Strategist corrects former Trump spox to his face on GOP capitulation

Democratic strategist Maria Cardona did not let President Donald Trump’s former communication director Mike Dubke write off Speaker Mike Johnson’s attempt to duck blame for the party’s rampant unpopularity.

The Tuesday exchange began after CNN anchor Phil Mattingly spoke with reporter Manu Raju about his confrontation with Johnson in the halls of Congress.

“On Iran, you said repeatedly that this war was going to be over soon. You said that this would be a temporary blip on short term on gas prices. It is more than six months. People are getting hurt still at the pump,” said Raju, trailing Johnson during a scrum. “Should the American people not also judge you on your projections here that were clearly off base?”

“Manu, that is one of the stupidest questions you've ever had,” Johnson said. “I have nothing to do with the prosecution of the war across the globe. I am—”

“You are responsible,” Raju insisted, interrupting him. “You are selling this [war] to the American public, are you not?”

“So should the House speaker be held responsible for the duration of a military conflict around the globe? You answer that question,” Johnson fussed.

“There is authority,” Mattingly insisted, turning to Dubke on the panel. “He is the Speaker of the House.”

But Dubke called Johnson’s answer accurate, if delivered brusquely.

“The question was really about should they should you be held accountable for making a statement, a guess or whatever on the prosecution of the war? I did not like how the speaker said ‘I'm not qualified.’ I thought that was a terrible way to address it. On the earlier thing, I think I think his answer here is fine. I don't like to use of the word ‘stupid,’ but I think he's fine pushing back and saying, ‘look, I'm not the person that is in control of the prosecution of this war.’ Uh, and that's and that's what he was referring to when he was giving his comment back to Manu.”

“But he does have responsibility for the budget of the war for controlling what kind of money goes into the war,” countered Cardona quickly. “So a big part of that is the prosecution of the war. … [T]o me, it continues to underscore this notion, Mike, that I think voters are aware of and are going to hold Republicans accountable for, which is they have completely given up any control whatsoever that they ever had about anything that President Trump does.”

“What voters want more than anything in this election is to hold this president accountable, to have some kind of guardrails on what he is doing or not doing, because they believe — and we have seen this in poll after poll after poll — that he has betrayed the American people on so many issues, including the Iran War," added Cardona. “... They have done nothing to reign Trump in."

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