these candidates, not the rhetoric. Let’s talk about the policies, not the personalities. This is what the American people demand and deserve. These are stern problems facing the country. We need to talk about the ideas, the answers and the solutions to get out of them and not all this other stuff.
It goes on for more than two minutes, with Stephanopoulos trying in vain to trip Johnson and becoming increasingly frustrated with Johnson’s refusal to take the bait. In a world full of chaos, I think it’s nice to know that some things never change – and never will.
