Passing Dems call Mike Johnson out as a liar as he’s lying on camera.
ICYMI — “LIE!!”
Dems heckled Speaker Johnson as he tried to put all the blame on Senator Padilla
— The Tennessee Holler (@thetnholler.bsky.social) June 13, 2025 at 10:00 AM
You love to see it. The ultra-pious Mr. Johnson is a liar, so call him one. On camera even!
Some folks on Bluesky were bitching about the framing Democrats were using after the assault on Senator Padilla, i.e., “if they can treat a U.S. senator like that, imagine what they would do to you.” The complaint was that Noem’s thugs already treat ordinary people like shit.
Okay, fair point. But the framing gets to a larger and accurate point, which is that powerful people get deferential treatment the rest of us don’t, and if Noem’s thugs feel empowered to manhandle a senator, their depredations on ordinary people will escalate too.
Empathy deficits are real, especially among right-wingers, but I think it’s universally true that when an action affects your family member or friend or colleague, it’s less abstract and more personal. If the thug assault on Senator Padilla makes Trump’s fascist actions more vivid for congressional reps and any remaining delusions about bipartisan comity are torn away by the incident, that’s a good thing.
Open thread.