'See no evil': How Mike Johnson is repeatedly 'playing dumb' to protect Trump

When MAGA Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) tried to oust Rep. Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) as House speaker in May 2024, she got a backlash not only from fellow Republicans, but also, from Democrats. The House voted 359-43 to keep Johnson as speaker, and many House Democrats — policy differences and all — helped save him from the fate that ousted ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) suffered.

But much has changed since then. Joe Biden is no longer president, Donald Trump has been back in the White House for 11 months, and Greene's argument that Trump has betrayed the America First agenda has made her persona non grata among his unwavering loyalists — one of whom is Johnson.

While Greene now criticizes Trump frequently — a major contrast to her relentless support of him in the past — Johnson defends him at every turn.

In an article headlined "Mike Johnson: The Man Who Knew Too Little" and published on Christmas Day 2025, The New Republic's Edith Olmsted examines the lengths the House speaker is going to in defense of Trump.

"The Man Who Knew Too Little" is a play on "The Man Who Knew Too Much," a thriller that director Alfred Hitchcock unveiled in 1934 before his famous 1956 remake with Doris Day and Jimmy Stewart.

Johnson, Olmsted laments, is "shamelessly purporting his own ignorance" and being forced to "pull political discourse away from reality" in defense of Trump.

"When all non-essential government services were suspended at the beginning of October," Olmsted observes, "that also seemed to include the House Speaker Mike Johnson's brain-processing power. But unlike the rest of the government, the Louisiana Republican has no intention of turning it back on…. There were several times when Johnson seemed to think he could get away with simply pretending not to read the news — specifically when it came to turning a blind eye to the abuses of Donald Trump's sweeping immigration crackdown."

Olmsted continues, "In late October, Johnson claimed he couldn't comment on a Presbyterian minister whom federal immigration agents shot in the face with a pepper ball during an anti-ICE protest near Chicago."

Johnson, according to Olmsted, goes out of his way to be evasive with reporters when asked about a Trump-related controversy.

"It's true that the breaking news cycle has grown increasingly overwhelming during Trump's first year since returning to office — apparently even for the president's happiest warriors," Olmsted observes. "But when it comes to being speaker of the House, that's no excuse for playing dumb. Johnson's 'See No Evil, Hear No Evil' approach to governance will only allow the president to continue to run amok in the New Year — if the speaker doesn't alienate his fellow Republicans into an all-out revolt first."

Read Edith Olmsted's full article for The New Republic at this link.