House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has not shied away from the cameras as negotiations to reach a funding deal stalled, leaving the government shut down.
Both parties have rushed to blame the shutdown on the other side, but Johnson has been busy making TV appearances, holding press conferences, and even joining C-SPAN’s Washington Journal to take calls from viewers, which a speaker hasn’t done in more than two decades. Johnson has also appeared on major networks such as CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and Newsmax, among others, to push his message about the shutdown.
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In the last 13 days, Johnson has made 38 media appearances, as well as held press conferences on nine of these days. Johnson has appeared on everything from major TV networks to radio shows, as well as appearing on press calls with members of his party.
Johnson has kept the House out of session as the shutdown continues in an effort to put pressure on the upper chamber to pass the House GOP’s short-term funding bill to reopen the government.
The speaker’s media blitz comes as those on Capitol Hill have expressed uncertainty about whether he is successfully handling the shutdown fight. One Republican strategist told the Washington Examiner that what Johnson is doing is “performative theater.”
“Unlike past shutdowns and other political stalemates where the speaker was a consequential figure at the table negotiating, the speaker is merely playing a part,” the strategist said. “This is performative theater of the off-Broadway sort.”
With his caucus on recess, Johnson has stayed in Washington, D.C., where he has held a press conference each weekday since the government shutdown began on Oct. 1.
“This whole thing is a messaging fight,” one GOP staffer told the Washington Examiner.
As the shutdown approaches the two-week mark, leaders from both parties have not met for negotiation talks since before the shutdown began. However, each party and chamber has continued holding their own media time.
“You’ve all heard our Democrat colleagues demand that Republicans come to the table to negotiate,” Johnson said at a press conference Monday. “But as I’ve said time and time again, I don’t have anything to negotiate with.”
House Republican leadership has continued to push the notion that the “House did its job” by doing media appearances, with Johnson doing three TV interviews on the first day of the shutdown on CNN, Newsmax, and Fox News.
The GOP seven-week funding bill passed the House last month, but has been held up in the Senate, where it must reach the 60-vote threshold.
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As the House continues to put pressure on the upper chamber, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has aimed to keep enough of his caucus in line to force Republicans to strike a deal that meets Democratic demands on healthcare. Thus far, Sen. Angus King (I-ME) and two Democrats have backed the GOP plan.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Johnson’s office for comment.