Speaker Mike Johnson was pressed say that Biden won and Trump lost, and the idea of stating this simple fact caused him to fall apart.
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Transcript via ABC’s This Week:
STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, you have the opportunity to condemn it if you want. You have that opportunity, but we can move on now.
I do want to ask you a question that Senator Vance did not answer at this week’s debate. Can you say unequivocally that Joe Biden won the 2020 election and Donald Trump lost?
JOHNSON: See, this is the game that is always played by mainstream media with leading Republicans. It’s — it’s a gotcha game. You want us to litigate things that happened four years ago when we’re talking about the future. We’re not going to talk about what happened in 2020. We’re going to talk about 2024 and how we’re going to solve the problems for the American people.
I think this thing — this game that’s played all the time, I’m not going to engage in it. We’re — we’re not talking about that.
Joe Biden has been the president for almost four years. Everybody needs to get over this and move forward. That’s what we need to talk about, what happens on November 5 and the days after that.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So, like —
(CROSSTALK)
JOHNSON: I think it’s really important and that’s what the American people demand for us to talk about.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So, like Senator Vance, you cannot say unequivocally that Joe Biden won the 2020 election and Donald Trump lost?
JOHNSON: George, I’m the speaker of the House. I work with the president of the United States all the time. Joe Biden has been the president for four years. There’s not a question about this, okay?
It’s already been done and decided, and this is a gotcha game that’s played and I’m not playing it. I want to talk about the future. Let’s talk about policies.
Ask me anything you want on, any challenging issue. Let’s put that out there for the American people. That’s what they need to hear.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, it’s President Trump who every single day — former President Trump, at just about every rally is say — is saying that the election was rigged, that he won and that Joe Biden lost. I’m just saying if you accept that or not.
JOHNSON: George, I’m not going to play the game. Ask me any question on any issue that’s facing the country. They’re some of the biggest issues that we faced.
The fact that Republicans think that acknowledging the fact that Biden won and Trump lost is somehow a gotcha speaks volumes about the plan for after Election Day. Johnson’s refusal to agree on election reality demonstrates that Trump’s party is already in full election denial mode.
Republicans could make sure that they are never asked who won the 2020 election by answering the question honestly. Facts are not traps.
There is a trap being set, but it is being set by Trump and his party. It is political gaslighting where the GOP already trying to create a justification for invalidating their potential loss in order to steal an election.
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Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
