House Speaker Mike Johnson didn’t even bother trying to defend the quality of Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees.
During an interview on CNN Sunday, host Jake Tapper asked Johnson about the president-elect’s recent nominations, who represent a slew of ethical dilemmas that might offend a Christian who openly totes his “values” like Johnson does. While the Louisiana Republican may not be offended by any of Trump’s nominees’ policy ideas, one might imagine he’d be offended by their principles—or lack thereof.
Trump’s picks include former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, who allegedly paid two women to have sex with him and has been accused of committing statutory rape (he has denied any wrongdoing); Fox & Friends host Pete Hegseth, who reportedly paid a woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her as part of a nondisclosure agreement (he insists the encounter was consensual); and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the anti-vaxxer who was caught in a messy extramarital affair during his failed presidential campaign.
“You’re a man of faith, you’re a man of God, you’re a man of family. With some of these nominees, Gaetz, Hegseth, RFK Jr., I wonder, does it matter anymore for Republicans to think of leaders as people who are moral in their personal lives? Is that still important to the Republican Party?” Tapper asked.
“Um, sure. It’s an important issue for anyone in leadership,” Johnson replied, quickly changing the subject. “This is what I’ll say about the nominees that the president has put forward is that they are persons who will shake up the status quo.”
TAPPER: Does it matter anymore for Republicans to think of leaders as people who are moral in their personal lives? Is that still important in the GOP?
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 17, 2024
MIKE JOHNSON: Ah, sure. What I'll say about the nominees the president has put forward is they will shake up the status quo. pic.twitter.com/KqP1C15ZFL
Johnson insisted that Trump’s picks were “disruptors” by design—another way of saying they’re not good guys, but that’s kind of the point.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise, though, as Johnson seems to have had no problem cozying up with Trump, a rapist who was convicted of 34 counts for falsifying business records to conceal hush-money payments made to keep an adult film actress quiet about his own extramarital affair.