Mike Johnson at Columbia University. Timothy A. Clary / AFP – Getty Images
Dear Commons Community,
House Speaker Mike Johnson called on Columbia University’s President Minouche Shafik to resign yesterday during a tense news conference where the crowd repeatedly interrupted the speaker and at times loudly booed him and other GOP lawmakers who were with him as they stood at the microphones. As reported by CNN.
“We just can’t allow this kind of hatred and antisemitism to flourish on our campuses, and it must be stopped in its tracks. Those who are perpetrating this violence should be arrested. I am here today joining my colleagues, and calling on President Shafik to resign if she cannot immediately bring order to this chaos,” Johnson said.
Johnson visited Columbia University to meet with Jewish students and delivered remarks with other Republican lawmakers. When Johnson and the GOP lawmakers walked up to begin speaking, there were loud boos.
During the question-and-answer portion, a coordinated chant of “Mike, you suck” erupted from the crowd. At another point during the remarks, the crowd started chanting loudly, to which Johnson said, “Enjoy your free speech.”
The timing of Johnson’s visit comes as the embattled speaker is facing an onslaught of conservative criticism and as a handful of members, led by Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, have threatened to oust him. The pressure Johnson is under has only intensified after he helped steer a foreign aid package through the House that included assistance to Ukraine, which many hardline conservatives vehemently opposed.
Following the tense news conference, Johnson defended his appearance at Columbia in an interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett, saying he chose to get involved in what was unfolding on the school’s campus because the “speaker speaks for the House of Representatives.
“I felt it was very important for that voice to be heard, not just about what happens in Columbia, but about what is happening right now around the country,” he said on “OutFront.” “We have to stand unequivocally for the right and the good and I’m calling on all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to speak out against this, not to endorse it, not to coddle these people, but to say this has to stop.”
When pressed about the heckling, Johnson noted that he was “not surprised that they didn’t welcome our visit because we’re calling out their activities.”
For Johnson and the Congressional Republicans to call on anybody to resign a leadership position takes real Chutzpah. They have made a laughing stock of the Congress as the epitome of a legislative body that cannot get anything done because of their own infighting. He should be calling on GOP representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz to resign.
Tony
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