Speaker Johnson Says Dems Are ‘Wandering In The Wilderness’ With No Leader And No Platform

WASHINGTON—With the government shutdown showing no signs of ending, House Speaker Mike Johnson told The Daily Wire that Democrats are “wandering in the wilderness,” without a leader or policy platform.

“I think it’s the leaders of these radical leftist groups that are leading Chuck Schumer around as if he has a nose ring,” Johnson said in a Friday interview with Republican lawmakers.

“They don’t have a platform they can run on. They don’t have a policy that is palatable to the American people. They were roundly refuted, of course, in the last election, and they’re wandering in the wilderness.”

“When you don’t stand for something, you fall for anything,” Johnson added. “And that’s what you’re seeing right now.”

Johnson also said he doesn’t believe Democrats have an “identified leader,” referencing former President Donald Trump’s October 7 press conference, where he claimed the party has “no leader.”

Johnson challenged Democrats to name the leader of their party, stating: “I don’t think they can — they don’t have one.”

The Speaker said he believes that the “most radical fringe voices in the party” took over during President Joe Biden’s administration, whom he described as “personally checked out.”

“I think they guided and pushed so many of the decisions of that administration, and I think they’re feeling empowered,” Johnson said.

While Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer supported a continuing resolution earlier this year in March, Johnson pointed to the Senate New York Democrat’s recent reversal.

Schumer has been objecting to the House’s resolution over healthcare provisions, with a proposal he said “aims to reverse the Republicans’ devastating cuts to Medicaid and extend the [Affordable Care Act] tax credits.”

“The party tried to descend upon the head of Chuck Schumer in March, when he voted the right way to keep the government open, and he is no longer willing to submit to that pain, and so he’s going to inflict pain on everybody else,” Johnson said.

Johnson warned that it is “dangerous” for the American people and the country to have “the most radical fringe groups in America guiding policy for one of the two major parties.”

The Daily Wire also spoke with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who made it clear where he thinks Democratic leadership is headed.

“Mamdani is about to become the leader of the party. I mean, there’s no doubt, he is speaking for the core of the new far-left base of the Democrat party,” Scalise said.

Scalise was referencing Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist and frontrunner in the New York City mayoral race who has reportedly faced criticism over nearly $13,000 in foreign contributions that may breach campaign finance laws.

Scalise went on to say that the power center of the party has shifted firmly to the socialist Left.

“They’re either endorsing him or quietly meeting with him, but there is not a single prominent Democrat who’s denounced the vile things he said about Israel, about [the] October 7 attacks from Hamas two years ago, any of that because they’re scared to death of him, because he’s about to be the leader of their party.”

Johnson pointed out that while some say this is great news for Republicans because they now have a “foil,” it’s still “terribly dangerous for the future of our country to have a rise of actual open Marxists now being elected to office.” Johnson also stressed that it’s “something that we’ve got to confront head on.”

Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger also pointed to a glaring absence of Democratic leadership, asking, “Where are the veterans who served standing up to say, ‘enough is enough’?”

He pressed further by questioning why Democrats with military backgrounds, or those with family members serving, aren’t stepping forward to say the same.

“Why are we not doing the right thing? It’s because they’re caving and bowing down to this radical side that has shown that they have the aptitude for violence, that has shown that they have a desire for an anarchist mentality, and it’s really dangerous,” Pfluger said.

Pfluger argued that Democrats have made a critical miscalculation regarding President Trump.

“What a contrast between what they’re doing, which is obstructing any and all prosperity and security measures that the United States can take, and here’s President Trump, who’s jumping in, and he’s closing a major and historic peace deal in the Middle East, bringing together so many different countries and solving an issue that nobody else can solve,” Pfluger said.

Despite ongoing obstruction from the “radical Left,” Pfluger said the president is relentlessly pushing forward.

He believes Democrats “miscalculated” the government shutdown because Trump “just keeps on going,” making progress on the agenda “that the American people so desperately elected him to do.”

Scalise said Republicans will continue to work to “get the facts out — whether the mainstream media covers it or not.”

“We’re going to keep fighting and glad President Trump is continuing to do his job, despite the Democrats trying every day to block everything he does,” Scalise said.

Another vote for the Senate to pass the House-passed continuing resolution to reopen the government is expected to take place Tuesday evening, around 5:30 p.m.