Communism has led to the murder of tens of millions of innocent people, and that same deadly ideology is now taking root inside America’s own borders. That was the stark warning from House Speaker Mike Johnson during a press conference on Capitol Hill Tuesday.
“It is a nightmare. It is a trail to certain death,” Johnson declared, calling on Americans to recognize the existential stakes of the upcoming November midterm elections.
The Louisiana Republican didn’t mince words. Pointing to the “In God We Trust” motto inscribed in the House chamber, a phrase placed there in 1962 as a direct rebuke to Soviet communism, Johnson warned that the radical Democratic Socialists of America are now working to tear down the very foundations of the republic.
“The barbarians are in the gate,” he said.
According to Johnson, the DSA’s platform includes packing the Supreme Court, abolishing the Senate to create a Marxist-run legislature, eliminating all borders, granting mass amnesty to everyone including dangerous criminals and terrorists, emptying prisons, and completely defunding police.
“This is not a game,” the Speaker warned. “Everybody needs to understand: These crazy little mini-Mamdanis, who are popping up all around the country, they are a danger to you and your family.”
The constitutional law attorney framed the November elections as something far more significant than the usual political battles over tax policy or government regulations. This, he argued, is a “philosophical war” for the soul of the nation.
“There’s a small number of times in the history of America where the actual experiment in self-governance was on the ballot,” Johnson explained. “The idea that we would preserve a constitutional republic: One nation under God, a government of, by, and for the people. All that is in question right now.”
Invoking Ronald Reagan’s famous warning that freedom is always just “one generation away from extinction,” Johnson noted that while the Gipper fought Soviet communism on distant shores, today’s threat has breached the domestic perimeter.
The Speaker drew a clear line between American founding principles and the Marxist worldview now gaining influence on the Left.
“Our rights come from our creator, God. They do not come from the government,” he said. “The communists believe the opposite. They believe that the government, the state, is God. The state is the one that gives you all your rights. And you know what? The state can also take those rights away.”
Johnson addressed even those in the room who might not share his political views, warning that the principles at stake transcend partisan disagreement.
“We are here as the Republican Party to stand on the founding principles of the greatest nation in the history of the world,” he said. “You’d better agree on these principles because that’s what keeps you free. This is essential for your well-being, and your family. This is not our father’s Democrat Party. We’re not arguing over marginal tax rates anymore. We’re arguing over whether or not freedom is going to survive.”
Though Johnson describes himself as a “happy warrior,” he made clear that pleasantries have reached their limit.
“I hoped and prayed it would never come to this, but here we are,” he said.
