Mike Johnson Totally Deflects When Asked About His State's Crime Rate
By: Edith Olmsted (The New Republic)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
He really didn't have a good answer.
House Speaker Mike Johnson flailed Friday when reporters called attention to his state's distressing murder rate.
While appearing on Fox News, Johnson was confronted with a clip of California Governor Gavin Newsom name-dropping the Louisiana Republican, while mocking President Donald Trump's federal takeover of Democratic-led cities.
"If he is to invest in crime suppression, I hope the president of the United States will look at the facts. Just consider Speaker Johnson's state, and district," Newsom said during a press conference on Thursday. "Just look at the murder rate, which is nearly four times higher than California, in Louisiana."
Louisiana's homicide rate in 2023 was 19.3 per 100,000 people, approximately 300 percent higher than California's homicide rate of 5.1 per 100,000 people, according to the Centers for Disease Control.*
Johnson didn't even try to account for the dismal crime stats.
"Again, Gavin Newsom will do anything for attention, he can name drop me all that he wants, he needs to go and govern his state and not be engaging in all of this," Johnson said.
"Look, we have crime in cities all across America and we're against that everywhere and we need to bring policies to bear," Johnson said. "My hometown of Shreveport has done a great job of reducing crime gradually, but we've got to address it everywhere it rears its ugly head."
While Johnson isn't stupid enough to get on board with Trump's tactic of simply pretending Republican-led cities don't have bad crime rates, he seems content to completely ignore the situation in his own district.
In fact, Shreveport, which is part of Johnson's district, landed at 25 on Newsweek's recent list of the 30 U.S. cities (with at least 100,000 residents) that had the highest number of violent crimes against people. Newsom has claimed that Shreveport's murder rate is six times higher than the rate in San Fransisco, a city regularly criticized by Trump and other Republicans.
No city in California made the list.
The rest of Louisiana isn't in the clear, either. In 2024, Baton Rouge had a murder rate of 36 people per 100,000, and New Orleans had a murder rate of 31 per 100,000. Baton Rouge's murder rate is twice the rate in Washington, D.C., where the president has deployed thousands of National Guard troops, some of which were sent by Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry.
Newsom responded to Johnson's Fox News appearance Friday by copying Trump's social media cadence. "Mike 'Little Man' Johnson can't even answer a basic question: why is Louisiana's homicide rate nearly 4X HIGHER than California's????? LOUISIANA IS A FAILED STATE!" he wrote in a post on X.
Shreveport has a higher crime rate than Chicago. And he says they are doing a great job. Chicago must be doing a super great job then.
why do you think democrat run cities in red states have such high per capita murder rates?
all the more reason for Trump to send the military into them
Shreveport is a relatively small city so it wont take much military.
There aren’t that many murders there though. Only 52 in 2024. Better to concentrate activity where large numbers of murders occur to save the most lives.
If the murder rate in Shreveport is higher than the murder rate in Chicago then the citizens there are in more danger.
And, of course, in all these scenarios the Insurrection Act does not authorize a PotUS to send military into a city because he merely claims the crime/murder rate is too high.
This is Trump putting on a show, trying to expand his power, and being a vindictive prick. It shows just how far our system (in its current incarnation) allows a PotUS to go when said PotUS has no respect for the rule of law, CotUS, ethics, democracy, or protocol.
More demonstration that Trump supporters will blindly follow and defend Trump no matter what he does. It is pathetic and dangerous.
And, its defense and 'going along to get along' is demonstrative. MAGA supporters are in 'cahoots' with Trump in his decision-making or the cause of his policy-making or both across the board! There can be no acceptable denying of it!
So newsom favors red state governors stripping local governments led by democrats of their power and imposing law and order? Okay.
Crime is the excuse not the reason for all the grandstanding trying to take over blue states.
It's a power grab and I want to know where all the Republicans, Independents, and Libertarians are who were once screaming about states rights.
All Americans regardless of party should be standing up against the destruction of states rights.
No state or city should be invaded using crime as an excuse. Fund local and state police, give ALL states the resources to fight crime.
This is an enormous waste of taxpayer money as we see DC National Guard taking selfies with a few tourists, picking up trash, doing landscaping or wandering around a summer Jazz Festival on the mall with nothing else to do.
Sending out the National Guard away from other work they could or should be doing in their home states is nothing short of ridiculous.
The question to ask is how is this solving anything? It isn't helping.
You have to wonder why higher crime rates and murder rates in red states are left out. Why? Does Trump want red states to suffer? Why not send them the help if help is what this is supposed to be?
It is plain as the hair on Trump's head. Self-described red states and Trump are in cahoots together to interfere in the business and management of blue states in order to attempt running a conservative power-play on the citizens within those states. It is plain as the hair on Trump's head. Shame on the Shameless!
The time has come and gone for democrats to conclude what is really occurring: MAGA supporters do not respect blue states and their leaders. Why? Because MAGA supporters and the Trump administration sees all democrats, secularists, and Others as COMMUNISTS. That is, they value little which blue states value. The proof: Pay attention to how many times (on any give day) a republican and conservative will refer to a liberal or Other as "socialist," "communist," or haters of capitalism. All written and flowing from the conservative 'playbook.'
They do not respect 'us.' Time to realize it. They never have. . . and may not ever. Though, one can hope. Hope, unfortunately, may be all that it is.
Thus, since they demonize us, they feel no unction to tell us the truth. So such people lie or will use weasel words when confronted. . . or just go 'silent' on the subject matter.